According to statistics as of 2012, veterans are taking their lives at an astonishing rate of 22 a day or more. This is unacceptable and most of these cases probably could have been prevented; given the fact that people just need to know about and be aware of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) its origins and signs. From WW I to present day PTSD is a very real and misunderstood by many. Ever sense there has been war there have been signs of PTSD according to history. The signs are in writings from the great army’s that were before us. The earliest noted symptoms are written about or around 480 B.C by Herodotus. He wrote “the Spartan commander Leonidas, who, at the battle of Thermopylae Pass in 480 B.C., dismissed his men from joining the
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(A Short History of PTSD: From Thermopylae to Hue
Soldiers Have Always Had A Disturbing Reaction To War Article Reprint Date, January 1991) From these writings you see that there has always been signs of battle weary troops and the mind not being able to handle or cope with the extreme mental and physical tolls of battle. Now by the 1700’s there were doctors who started to have a better understanding about PTSD or what was thought to be an understanding. They came to describe PTSD in three stages the first stage was a heightened excitement and imagination. The second stage was a period of fever or intestinal symptoms, the third stage was frustration and depression. Moving forward to the Civil War a doctor by the name of Jacob Mendes Da Costa started who served in the US Army as a surgeon took on the study of “irritable heart syndrome” (PTSD) as it was known back …show more content…
• 15.2% of male and 8.5% of female Vietnam theater veterans had PTSD 20 years after the war
• 11.1% of male and 7.8% of female Vietnam theater veterans had partial PTSD 20 years after the war
• 30.9% of male and 26.9% of female Vietnam theater veterans had PTSD at some time in their lives (Schlenger et al., 1992, as cited in Price,
(A Short History of PTSD: From Thermopylae to Hue
Soldiers Have Always Had A Disturbing Reaction To War Article Reprint Date, January 1991) From these writings you see that there has always been signs of battle weary troops and the mind not being able to handle or cope with the extreme mental and physical tolls of battle. Now by the 1700’s there were doctors who started to have a better understanding about PTSD or what was thought to be an understanding. They came to describe PTSD in three stages the first stage was a heightened excitement and imagination. The second stage was a period of fever or intestinal symptoms, the third stage was frustration and depression. Moving forward to the Civil War a doctor by the name of Jacob Mendes Da Costa started who served in the US Army as a surgeon took on the study of “irritable heart syndrome” (PTSD) as it was known back …show more content…
• 15.2% of male and 8.5% of female Vietnam theater veterans had PTSD 20 years after the war
• 11.1% of male and 7.8% of female Vietnam theater veterans had partial PTSD 20 years after the war
• 30.9% of male and 26.9% of female Vietnam theater veterans had PTSD at some time in their lives (Schlenger et al., 1992, as cited in Price,