User:Whitneyaj/Post-traumatic stress disorder after World War II

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WWII lasted from September 1st until September 2nd, 1945. The death toll during WWII has been estimated to be between 35,000,000 60 and 000,000. However, the exact number is unknown. With all those fatalities, it should not be surprising that it left so many lasting effects on the survivors. There have been many terms for these lasting effects over the decades. These terms include, but are not limited to, shell sock and combat fatigue. In 1980, the diagnosis of PTSD was added to the newly published DSM 3.

A History of PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) was officially classified as a mental illness with the publication of the DSM 3 in 1980. However, you can trace records of PTSD symptoms back to ancient times. Modern records of PTSD can be traced back to the U.S. Civil War. Returning Civil War soldiers were reported as having a disordered palpitation of the heart, also known as soldier heart. Unexplained palpitations of the heart could categorize this. At the time, it was primarily associated with access to alcohol and tobacco usage. Today, distorted heart palpitation is considered one of the first combat-related PTSD symptoms. Following the Civil Wars, suicide rates among Union soldiers doubled. War neurasthenia was used to describe an undefined weakness in the nervous system. With WWI came the new diagnosis of Shell Sock. This new diagnosis theorized that compression and decompression of the brain due to being near explosions were the cause of various somatic symptoms. Under the shell shock terminology, a more psychological etiology. It was recognized that veterans often experience flashbacks and nightmares in association with their time in service. By the end of WWI 65, thousands of veterans relied on pensions based on their diagnosis of Shell Shock. At the end of WWII, up to 3% of WWII veterans were receiving government-based disability benefits due to neuropsychiatric diseases.

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Famous psychologist Eric Erikson worked with WWII vets at Mt Zion Hospital in California, then at San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute. He reported that many of them suffered from symptoms such as anxiety, gloom/ depression, loss of sleep, forgetfulness, and a general loss of themselves.

In the 1990s, a questionnaire was given to a sample of Dutch WWII veterans. Out of 4057 veterans, 66 of them fall under the qualifications for a PTSD diagnosis. A higher percentage of these were people who had been victims of persecution. The next highest was among military veterans. The lowest level was among those who served as civilians. In 1990, VA treatment centers saw an increase in WWII vets reporting PTSD symptoms. This can be attributed to them entering retirement age. Their children were grown, leaving them with more time alone with their thoughts.

PTSD symptoms can often come in waves for many WWII veterans. The media or other memorial services honoring those who served in the war can usually act as a trigger for PTSD. Longitudinal studies show a spike in PTSD symptoms among WWII veterans around the time of the 50th anniversary of the war. Some veterans reported a loss of interest in hobbies, being acutely aware of those around them, restlessness, and loss of sleep. These symptoms progressed following a television program documentary about Auschwitz. The symptoms gradually decreased in the months following the program. Other veterans reported having recurring symptoms of PTSD, such as flashbacks and anxiety. These symptoms increased around the 50th anniversary in 1995.

POWS (Prisoners of war)

According to a 2009 study by the American Geriatrics Society, veterans from both the Pacific and European theatres reported suffering from dreams and flashbacks related to their time as prisoners of war. Higher rates of dreams and flashbacks were found among members of the Pacific theater. Among the 157 veterans surveyed for this study, 16.6% of participants fell within the requirements of a PTSD diagnosis. Within those statistics, 34% were from the Pacific theater, and only 12% were from the European theater. During WWII, 37% of POWS held by the Japanese died during their imprisonment. This is compared to 1% of European POWS. Both Pacific and European POW veterans reported having higher rates of PTSD symptoms after retirement.

In the 1980s, the Portland Origin Department of Veteran Affairs created a support group for former POWS veterans. J.B., a WWII veteran captured at the Battle of the Bulge, was reportedly critical of himself and distracted when recalling his time in captivity. Over two years, he and his family reported that he began to open up and became more talkative and relaxed in his personal life. This could be attributed to the presence of positive feedback and empathetic—relationships with other Pow survivors. Other members of the support group compared it with finding lost family members. (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (JAGS), vol. 57, no. 12, 2009)

PTSD in Holocaust survivors

In 1997, A study was published in The Journal for Traumatic Stress comparing PTSD symptoms among Holocaust survivors who were in hiding versus those in concentration camps. Multiple regression was used in this study. In the survey (n=100), survivors were interviewed. Among the sample, thirty-three percent were men, and sixty-seven percent were women. The results of this study showed no significant difference in PTSD symptoms between survivors who were in camps versus hiding. There were some variations based on the age of the survivor at the time of the Holocaust. Survivors who were younger at the time were found to be more likely to experience psychogenic amnesia, detachment, and hypervigilance, whereas older survivors might have higher rates of associated nightmares. (“Individual Differences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Profiles in Holocaust Survivors in Concentration Camps or Hiding.” Journal of Traumatic Stress, 1997)

Treatment

Some successful treatment opinions for PTSD include exposure treatment, group therapy, or Cognitive behavior therapy. However, PTSD research is limited among the elderly. Because many elderly PTSD sufferers choose not to seek treatment or drop out of treatment before it is finished, this has been a significant problem when diagnosing and treating WWII veterans. Many WWII veterans had delayed mainly diagnoses. Because PTSD did not become a recognized diagnosis until 1980, by that time, WWII veterans were already entering their senior years.

Sadly, WWII veterans have been repeatedly overlooked in their diagnoses. In April 2008, WWII veteran Grover Chapman took a taxi to his local VA hospital in Greenville, SC. He then took out his 38-calibre revolver and killed himself. Chapman had been repeatedly denied a formal PTSD diagnosis. Despite having shown PTSD symptoms for decades. Just a few weeks later, then-president hopeful Barack Obama called this incident a ''betrayal of the ideals we ask our troops to risk their lives for". During a campaign speech in Charleston, WV.(The Canadian Press, Nov 28 2009, ProQuest. Web. 21 Mar. 2024.)

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B. Kashda George Mason University, United States

Received 7 July 2014, Accepted 3 September 2014, Available online 16 September 2014., ,,