Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Wwii ) - 2050 Words

At the age of 31, Joseph Patrick Dwyer died a hero and a wounded combat medic vet after years of coping with post-traumatic stress disorder and a broken marriage through substance abuse. As for most of the soldiers who served in the Iraq war, Dwyer, too, was stricken by the September 11th tragedy and felt the necessity to fight for freedom and justice. A week into active duty in Iraq, Dwyer was photographed â€Å"as he raced through a battle zone clutching a tiny Iraqi boy named Ali† (Kennedy). The picture and the story behind it swept the nation and claimed a hero of Dwyer. Post-traumatic stress disorder (commonly referred to as PTSD) is one of the most common, consequential and perilous illnesses a soldier returning home can face. Yet, here†¦show more content†¦The four symptoms of this mental illness consists of â€Å"reliving the event through memories or nightmares, avoiding situations that remind you of the event, negative changes in beliefs and feelings (fear, guilt, shame, etc.) and being hyperarousal (jittery, on the lookout for danger, trouble concentrating and sleeping)† (â€Å"PTSD†). Approximately 70 percent of adults in the U.S. have encountered a traumatic occurrence at some point in their existence while 20 percent of that population proceed to develop PTSD. Furthermore, an estimated 1 in 13 people of the U.S. (about 8 percent) will develop PTSD. For those who have served or â€Å"spent time in war zones,† 30 percent experience PTSD (â€Å"What†). Of course the rates of this mental illness varies from war to war, however, â€Å"current estimates of PTSD in military personnel who served in Iraq range from 12 percent to 20 percent† and â€Å"in Afghanistan between 6 percent and 11 percent† (â€Å"What†). With that in mind, the Army conducted the very first study on the mental health of Iraq troops which discovered that â€Å"one in eight [soldiers] reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder† (â€Å"1†). In addition to this, the study evinced that â€Å"less than half of those with problems sought help, mostly out of fear of being stigmatized or hurting their careers† (â€Å"1†).