Study: PTSD rates higher for troops who kill

[unhappycamper]

Study: PTSD rates higher for troops who kill
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Nov 22, 2008 12:51:21 EST

CHICAGO — New research presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies shows post-traumatic stress disorder rates are higher in service members who have had to kill someone.

Shira Maguen, health sciences assistant clinical professor at the University of California, began her research when she realized that the Vietnam vets she treated at the San Francisco VA Medical Center were “really struggling with taking another life,” she said, adding that they often told her: “Killing really changed me.”

She started hearing the same complaint from veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but found “there’s not much discussion” about the issue in VA and Pentagon research. She and her colleagues decided to look into past research to see if there was a correlation between those who had killed and those who had mental health issues. They found that killing is “strongly predictive of PTSD.”

She talked to 259 veterans involved in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, and found that if a person had killed someone, they were 3½ times more likely to have symptoms of PTSD than someone who hadn’t killed.

Maguen concluded that more research is needed on the context of killing: Did the veteran kill because his life was at risk? Was he ordered to kill or make the decision himself? Was it another combatant or did the service member kill a civilian?


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/11/military_ptsdkill_112208w/%2e

[Divine Discontent]

1. can't even imagine what it must feel like to take someone's life, even someone

deemed to be an 'enemy' who might kill me if I don't kill them. What psychological thoughts this must bring up over a life. :(

[elocs]

2. PTSD is what worries me about my 19 year old godson who is deployed in NE Afghanistan

in the mountains bordering Pakistan, one of the worst places to be. At 15 he was too frightened to stay and watch a zombie movie and had his friend's mother drive him home. At the same age he was afraid of a severe thunderstorm. I am not as concerned about him losing his life as losing his soul.

[unhappycamper]

3. I just picked up a book in my local library:

"After the War Zone: A Practical Guide for Returning Troops and Their Families" by Laurie Sloan

IMO, families need to get ahead of the curve on PTSD. I would be very concerned about your godson losing his soul.

[elocs]

4. My godson is coming home for a couple of weeks in February.

My fear is that there will be a pretense that everything is perfectly ok, but even if he is not suffering from some degree of PTSD he will never be the same person. The military has, no doubt, trained him to put on the tough front and keep things inside. There is a reluctance by troops to seek help in the field for PTSD because of the fear that it will stigmatize them and make them appear weak. I also think that when soldiers return home from combat that there is a reluctance within their families to recognize or admit that something is wrong, not quite right. They tend to just want to view their loved one for who they were and not understanding that person may no longer exist.

Thanks for the book tip. I'll look it up and check it out from the library so I may read it first.

[unhappycamper]

5. Another thing that may help is find your support mechanisms before you need them.

There's a post pinned to the top of this forum that has TBI/ PTSD info, and I'd also suggest you take a look at the links on vetvioce.com and on my journal. Lots of good PTSD info is now available.