Effects of traumatic experiences - Signs & Symptoms
What soldiers sometimes experience after continual exposure
to life threatening events
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Physical Cognitive/Mental Emotional Behavioral
• Chest pain • Chills
• Difficulty breathing
• Dizziness • Elevated
blood pressure
• Fainting • Nausea
• Fatigue • Grinding
teeth • Headaches
• Muscle tremors
• Profuse sweating
• Rapid heart rate
• Shock symptoms
• Thirst • Twitches
• Visual difficulties
• Vomiting
• Weakness |
• Blaming someone
• Change in alertness
• Confusion • Difficulty
identifying familiar
objects or people
• Hyper-vigilance
• Increased or
decreased awareness
of surroundings
• Intrusive images
• Loss of orientation
to time, place,
person
• Memory problems
• Nightmares • Poor
abstract thinking
• Poor attention • Poor
concentration • Poor
decisions • Poor
problem solving |
• Agitation • Anxiety
• Apprehension
• Denial • Depression
• Emotional shock
• Fear • Feeling
overwhelmed
• Grief
• Guilt • Inappropriate
emotional response
• Irritability • Loss of
emotional control
• Severe pain
• Uncertainty |
• Alcohol consumption
• Antisocial acts
• Change in activity
• Change in
communication
• Change in sexual
functioning
• Change in
speech pattern
• Emotional outbursts
• Erratic movements
• Hyper-alert to
environment
• Inability to rest
• Loss or
increased appetite
• Pacing
• Somatic complaints
• Startle reflex
• Suspiciousness
• Withdrawal |
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Life in a combat zone is not easy, but we adjust, always keeping the mission forefront in all we do. Over the course of a deployment we adjust to the motars, RPGs and IEDs. We survive. Then we come home and things are different. Everyone comes back different. The mild version is "Life is too short to put up with crap!" The amount of incidents we have experienced intensifies our response to the point of "get out of my face!" The first few days home seem okay, we celebrate being back in the world - then we notice our frustration and anger - things get under our skin. Spouses want to talk; we want to be alone. If there are children they sometimes get on our nerves. The more the wife becomes anxious and upset the more we soldiers want to be left alone. They tell us we have changed; we are more confortable at the unit where we feel ourselves - or back over there. Who would have ever thought we would be more comfortable back there?
As a soldier I may find I am more impulsive - reacting. If I am getting ready for another deployment I don't worry about money, I spend it on a good time - I don't know what tomorrow will be so I enjoy today. I find myself becoming more to myself - except for my buddies, those I deployed with; we understand each other. I realize I am more confortable back there than being back home. I am ready to go back, just to get away from here. At times I feel guilty about the way things are now. I used to like myself, now I just try to get away - away from thoughts over there and away from the pressure and problems here.
I am trying to get a grid coordinance on this situation. I don't want to seek help for what others say is a problem. Yet, something needs to change. I don't trust mental health, especially having something on my records. I want to reclaim my life, get a handle on this.
If you recognize these thoughts, give us a try. E. C. Hurley is retired military, a veteran of 33 years in the Army: from Vietnam to post-9/11 who understands soldiers and believes soldiers need the best resources they can get. Phone for an appointment so we can sit down over a cup of coffee and zero-in on the issues.
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Sometime ago I met with a Vietnam veteran who sat in my office expressing his belief that he had wasted the past 35 years because of his struggle getting over combat trauma. He has gone through 3 marriages, now convinced he has to live alone, he is continually on-guard, his children now leave him alone because he is so explosive (angry); he reports he has not had a good night’s sleep since coming home from the war. He lost his job 3 years ago due to his heavy drinking of alcohol.
Not everyone is affected to this extreme. For persons who have these symptoms, there is help. Phone us: (931) 553-6981 - every day we prove we've got your back.
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