After the Battle Has Been Fought...

By Marieéve MacGREGOR

It was once called "soldiers' heart." What a brave, tragic title. Then they called it "shell shock." A little more true to the fact, but it still lessens the reality of the condition. Then "war neurosis" and "combat fatigue." No one could really figure out exactly what was wrong with the men and women who ‘came home,' but they knew there was something and hoped it would pass with time. Shock, fatigue; these are elements of life which come and go in our lives. Neurosis is psychological condition where a person has trouble coping with everyday life. It had nothing to do with preconceived trauma. What these patri- ots faced was not a passing phase, it was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

After returning from war, more than 20 per cent of all veterans suf- fered from some sort trauma. About 1 in 20 veterans from World War II still suffers from extreme-trauma side effects today. Nightmares, flashbacks, disturbed thoughts, withdrawal from everyday life. Most of these people could not go back to work. They could not function within family life as they had once done. They were antisocial, distracted, irritable, jumpy, and had concentration problems, all symptoms of PTSD. The government would com- pensate these people with money. It

was all they knew to do. If sufferers of |

war shock never got better, they were considered mentally disabled.

Family and friends of PTSD victims did not know how to handle the situation any better than the gov- ernment did. They felt the individual was selfish, robotic, unfeeling. As far as many were concerned, the person they once knew was not who had returned to them. Because the victim was withdrawn, family members and friends often withdrew as well. Many - victims then turned to drugs and alco- hol to cope with their disturbed thoughts. They wanted to block out the images, make themselves forget, make it so it never happened.

When a person suffers from PTSD, they have either witnessed or experienced one or more extremely

ing with it. It is confusing and it dis- torts the mind. Why did it happen? How could it have happened? Is it my fault? Why didn't I stop it? The human

. mind needs to make sense of things it

doesn't understand, especially when those things are mentally distressing and personal. So it will recall and recall the events, trying to make it make sense, trying to make it right, justified. Make it ok. But without help and support, it never becomes ok. It gets worse. It gets heavy on the person and starts to crumble over them. This thought pattern is harmful to an indi- vidual, and over time will build up inside a person to create what is known as PTSD.

They felt the individual was selfish, robotic, unfeeling. As far as many were concerned, the per- son they once knew was not who had returned to. them

_The effects of PTSD are as true today as they were in the past,

though now there are better methods of

coping. The government of Canada, through the Department of Veterans Affairs, has researched and developed ways of fighting the trauma, fighting the nightmares and the depression. It starts off small, with eating healthy meals, doing exercise, establishing a daily routine. These things may seem

redundant, but people with PTSD have

violent events, and have trouble deal- receded from these sorts of things, and

getting back to them takes a tremen- dous effort. People with PTSD need an incredible amount of encouragement and support and understanding from their family and friends. The best way of dealing with PTSD is to educate onself and those close to onself on the disorder and to understand it. This was not possible until very recently.

As mentioned, people are still suffering from PTSD in today's socie- ty, and they aren't only the veterans of wars long-combatted and won. People are witnessing very disturbing images in the Middle East right now. Somewhere, people are watching young children get raped and women get beaten bloody and killed in vicious ways because they are worthless and unvalued. Many Canadians overseas at the moment are part of a peace force as opposed to a military troop. They are utterly helpless in these situations and have no power to stop the violence as they are witnessing it. In many

British marching through Peronne

respects, military personnel today wit- ness much more horrific, unethical acts than the veterans of past wars. This is not to make the Holocaust less terrify- ing, or any other acts of treachery suf- fered by millions of people because of war, but today's traumatic experience is just that much more cold-blooded, that much more violent, that much more extreme.

Survivors of the war zone need an outlet for what they have experi- enced while they were there. Today there are a lot of government plans which don't simply compensate the victims’ sufferings with money but attempt to work through it. The new methods may also be used to help vet- erans from WWII who have been suf- fering from PTSD for the last 50 years.

When a person suffers from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress

Disorder), they have either witnessed or expe- rienced one or more extremely violent events, and have trouble dealing with it.

There is a new understanding of the psychological effects war has on a person in today's world. There is new hope for the men and women who gave a part of themselves to fight for their values, their freedom, their fami- lies, their beliefs, and their country. War has been mentally destroying peo- ple long before the time of the Ancient Greeks. It is about time that something © was done to help win the war that peo- ple fight, after the fighting is done.

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