Scope of PTSD Expands for Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans, Pyschologist Tells Rotary Club

The Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)

July 22, 2008, Charleston, WV – Doctors and psychologists are slowly coming to grips with the numbers of soldiers coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, local psychologist David Clayman told members of the Rotary Club of Charleston on Monday.

Initially overwhelmed and unprepared for the numbers of returning soldiers suffering from PTSD, Clayman said, the medical community is beginning to better understand the disorder and its possible treatments.

“The awareness is there,” Clayman said following Monday afternoon’s meeting. “The biggest thing is not to push it under the rug. This is going to be an ongoing, life-altering change of life for people.”

Post-traumatic stress disorder was first recognized on a large scale during World War I. Over the years, doctors and psychologists have come to learn more about how major traumatic events affect the brain and people who suffer from the disorder.

“We think that there are some kind of brain changes,” Clayman told Rotary members, but clinicians aren’t yet sure exactly what those changes are or how they work. Clayman said PTSD was described by one sufferer as a psychological “hum” that never goes away.

There are big changes in the way PTSD has been recognized over the years, he said.

“There was a difference in World War II,” Clayman said. “There was a source of heroism, a sense of purpose to the war.” Soldiers with PTSD simply didn’t want to talk about it, he said.

During Vietnam, an unpopular war where returning soldiers were seen as “scum,” Clayman said, “Folks just wanted to sweep it under the rug.”

But the sheer numbers of stress cases coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan have brought new attention to PTSD, Clayman said.

“People are starting to recognize that psychological injuries are equally as dangerous and debilitating as physical injuries,” he said. “They’re the silent injuries. If you’ve been hurt physically, if you’ve lost a limb, people can see that.”

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Doctors and psychologists are slowly coming to grips with the numbers of soldiers coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder, local psychologist David Clayman told members of the Rotary Club of Charleston on Monday.

Initially overwhelmed and unprepared for the numbers of returning soldiers suffering from PTSD, Clayman said, the medical community is beginning to better understand the disorder and its possible treatments.

“The awareness is there,” Clayman said following Monday afternoon’s meeting. “The biggest thing is not to push it under the rug. This is going to be an ongoing, life-altering change of life for people.”

Post-traumatic stress disorder was first recognized on a large scale during World War I. Over the years, doctors and psychologists have come to learn more about how major traumatic events affect the brain and people who suffer from the disorder.

“We think that there are some kind of brain changes,” Clayman told Rotary members, but clinicians aren’t yet sure exactly what those changes are or how they work. Clayman said PTSD was described by one sufferer as a psychological “hum” that never goes away.

There are big changes in the way PTSD has been recognized over the years, he said.

“There was a difference in World War II,” Clayman said. “There was a source of heroism, a sense of purpose to the war.” Soldiers with PTSD simply didn’t want to talk about it, he said.

During Vietnam, an unpopular war where returning soldiers were seen as “scum,” Clayman said, “Folks just wanted to sweep it under the rug.”

But the sheer numbers of stress cases coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan have brought new attention to PTSD, Clayman said.

“People are starting to recognize that psychological injuries are equally as dangerous and debilitating as physical injuries,” he said. “They’re the silent injuries. If you’ve been hurt physically, if you’ve lost a limb, people can see that.”

Clayman, who saw his first PTSD patient in 1972, said he knows one Vietnam War veteran who hasn’t slept at night for 32 years, and takes catnaps with a loaded gun in his lap.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can be caused by any serious traumatic event. “It’s not just combat,” Clayman said. Disasters like Hurricane Katrina, car wrecks, witnessing violence or sexual abuse can all lead to PTSD.

Whether someone develops the disorder or not is partly dependent on the duration and intensity of the stress, Clayman said.

Soldiers are in the unique position of being exposed to high levels of stress for a long time.

The immediacy with which modern soldiers can be in and out of a combat zone can also increase the stress level, he suggested.

“You can be in Charleston, West Virginia, on Monday and be in a combat theater on Thursday,” Clayman said. “You can be under fire on Friday.” Similarly, today’s soldiers can be on the front lines one day and home a few days later.

One recent study by the nonprofit research group the RAND Corp. suggests as many as 300,000 – or about 19 percent – of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans suffer from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder or extreme depression.

Clayman isn’t sure the numbers are that high. Even so, soldiers coming home with PTSD deserve understanding and psychological treatment.

“Even if it’s one out of 10, think about how many people that is,” he said.

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