Yeah, They start out cute, but then they grow up...
Posted on 02/06/2006 9:07:00 PM PST by presidio9
A look at the medical records of Civil War soldiers suggests post-traumatic stress disorder existed back then, too, according to a study.
The researchers found that veterans who saw more death in battle had higher rates of postwar illness. Younger soldiers, including boys as young as 9, were more likely than older ones to suffer mental and physical problems after the war.
"Increased war trauma leads to increased physical and mental illness," said study co-author Roxane Cohen Silver of the University of California at Irvine. "That message can be applied to wars around the globe."
The findings, published in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, were drawn from pension records on more than 15,000 Union Army veterans. The researchers examined the records, which included doctors' reports of illnesses, to find signs of cardiac, gastrointestinal and mental health problems.
Warring soldiers have carried home psychological scars for centuries. In American wars, the phenomenon has been called shell shock, combat fatigue and post-Vietnam syndrome. Medical authorities first accepted PTSD as a distinct psychiatric condition in 1980 at the urging of Vietnam veterans and their doctors.
In an editorial accompanying the new study, Dr. Roger Pitman of Harvard Medical School said the findings "should lay to rest the notion that there was something psychiatrically unique about the Vietnam Conflict or about what used to be called `post-Vietnam syndrome.'"
In PTSD, stress hormones like adrenaline scorch a painful event deep into long-term memory, scientists believe. People get edgy, fearful and prone to nightmares or flashbacks.
The study relied on a database managed by the University of Chicago.
Eric T. Dean, author of "Shook over Hell: Post-Traumatic Stress, Vietnam, and the Civil War," used the same records in his research. He said he is skeptical the 19th-century medical records could be made standard enough for the researchers' statistical analysis to be valid.
He also questioned relying on the diagnoses of doctors from the 1800s.
"This is a heroic effort," Dean said. "I just think it's a stretch. Beyond proving war is hell, I just question their nuanced conclusions."
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In WWII, the was no lessening of the "human element of War." That is exactly the reason we went to War with the Axis powers. You are perhaps too young, to fully comprehend this overwhelming fact of life. Regardless...I can say with full certainty- you will eventually understand what WWII was really all about.
I'm not debating why we went to war in WWII. I'm just stating we reenforce our training and use propoganda to lessen the "human" element of killing.
Read Dave Grossman, On Killing : The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, it really goes into the subject.
Read his latest...then we can compare meager understandings, once again.
Bad example. In WWII the Nazis and Imperial Japanese WERE evil and nonhuman.
Just like the saying about paranoia, sometimes the enemy you demonize really is demonic.
The problem with WWII was in humanizing the Bolsheviks.
To: Number57; LongElegantLegs
Any idiot could look it up on line; yet I'm supposed to dance like a monkey and give you Webster's standard definition for PTSD?
Well your off to a good start newie
12 posted on 02/07/2006 12:59:28 AM EST by apackof2 (You can stand me up at the gates of hell, I'll stand my ground and I won't back down) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
To: apackof2
Well your off to a good start newie
Incredibly concise reply. As hard as I may try, I'll never top that. Simply awesome.
~newie 13 posted on 02/07/2006 1:07:49 AM EST by Number57 (Badly worded, but heartfelt) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]
~newie
I predict a lot of smack downs in your future
Welcome to FR
It really is amazing the amount of newbies that come here and rant and step all over our nice place here.
Apackof2, is it just me, or are the newbies getting downright vicious?
Whoa.! Go get on your Med's Dude. Come back later when you change zones.
No its not just you
My "ignore list" grows longer every day....sigh
February has been a tough month for Skippy.
It could get tougher if he doesn't take his chill pill
I, for one, welcome our Chinese Overlords. Front Page News, the day after SOTU.
A better place?
Yeah, They start out cute, but then they grow up...
Do you suppose that he meant that he has lost friends, etc. to PTSD because they just couldn't take his erratic behavior anymore?
Perhaps he needs help, not scorn or abandonment. But, hey, that is just the nurse in me talking.
He has not flamed me yet. If he does, well, I am not the girl in red for nothing! I also have the Harm to back me up. HOWL!
Hey devolve,I pinged you for a pickle graphic,come on,pick up.OK,OK,Snoopy holding a pickle will do. :)
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