Beating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Army Brig. Gen. (Dr.) Rhonda Cornum has stated that “resilience training” done before deployment and exposure to traumatic events can greatly reduce the likely hood of post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. This is terrific news given the current number of soldiers that have returned from overseas with PTSD in the more recent conflict zones, from the Gulf War to the War in Afghanistan.  Also a major concern is the number of suicides by servicemen over the past 9 years.  The Army said that 115 active-duty soldiers committed suicide during the year of 2007, and since the start of the War in Iraq the rate has risen like clockwork except for one year.  In 2002, the rate was 10 in 100,000 soldiers.  In 2007 that rate was up to 19 soldiers in every 100,000.

Cornum has compared the preemptive training similar to the steps taken to prevent a heart attack, rather than waiting for the heart attack to happen and treating it with CPR.  The Department of Defense needs to take all necessary steps to invest in this kind of training, setting up programs that become part of every soldiers training prior to deployment and before the unit is branded as “combat ready”.  The military demands its soldiers be fit physically and mentally, and one cannot be under emphasized.  To be a true, combat effective warrior, one would need to be able to sustain prolonged exposure to traumatic events without the negative effects faced by every day people.