In wartime, those hardships pale in comparison to the emotional anxiety associated with the natural concerns for the health, safety, and welfare of loved ones. Every news report about U.S. personnel killed or wounded in the theater in which their loved ones serve is a source of anxiety and fear until family members can confirm that the casualties did not involve their loved ones. Meanwhile, everyday civilian life must go on despite the fact that fathers and mothers cannot attend many of the ordinary events in the lives of their children that civilian families often take for granted. Upon their safe return, their prolonged absence is associated with higher than normal rates of marital problems and divorce, even without specific precipitating factors such as depression or PTSD (McGirk, 2009).
Solutions
Unfortunately, there may be no solution for many of the natural consequences of prolonged...
However, it is apparent that one of the most important solutions to some of the more serious problems linked to stress reactions such as clinical depression, PTSD, and even the ordinary reorientation confusion experienced by the sudden transition from a combat zone to civilian life is a matter of proactive involvement of mental health counselors (McGirk, 2009). In that regard, the evidence suggests that waiting until problems manifest themselves is not a sufficient way of dealing with the problem. Instead, returning combat veterans must receive more extensive counseling and more than the standard reorientation classes that have previously been relied upon to smooth their transition back to civilian life.
References
McGirk T. "The Hell of PTSD" Time; Vol. 174, No.…
