Effects of Killing on Mental Health

¶ … Killing on Mental Health

Are Veterans Impacted by Indirect and Direct Killings?

On February 2010, a study was reported on nearly 3,000 United States soldiers who came home after being among active duty that were exposed to indirect and direct killings. The soldiers were men and women of the Army involved in Operational Iraqi Freedom were questioned in a survey as part of a "post-deployment screening program," which involved eight professionals who came together including: Shira Maguen, Karen Seal, Sara Knight, and Charles Marmar from California medical facilities. The Washington state experts included: Mark Reger, Gregory Gahm, and Barbara Lucenko, as well as, Brett Litz, from Boston, and they released their findings to the Journal of Dramatic Stress, volume 23, No. 1. These authors examined the relationship between psychological well-being and its negative impact when veterans come home from battlefields to show significant signs of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In order to accomplish this analysis they talked to 2797 Army participants out of a total of 3,141 men and women in which they were able to gather pertinent data from vs. The 216 they were unable to report and hypothesize (Maguen et al., 2010).

Experts were able to survey the veterans who returned from being exposed to death and killings that were direct and indirect to determine their findings and how, if any, they were related to their depression, alcohol abuse, and other factors that could have influenced. Maguen and colleagues were able to learn certain information, and they found that 92% of the soldiers had no individual significances when asked and examined according to their age, gender, ethnicity, their level of education, if they were single or have a spouse, a time they had been in combat, and the how many times they were ever exposed to violent combat. These examiners asked three important questions to the soldiers: (a) had they ever been injured while in battle? (b) Had they seen people mutilated from the aftermath of corruption? (c) Had they ever witnessed any one being killed (Maguen et al., 2010).

The veterans were asked to respond to either yes or no because the authors used a "Primitive Care PTSD Screening "which is a common tool used in evaluating other mental health concerns and disorders and four possible symptoms including "reexperiencing, avoidance, emotional numbness, and hyper arousal" (Blake et al., 1995). Psychological specialist, Blake and colleagues, have used universal scale study and find how significant each of their patients' symptoms were by using The Clinical Administrative PTSD Scale (CAPS) and The Cronbach's alpha are two psychological to used to determine contemporary mental health issues using two coefficients to calculate the consistency of the questionnaires given to their patients (Downe, 2008). In this particular study, experts look at the connection with (A) veteran that had gave background information and (B) veterans they were unable to determine from lack of information. Therefore, since A and B. were very much connected (approximately .80 or above) the composers can be reasonably confident the evaluations are realistically trustworthy with small miscalculations usually caused by phrasing, organization, and other structures in testing (Downe, 2008).

Psychological testing in modern technology is the into software packages that are specifically designed to calculate the results of research to help healthcare providers treat mental disorders and other related issues in individuals which mental health concerns. Therefore, the percentage of men and women exposed to war and death was recorded according to the percentage of individuals who were able to give detailed information in the screening, and Maguen and professionals gave. Last, the authors conducted a sequence of questioning to determine reasons behind the symptoms of military personnel's depression, alcohol abuse, and hostility and anger, yet found common factors included: illiteracy, status in society, gender, immaturity, and exposure to war. Interestingly enough, the research team found that veterans were affected by indirect and direct killings after they returned home from serving in the Army, and they replied that their main troubles with their personal relationships were their most common problem. The authors stated there were undeniable, considerable, autonomous calculations of various psychological indicators following the compelling warfare experience and that it was essential to determine in order to improve their mental well being (2010).

Researchers like Fontana and Rosenbeck believe it is crucial to investigate the wide-ranging impact of killing and what else is associated with their symptoms and recovery. Veterans Affairs reported veterans "need to know that they will be allowed to explore the impact of killings in a safe and supportive environment" while other psychologists and specialists suggest that veterans can become unable to cope with the friends and loved ones who have asked them about their experiences that veterans want to forget about. Many experts feel that society can impact military personnel because they feel that the general public would not understand their involvement in war and possibly judge them for what the war has evolved in to (Maguen et al., 2010).

The Operational Iraqi Freedom researchers acknowledge their restrictions in concluding their findings and conclude that their findings were, in fact, a demonstration. They also stated that they wanted other examiners to understand that the soldiers they questioned were from one large sector in the United States Army. Therefore, in a future attempt to do similar type presentations, other surveyors may conclude different findings because of the differences in the military personnel's roles, backgrounds, and experience and exposure to violent battles in war and to not generalize the findings they have concluded in this particular investigation. Moreover, the researchers' procedures were independently detailed which mimicked study that is usually carried out in mental health evaluations rather than a problem-solving tool particularly created for this project. The eight authors who participated in the questionnaire note that the information found should be repeated with "clinician-rated" analytical instruments according to the Clinical Administrative PTSD Scale for the DSM-IV (Maguen, et al., 2010). According to the American Psychological Association the DSM-IV is "a manual called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) with a way to assist psychiatrists and psychologists to determine a person's disorders based on a multi-axial scale" (2011).