PTSD Contributing an Intervention Template

PTSD

Contributing an Intervention Template to the Field of PTSD and Family Coping

The research conducted over the course of this project relates to the experience of combat-veterans now returning in significant numbers from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For many veterans, it can be extremely difficult to re-adjust to life outside of a military or combat context. This is particularly true for those who have experienced some measure of trauma during their service. The resulting Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can inflict a heavy toll on both the returning serviceman or woman and on the family to which he or she returns. To an extent though, neither the military nor schools seem adequately or strategically prepared for the needs that children of these vets will ultimately present. It is thus that the research here proceeds with the intent of contributing a greater body of knowledge to the field on how to optimize intervention approaches relating to families and especially to children.

In one regard, existing sources lend some insight into the subject. For instance, the United States Department of Veteran Affairs (USDVA)(2010) considers that this process begins even before deployment or redeployment. According, the USDVA reports that "kids need to understand why their parent has to leave, where they are going, and how long they will be away. If you are being deployed, take time to talk to your children about your feelings, what you do on your military job, and what you think of your job. Help them know where you will be and plan ahead to keep in touch regularly and often." (USDVA)

However, this advice dispensed by a government site may not realistically acknowledge the psychological challenges that returning veterans are facing. To suggest that the returning or redeployed veteran may be in a position to clearly prepare his or her children for the realities of deployment may not practically address the difficulties that veterans will often have making sense of events themselves. It is for this reason that it seems wholly appropriate to offer some research to the field which serves as advocacy for the veteran or for the soon-to-be-deployed serviceman or woman. The research that we are conducting here is largely intended to create a template for this type of intervention, designed to help both veterans and children cope more realistically with the psychological difficulties which are often inevitable in a combat-related scenario.

From the perspective of the present research, there is a need to produce more realistic expectations and, consequently, more meaningful support for combat veterans. Particularly, more meaningful support will extend to the family and the veteran's children. Research is increasingly demonstrating that these families and children are highly susceptible to a range of consequences of PTSD. Klaric et al. (2008) note that "posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in one family member can negatively influence other family members and affect entire family dynamics (1-3). For many reasons, children in such families are especially vulnerable (4). Many studies have established that, in comparison with children of combat veterans without PTSD, the children of combat veterans with PTSD have more frequent and more serious developmental, behavioral, and emotional problems (2,5-10). Some of them also have specific psychiatric problems." (Klaric et al., p. 491)

It is thus that the discussion on PTSD must shift toward a more encompassing intervention and treatment approach. As the text by Klaric et al. illustrates, it is not sufficient to simply view the combat veteran as the only subject of such intervention. The research conducted here proceeds from the understanding that any such intervention may both fail to relieve the stresses felt by surrounding family members and might also fail to provide family members with the coping strategies necessary to understand the afflicted veteran family member, to recognize and avoid triggers and to serve in a supportive role. The resolution of the research here should be the contribution to this field of a strategy for intervention that initiates with a consideration of the higher vulnerability of children of PTSD-afflicted veterans. It is also anticipated that the research here will help create a greater awareness in the field of the need to create specific and preemptive intervention programs that help to prepare children for the realties of war and the experience of their parents as they readjust to life on the home-front.