Solving the problem of Anxiety Disorder among war veterans - Research Paper Example

? Anxiety Disorder Anxiety Disorder Introduction Every day several soldiers who have been fighting for years at different wars and most recently the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan war return to their homeland. When they return, they are not in the best shape. They might look physically fit but there are covert health issues they experience, which do not allow them to live normal lives and carry out their everyday work. One of these covert disorders include anxiety disorder, this disorder is recognized as covert as the veterans who suffer from this disorder are hard to find and it is more of a psychological problem and less of a physical problem. Due to these sufferings, the veterans find it hard to adjust and gain acceptability in society. Their mental condition hampers their chances of finding jobs within US and due to this, their emotional status becomes worse. They fail to provide for their family and due to ample amount of stress and feeling of alienation from society, they end up taking steps that have dire consequences such as suicide. The government and the private sector need to join hands together to solve this problematic issue. Government has plans and budget to deal with the issues experienced by veterans, but these plans and budgets are not making much of a difference (Woodhead et al., 2011). The private and public sectors need to treat these patients of war through several treatment options available. This writing will focus upon how counseling can assist in solving the problem of anxiety disorder among war veterans and how well this method performed in the past. Body Prevalence Cocker conducted a study on the war veterans of the Gulf War in which he studied over 1,000 veterans. The outcome of his study proved that around 59% of the veterans were diagnosed with some kind of mental and physical disorder; around 387 members of the study had some kind of illness and diagnosis of whether these illnesses were mental or physical could not be concluded; and only 90 or 9% of the veterans were not diagnosed with a health condition. A total of 195 were suffering from some kind of cognitive disorder which was caused just because of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and 16% and 18% of the members suffered from some kind of respiratory issue and muscular disorder respectively (Coker, Bhatt, Blatchley, & Graham, 1999). According to Dobson’s research, when the Australian government started its community counseling services for the Australian veterans of the Vietnam War during the period of 1987, more than 5,000 veterans signed up for the program (Dobson, Grayson, Marshall, & O' Toole, 1998). This means that more than 10% of the Australian veteran soldiers of the Vietnam War were suffering from some kind of disorder that was either physical or mental in nature. The research further states that the number of veterans who continued to get enrolled in this program increased at a very stable rate since the inception of the program. These two studies clearly show that war veterans suffer mental illnesses such as anxiety disorder, and the problem needs to be addressed through different treatment methods. Severity of the Problem According to an article published in The Economist under the title “American Veterans: A Hard Homecoming,” a war veteran who served twice in the war in Iraq got himself registered in the veteran’s hospital located in the area of Atlanta and obtained medical attention for the problem of depression which he was experiencing since his return (The Economist, 2011). He reported that as soon as he returned from the war, his anger issues elevated and he has become more cautious while he is in the public. This experience is not novel; soldiers who return from war environment experience various similar psychological issues in their everyday life. He further reported that since his return, he has tried to obtain various jobs but he experienced ample amount of issues in finding a good job as he did not have any college accreditation in his resume and was only a high school graduate. Later he was able to find a job after his persistent hard work. Finding jobs after returning from war and coping with mental medical conditions has become a part of everyday lives of veterans of war. One reason due to which veterans fail to obtain employment and gain acceptability among other people is that they suffer from anxiety disorders. An individual suffering from such health issues fears the general population and tries to stay away from others. Their stress level increases as they end up being alone and they have no support from others. Various methods for treating anxiety have been figured out over the past several years. These methods include: exposure, cognitive-behavioral, and interpersonal therapy; among the various kinds of therapies and treatments available, counseling have been recognized as one of the best ways of treating anxiety disorders. The DOD (Department of Defense) and DVA (Department of Veterans Affairs) have made several moves to help the veterans solve their psychological issues, but the problem is that the number of veterans is increasing on an ongoing basis and it is becoming difficult for the DOD and DVA to solve the problems of the veterans (Dobson et al., 1998). Another problem is that there is lack of mental health professionals with these departments and nationwide. Those operating in these departments provide different quality of service to different veterans. Some veterans gain high quality service while on the other hand, other veterans obtain low quality of service. Treatment Providing counseling services to the military individuals who have already returned from different wars such as the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars have proven to be beneficial for both the psychologists and the veterans. Research proves that when war veterans are able to talk to someone regarding their experience of war, they obtain psychological relaxation. According to a survey conducted by Greenberg, 50% of the military service men who participated in the Gulf War during 1991 wanted to talk to somebody about their experiences of the war and out of these 50%, over 2/3 ended up sharing their experience with another individual (Voss, Sarah, Holohan, Didion, & Vance, 2011). Lack of counseling service providers made them talk about their experiences with other coworkers and family members and very few got a chance to talk with counseling service providers. The result of the survey was that those who were able to communicate their experience experienced lower levels of stress after sharing their experience. Military officials who return from any war experience psychological problem due to the horrific events that they have witnessed during their time at war and due to this, they even experience inability to adjust in their daily lives when they return. Psychologists for military personnel exist in different departments such as military health care centers, and they are even available in teams that fight in wars. There are various issues experienced by this psychologist during war times. Their main task is to identify and fight against mental issues experienced by army officials in war settings (Voss et al., 2011). These psychiatrists are much more experienced in the field of military psychology as compared to psychologists who do not deal with military officials on day to day basis. This shows that psychologists are not being provided with proper education to deal with military officials who experience stress and anxiety disorders during war time. Conclusion There are a huge number of military veterans that return home with a lot of psychological issues. Due to these psychological issues, they try to enroll themselves in medical facilities that provide counseling services. Another problem experienced by the military veterans is that they experience difficulty in obtaining jobs when they return back home. The government needs to address these concerns as the number of veterans is increasing day by day, and these veterans are an asset to the nation and should be dealt with extreme care. References The Economist (US). (2011). A hard homecoming; American veterans, 401(8764), 40. Coker, J., Bhatt, B., Blatchley, F., & Graham, J. (1999).Clinical findings for the first 1000 Gulf war veterans in the Ministry of Defence's medical assessment programme. British Medical Journal, 318 (7179), 290–1. Dobson, M., Grayson, A., Marshall, R., & O' Toole, B. (1998). Postwar experiences and treatment?seeking behavior in a community counseling setting. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 11, 579–587.  Voss H., Sarah C., Holohan, R., Didion, M., & Vance, G. (2011). Treating traumatized OEF/OIF veterans. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42(1), 79–86. Woodhead, C., Rona, R., Iversen, A., Macmanus, D., Hotopf, M., Dean, K., Mcmanus, S…. (2011). Mental health and health service use among post-national service veterans: Results from the 2007 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey of England. Psychological Medicine, 41(2), 363–372. Read More