Many Vets Suffering Recurance of PTSD

Post traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder caused by experiencing intense trauma where life is threatened in terrifying ways. This disorder has life long consequences as I've talked about before. AP Wire reported on a former Senator who is a Vietnam vet who has had a recurence of PTSD because of repeated exposure to images of war in Iraq.

Former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, who has battled bouts of depression since losing three limbs in Vietnam, is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Cleland, who represented Georgia in the Senate from 1997 to 2003, said he believes the condition - cases of which are increasing rapidly among Vietnam war veterans - was in part triggered by the ongoing violence in Iraq.

"I realize my symptoms are avoidance, not wanting to connect with anything dealing with the (Iraq) war, tremendous sadness over the casualties that are taken, a real identification with that. ... I've tried to disconnect and disassociate from the media. I don't watch it as much. I'm not engrossed in it like I was," Cleland said in an interview with WSB-TV in Atlanta. He said he feels depressed, has developed a sense of hyper-vigilance about his security and has difficulty sleeping, the television station reported.

3 Comments

By john akins on November 30, 2006 5:51 PM

I served as a marine rifleman in Viet Nam, 1968-69. I’ve read much Viet Nam war literature and published a collection of war poetry, On The Way to Khe Sanh, (three of which appeared in The Iowa Review, Spring 2005), and a memoir, Nam Au Go Go - Falling for the Vietnamese Goddess of War.

Nam Au Go Go is different. It talks about something no one I can find has written about - what violence does to war fighters. How, if combat soldiers and marines see too much, do too much, they can cross a threshold into an adaptation to violence and become addicted to it. When your emotional self is killed off by the insanity of war, survivors of this addiction have a hard time re-connecting with society. Combat is a one-way door. Once you go through, you cannot go back. You are changed.

for a glimpse, go to www.johnakins.net

Find Nam Au Go Go on booksellers’ websites.
e: jacolesdad@comcast.net

By Dave Johnson on November 30, 2006 7:30 PM

I believe it. There are quite a few stories of vets coming back violent and out of control, ending up in prison or dead. One of my buddies in college told me he volunteered for six tours walking point in Nam. He claimed that he wouldn't let anyone take point because he saw too many kids buy it. He felt too broken to come home. Finally, they refused his attempts to re-up. The man had no emotion, no expression, simply walked around in a daze all day, going through the motions, often thinking of suicide. When he wasn't in class, he was smoking pot. He said everyone in combat in Nam was high, it was the only way to cope. I lost track of him after the end of the school year. I often think of him and wonder if he made it. I feel for you man, I hope you found some peace.

By john akins on December 1, 2006 11:41 AM

thanks for your reply.

I preferred point too. After years of denial and avoidance, my life finally got some meaning when my son was born. He turns 20 today. I did find an antidote - going back to Vietnam in 2000. I go back every year. It's a chance to look for my soul and to find some atonement.