PTSD & Sleep Problems Common Among Veterans

Many of the veterans have some sort of psychological traumas, but the psychologists have stated that it is very difficult to talk to them, as they are unwilling to cooperate.

However, it has been discovered that they are more than willing to talk to the bartenders from the bars they go to, than to the psychologists. The researchers discovered that the bartenders from the Veterans of Foreign Wars bars get to hear lots of stories, and lots of confessions. They believe that these bartenders could use the stories which they hear in order to tell the mental health professionals that these people are in trouble. They even stated that the bartenders could be trained in order to identify the potential problems the veterans might have. The lead researcher of the study was Keith Anderson, a professor of social work at Ohio State University. He stated that the majority of these bartenders are very close the veterans, they even see them as members of the family. The veterans trust them and thanks to that they are willing to share their problems and their thoughts.

The Department of Veterans Affairs stated in 2009 that there are more than 23 million veterans in the United States of America. The veterans are very prone to various types of mental problems such as depression, post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, panic attacks, and many others. Because of that the Veterans Health Administration tried to intensify the focus on the mental health services. However, they did not accomplish too many things because the veterans did not cooperate. They did not like to talk about their troubles, and about what bothers them. Anderson stated that the reason why they are uncooperative might be because they consider being afraid, or suffering from panic attacks of being unmanly. They have troubles admitting that they have problems just like any other person might have. Anderson believes that the doctors could be helped by the community members, as they get to communicate more with the veterans than the doctors do. The doctors might see these people once every year, whereas the bartenders or the clerks might see them numerous times per week.  Anderson said that the bets helpers could be the bartenders, as they are the ones who get to listen to most of the stories. People tend to talk a lot to the bartenders, to confide in them, and there might be certain reasons for it. They see them as someone who they can trust, or who can understand them, and so on.

Anderson wanted to see if the bartenders could be used for this purpose. He sent a letter to all the 300 bartenders who work at the Veterans of Foreign Wars bars, and 71 of them were willing to participate to the study. 54 percent of the ones who participated to the study said that they feel close to the veterans, mainly because the Veterans of Foreign Wars bars are private. The same people go in and go out, and everybody knows each other there. 17 percent of the bartenders said that they feel very close to the veterans, and that they consider them to be members of their family. On average, the bartenders who worked at the Veterans of Foreign Wars bars, worked there for 7 years, and during this time they got to listen to numerous stories. Many of the bartenders said that the job was very intense, as they got to listen to all the heart breaking stories, and they go to see the pain through which the veterans were going through. 55 percent of the bartenders said that the veterans talked to them about the various problems which they have. 17 percent of them said that they heard these stories very often, in which the veterans talked about their financial, family, or emotional problems.

More than 65 percent of the bartenders said that they are able to identify the signs of depression and anxiety. 42.8 percent of them said that they are able to identify the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. It was discovered that the majority of the bartenders had no idea about the fact that the veterans can get lots of help in the hospitals. They believed that the main reason why the veterans did not get help was because they could not get it. Anderson said that 80 percent of the bartenders who participated to the study said that they would be willing to convince the veterans to go and seek professional help, whereas 60 percent of them stated that they would try to help the veterans themselves. Anderson said that the main goal of this project is to convince the bartenders to look for the signs which might indicate depression, post traumatic stress disorder, or other mental illnesses. He said that he would like these bartenders to pass the information to the qualified people who then might be able to help them from this point of view. It is unknown if the program will ever take place, but the initiative is pretty interesting.

The problems which the veterans have are very serious. A new study has revealed the fact that the veterans who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder have higher chances of developing dementia later in life. The post traumatic stress disorder can be usually seen in the people who have witnessed or who were involved in a terrible event. However, the veterans have the highest chances of suffering from it because of the things which they often see on the battle field. The National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder revealed the fact that 20 percent of the Iraq Wars veterans suffer from post traumatic stress disorder, and that 30 percent of the veterans of the Vietnam War suffer from it as well. 10,481 veterans ages 65 or older participated to the study. It was discovered that 11 percent of the veterans who suffered from post traumatic stress disorder suffered from dementia as well. 4.3 percent of the veterans who did not suffer from post traumatic stress disorder developed dementia in time. It is very clear the stress disorder can influence the development of dementia. The doctors believe that the dementia might be stopped if they manage to treat the post traumatic stress disorder. Another thing which influenced the development of dementia was the injuries which these soldiers sustained in battle. The ones who got injured in the war had higher chances of suffering from dementia than the ones who did not get injured.

The people who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder can develop other illnesses as well, such as diabetes, and various heart diseases. The ones who suffer from this disorder have troubles with their sleeping, as they often suffer from nightmares. A news study has revealed the fact that the deployed soldiers have much more trouble when it comes to falling asleep than the regular people, or than the soldiers who did not get deployed. 28 percent of the soldiers who were deployed stated that they have trouble falling asleep, and 21 percent of them who went back home after serving on the front, stated the same thing. Amber Seelig, data analyst for the Department of Deployment Health Research at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California, said that it is very obvious that the sleep can be affected by the act of getting deployed. It has been discovered that the majority of the soldiers who had problems falling asleep also suffered from depression and post traumatic stress disorder. It has been discovered that the ones who suffered from sleep disorders had mental issues. The researchers said that the sleeping problems of these people could not be solved unless the mental issues would be solved first. However, they said that if these people would be able to sleep more then usual, the mental problems would not be so frequent and so aggressive.

41,225 soldiers participated to the study which lasted for two years. It was discovered that 25 percent of the non-deployed soldiers, 27 percent of the deployed soldiers, and 30 percent of the post-deployed soldiers suffer from sleeping problems and from mental issues as well.