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Need deeper details of the events in the attached paper. Like smoke filled rooms etc…and possilbly the feeling of anger or distress. Need only 2 pages or so. No refrences noi titlke page just deep details of the tramatic events so that I may handwrite Sunday for turn in.
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POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
“Everyone who goes to war dies, anyone who comes back has cheated.” This is a statement that Damon Allen constantly said to himself. He remembered everything clearly, a poor lit bunker stinking of smoke and alcohol, the smell of death, the loud gun noises. His mind went back to the day that he was deployed to go to Iraq to ride convoy with the 10th cavalry. He was so full of hope that he was going to make a change to his country. He wore his spotless, perfectly pressed uniform and beamed with pride.
At first glance it is difficult to notice the deep wounds that torment Damon Allen, a tall African American man. He was fourty years old and was among the first soldiers to arrive in Iraq in April 2003. His decision to enlist in the army was due to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was assigned to operation Red Dawn, an American military operation that was conducted in ad-Dawr, Iraq. His mission included processing dead soldiers and airmen. Allen had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, an anxiety disorder that occurs after a serious traumatic event (Violanti & Paton, 2006).
After only seven months, he was discharged from war due to gout. Allen returned home back to his wife Lindsey and two children, Scott who was ten years old and Olive, eight years old. They had been married for 17 years and they had a happy marriage. The future seemed so bright that they purchased their first house, a small cottage on a three-acre farm. They had always loved the countryside and they felt ready to go on with their post-war life. Since he had served for only a short time, he felt that he had not changed much, but nothing could be further from the truth.
He tried to fit back in the society, but being back at home was many times harder than being in war. He called his old friends and they met over drinks, and played poker like they used to, but somehow he felt as though something was amiss. They all wanted recounts of war, and he entertained them with fictitious tales of heroic soldiers. He even tried to meet up with veterans like himself but everyone had their own experiences and most of them had their own issues that they were dealing with. No one really understood how it felt like to take someone’s life, women, teenagers, and men. On the best days, he told himself that he killed to survive. On the worst days he believed that he committed acts of madness so that he could not go mad. He held a lot of grudges close to his heart and felt like he was still in war, a war with his actions, and a war for his survival. He could not talk to anyone, even his wife. Back then, he remembered sending her letters that were filled with only love messages, nothing about the war.
He could not talk to anyone, even his wife, about it. He became antisocial, keeping to himself most of the time. Lindsey had somewhat prepared psychologically for Allen’s return. She knew that his transition back home would not be easy and had attended classes offered by the readiness centre. She had researched PTSD symptoms and had talked with several wives whose husbands were veterans. All in all, she felt that she was prepared and could handle anything that would happen. She assumed that he had not been involved in much action and did not have first hand account of the war since he was based in the air force. She was also very wrong.
Allen began having trouble sleeping as the memories of the dead soldiers would constantly haunt him. It started with nightmares, sleep walking, and violently waking up screaming, his mind clearly in a dream. He would thrash and toss and turn throughout the whole night. He was haunted by images of two young military soldiers burnt beyond recognition as they lay on cold metal tables while he went through their uniform looking for personal effects and ammunition. He remembered seeing his mentor, a major in the army, bleed to death. He remembered the catastrophe that struck his unit when a military airplane was brought down by a suicide bomber. All his six friends who had boarded it perished, and he had to process and to transport their bodies. He bought sleeping pills to help him sleep and they helped for a while, until he got addicted to them. He needed them to function, to stay sane, and to fill the empty void that engulfed him.
He became addicted to the pills and began to buy over-the counter drugs and alcohol to satisfy his addiction. He told himself that this was a necessary evil and as long as the drugs were not illegal and could help him cope with everyday life, then there was nothing wrong with it. Allen would hide the drugs from his wife since he did not want her to worry unnecessarily.
Allen adored his wife. During the seven months that he was in Iraq, his will to live was motivated by seeing his wife and his children again. Prior to going to the war, he had neither history of domestic violence nor any pattern of abuse. No issues had been detected by his most recent post-deployment mental health assessment. He had never been diagnosed with any mental issue and had led what most peoples would call a happy childhood. He was raised in a loving home; his needs were provided for by his parents and he had many friends. He therefore had no reason to consider that he might be having a mental problem.
Lindsey assumed that the symptoms Allen was experiencing were typical responses of someone returning home from war and saw nothing to be concerned about. She did not want to push him to seek mental health. Allen started going out to drink at the local pub and Lindsey saw nothing wrong with it. She would even make it easier for him to drink by supplying him with a beer and offering him wine after meals, believing that she was making his return back home easier.
Life continued this way for some time without any major trauma. Lindsey would see other soldiers struggling with PTSD, anger management issues and anxiety disorders and thought of herself as being lucky since her husband had come out unscathed. This did not last for long. One morning, Lindsey asked her husband if at all he had any recollection of what had happened the previous night. He said that he had no recollection of anything that had happened and that is when she told him that he had fought with a waiter and had climbed the tables, and was kicked out of the bar as a result. Allen promised to quit drinking, but that only lasted for a week.
He started drinking again and would engage in anything that would give him an adrenalin rush and as a way of releasing stress, a PTSD symptom (Violanti & Paton, 2006). He would over speed and drive while drunk. His body was filled with bruises that he got during his drunken brawls. He would even challenge passers by to fight him just for the fun of it.
Since they did not have a source of income, Allen and Lindsey started having financial problems. They were late on most of their bills and faced power and water disconnection. The financial constraints forced Allen to seek work. He submitted applications to various openings which he was qualified for but none were willing to offer him a position. The only jobs he got were temporary jobs which did not last long as he would get fired due to lateness, going to work while drunk or due to getting in fights with his colleagues. He finally got employed as a security guard in a local restaurant. This job suited him as his duty entailed sitting at the entrance while doing nothing for the whole day.
He became paranoid, nervous, and extremely edgy. He became an introvert, withdrawing from social contact. He avoided his wife and children and locked himself up in the basement during his off days where he would guzzle beer cans all day. He would lock himself in the house for days and when he would venture out, he would avoid scraps of trash on the road as he would think that they would be hiding explosives. An unexpected sound like the ringing of the car alarm would send him scrambling and taking cover under furniture. He would suspect everyone who carried a backpack and would get as further away from them as he could.
He began verbally abusing his wife where he would call her names and blame her for any little thing that happened. Along with his fits of temper came suicidal bouts. Allen kept his handgun with him at all times and at night he would keep it under the bed. He would sometimes stare at it for long periods of time, debating on whether or not to end his life. Allen would get fits of rage where he would smash windows, shred paintings, break doors, and dent appliances. His constant rages created an atmosphere of fear and sadness in the house.
The children were afraid of him and would not stay in the same room with him. He was verbally abusive with them. He would constantly yell at his daughter whenever she cried and would tell her to “grow up”. His son was not spared either. He would be so hard on him and would tell him to look him in the eye while they were talking. He no longer helped with their homework as he did not have patience to sit down and explain facts to them. Before getting deployed, the children would play games with him but he had forbidden any kind of noise in the house as he said that it irritated him.
Lindsey urged him to seek counseling help, but like many soldiers in the same situation, he had a hard time accepting the seriousness of his mental wounds. Being a soldier, he did not want to give up as they are taught that even when missing a limb, there is nothing wrong with them. They were taught to create a mentality that they can overcome anything. Allen refused and would not even entertain the idea of seeking help. Lindsey constant insistence that he get help led to fights and disagreements. The fights became constant and Allen and Lindsay’s relationship was strained. They could not talk to each other and they became strangers to each other. He became very jealous and would prohibit her from going anywhere. He insisted on shopping for grocery and taking the children. She became a prisoner in her own house.
One day in the morning all of a sudden, Allen felt a sudden tightness in his chest, making it hard to breathe. He bolted out of bed thinking that he was dying but the soldier in him told him to be strong. He did not alert his wife who was sleeping beside him. He paced the room in the dark for hours till morning. In the morning, the feeling came on again. Panic and claustrophobia overcame him. He thought that he was having a heart attack and knew that he had to see a doctor. A battery of tests was done to exclude his heart condition and he was cleared. After looking at his records, doctors recommended that he see a psychotherapist but he refused, telling himself that he was not broken. He went home that night and the same thing happened.
He officially sought help through the local Air Force base and was prescribed some psychotropic medication to help deal with anxiety. He had stopped taking alcohol but the nightmares, cold sweats and hallucination had come back. Though he never physically assaulted his wife, he continued being emotionally abusive to her. This forced Lindsey to take their children to live with his parents as she was afraid that he might hurt them. Lindsey could not leave him no matter how hard he pushed her away. She felt that it was her responsibility to take care of him. She tried to be as supportive as she could and all her efforts to convince him to enroll in therapy bore no fruits.
Allen’s depression worsened. One day while he was driving home from work, he felt a depression that he had never felt before. His heart felt hollow, and he barely had the strength to drive. He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to take out his pistol and shoot himself. He thought of his wife and his two children. He had memories of proposing to his wife and of the birth of his two children. He remembered how fulfilling life once was, he remembered being happy and laughing with his children, and he then knew that he had to choose between life and death. He unloaded his pistol and threw it outside the window. He knew then that he had to make a deliberate choice to change for the better.
The first thing he did when he got back home was to tell his wife. For the first time in ages, he opened up to her and told her that he really needed help. He opened up about the images that constantly haunt him, he told her about his addiction to drugs and his mental anguish. All this time he had wanted to forget, but now it was important for him to remember everything, not just for his sake, but for the sake of his family. He told her that he admitted not being able to deal with everything by himself. Lindsey was elated; she knew that he had made a major step to his recovery, and that it was not an easy decision for him.
For thirty days, Allen was a patient at an in-treatment facility that specialized in treating military members. He happily embraced treatment aspects like group therapy and took part in Cognitive Processing Therapy in order to address his PTSD. He returned home and was enrolled in a military post behavioral treatment facility to continue with his treatment. Due to group therapy sessions and socializing with his fellow soldiers, he learnt to come out of his depression and to deal with it.
They recommended a HALTE (Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired and Exercise) program, where therapy whereby if one was hungry, they were required to eat, angry, they were supposed to get over it, lonely, to be social with people, tired, to rest, and they needed to exercise regularly (Boriskin, 2004). Beyond HALTE, he was required to adopt a lifestyle that would reduce stress and tension triggers.
There is no drug or cure for PTSD (Connor, 2009) and Allen has come up with his own countermeasures. He uses relaxation techniques, hot baths, various forms of exercise, breathing techniques, listening to music, reading, socializing with friends, and watching movies. He has come to understand that some forms of medication may trigger physical and psychological reactions, so he takes great care when taking medication. He carries with him a list of all medication, dosage, and dosage times and the names and phone numbers of all the people that treat him.
Allen and his family have learnt to deal with a day at a time. The children were brought back home and they are making efforts to rebuild their relationship. He still struggles daily with anxiety, anger and depression, but he understands that with continuous therapy and emotional support from his family, his struggles will lessen over time. He can communicate better with his family and is even considering enrolling for an Intellectual Technology course, something that he had always wanted to do. The future looks bright; it is just a matter of taking things as they come for Allen, Lindsey, and their two children.
References
Boriskin, J. A. (2004). PTSD and addiction: a practical guide for clinicians and counselors. Center City, Minn.: Hazelden.
Connor, R. B. (2009). Collateral damage: how can the Army best serve a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder?. Arlington, Va.: Institute of Land Warfare, Association of the United States Army.
Violanti, J. M., & Paton, D. (2006). Who gets PTSD?: issues of posttraumatic stress vulnerability. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas.
