Psychological effects on Vietnam solders

1. Psychological effects on Vietnam solders Julia Farnan

2. Thesis--Psychiatric Casualties of War • I believe that the psychological cost is the greatest loss • Soldiers suffer from mental casualties much more then physical casualties • The impact of fear, physiological arousal, horror, and physical deprivation in combat should never be underestimated • Other factors are responsible for psychiatric casualties among combatants. One of those factors is the impact of close-range, interpersonal, aggressive confrontation.

3. Paraphrase--Psychiatric Casualties of War • Contrary to popular belief, money is not the greatest lost of war. The greatest loss, is the psychological effects on surviving soldiers returning home. • Actual casualties manifest in different ways. Anything from affective disorders to somatoform disorders. • Affective Disorder: any mental disorder not caused by detectable organic abnormalities of the brain and in which a major disturbance of emotions is predominant. • Somatoform Disorder: any of a group of psychological disorders (as body dysmorphic disorder or hypochondriasis) marked by physical complaints for which no organic or physiological explanation is found and for which there is a strong likelihood that psychological factors are involved • These disorders began in World War II, when soldiers started to fight 24hrs a day • Fear is a just a symptom and NOT the disease (Dave Grossman and Bruce K. SiddleAcademic Press, 2000)

4. Quote-- Psychiatric Casualties of War • “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity..” -- Dwight D. Eisenhower • Dwight D. Eisenhower was a general in WWII, and actually led the Allied Army in D-Day; he later became President of the US years later • This quote is on the same basis as my thesis, that soldiers truly experience the worst of war • Soldiers experience the brutality on a personal level, especially in Vietnam. Soldiers came up close and personal with dismembered bodies of natives • The soldiers also know the stupidity of war. In Vietnam, soldiers weren't even fighting for themselves.. The consensus of a lot of soldiers was that the war was purposeless

5. Thesis- Usefulness of soldiers • Soldiers, naturally have a timeline of usefulness • It makes sense, that at first they are unskilled • These soldiers have not yet experience actual combat • This is when soldiers are lest useful • As their time in War progress, they become more experienced and more useful • Though, eventually a soldier will have spent too much time in war and begin to suffer from PTSD, therefore lessens their usefulness

6. Paraphrase– Usefulness of Soldiers • In WWII, a study of US Army combatants was conducted in Normandy. After 60 days of continuous combat, 98% of the surviving soldiers had become psychiatric casualties. And the remaining 2% were identified as "aggressive psychopathic personalities." This meant that 98% of all men would go insane, and the other 2% were crazy when they got there. • Greenson, R.R. (1947). Combat Neuroses: Development of Combat Exhaustion. Psychoanal. Q., 16:287-287

7. Soldiers efficacy in war (Primary Source)

8. Thesis– Chemical causes of PTSD • The body must maintain homeostasis • Since PTSD effects the mind, it would be assumed that this is the only place where effects arise from. But the effects of war are also seen in the body else where. • Though

9. Paraphrase-- Psychological casualties in war (cont.) • The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) mobilizes and directs the body’s energy resources for action. • SNS is responsible for the body’s digestive and recuperative process • Body must maintain a balance, homeostasis. • “fight of flight” kicks in and SNS mobilizes all available energy for survival • This process of energy transfer is very intense • Some soldiers often suffer from stress diarrhea • Others in WWII have admitted to either urinating or defecating in combat • The price of this process is intense and can create a powerful backlash • Backlash occurs as soon as the danger and excitement is over • After this process, the body’s usual, natural and useful response to danger becomes extremely counterproductive • It has become increasingly clear that there are two key, core stressors causing the psychological toll associated with combat. These stressors are: the trauma associated with being the victim of close-range, interpersonal aggression; and the trauma associated with the responsibility to kill a fellow human being at close range (Dave Grossman and Bruce K. SiddleAcademic Press, 2000)

10. Quote-- • “One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.” • (Christie, Agatha. Autobiography of Agatha Christie. 1977. p.68. Print. ) • This quote speaks of the guilty and horrible feelings left after war • These feelings (whether one has won or lost the war) are caused my the chemical remains of the transitioning of power in the SNS sympathetic system

11. Thesis– Close-range, interpersonal, aggressive confrontation • Other factors are responsible for psychiatric casualties among combatants. One of those factors is the impact of close-range, interpersonal, aggressive confrontation. • Close-range killing is the killing of a human being, up and close. • Rather then firing a machine gun from a helicopter, or other distance kills • Aggressive confrontation was unavoidable in war, if you wanted to live. In Vietnam specifically, battles could have gotten grotesque. Soldiers were dismembered from clam more mines, and were transformed into piles of flesh from demonic weapons.

12. Paraphrase- Close-range, interpersonal, aggressive confrontation • Bruce K. Siddle's landmark research at PPCT involved monitoring the heart rate responses of law enforcement officers in interpersonal conflict simulations using paintball-type simulation weapons. This research has consistently recorded heart rate increases to well over 200 beats per minute, with some peak heart rates of up to 300 beats per minute. QUOTE BRUCE SIDDLE

13. Quote—Close-range, interpersonal, aggressive confrontation • “They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason..” • (Hemmingway, Ernest. Notes on the Next War. Esquire, 1935. Print.) • This quote fits the mindset of soldiers that deal with close-range killing. They would not die a glorified death, and therefore they must do anything in their power to stay alive. • These soldiers that went day to day, having to kill men with their own hands • Along with trying to stay alive, they watched their fellow soldiers die, along with innocent native people

14. Heart Rate in combat • This data for hormonal or fear induced heart rate increase resulting from sympathetic nervous system arousal. Exercise induced increase will not have the same effect • Hormonal induced performance and strength increase can achieve 100% of potential max within 10 seconds, but drop 55% after 30 seconds, 35% after 60 seconds, and 31% after 90 seconds. It takes a minimum of 3 minutes of rest to “recharge” the system • Any extended period of relaxation after intense sympathetic nervous system arousal can result in a parasympathetic backlash, with significant drops in energy level, heart rate and blood pressure. This can manifest itself as normal shock symptoms (dizziness, nausea and/or vomiting. Clammy skin) and/or profound exhaustion Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s book, ON COMBAT, (page 31)

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18. Works Cited • Primary • Christie, Agatha. Autobiography of Agatha Christie. 1977. p.68. Print. • Grossman, Dave. Psychological Effects of Combat. Volume 3. Academic Press, 1999. p.159. Web. < http://www.killology.com/art_psych_arousal.htm>. • Eisenhower, Dwight. "Farewell Address." U.S. White House, Washington D.C.. January 17, 1961. Address. • Secondary • wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn • Greenson, R.R. (1947). Combat Neuroses: Development of Combat Exhaustion. Psychoanal. Q., 16:287-287 • Hemmingway, Ernest. Notes on the Next War. Esquire, 1935. Print.