Punked

How Far Would You Go to Protect? Going to war isn't easy, but neither is coming back from it. Doing a good deed, such as serving your country, can result in severe emotional, psychological, as well as physical trauma. In a study published in 2004 in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research found that nearly 17 percent of soldiers who have returned from Iraq, or nearly 1 in 6, showed signs of major depression, generalized anxiety, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Streisand). During World War I, it was known as Shell Shock. In World War II, it was Combat Fatigue. Now it is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is defined as a condition in which a person experiences enduring physical or psychological symptoms after an extremely stressful event or series of events (Hall). Among the soldiers deployed in the most recent wars, 103,792 were diagnosed with PTSD over the period 2002 to December 2012 (Fischer). Symptoms of PTSD in soldiers include, but are not limited to flashbacks, nightmares, sleeplessness, recurring anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and social withdrawal. PTSD is more common in soldiers who have experienced a traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury (TMI) is one of the most common injuries of war and has been referred to as the "signature injury". Since 2001, 10 to 20 percent of soldiers have experienced a traumatic brain injury (Writer). The most common cause of TBI in war zones is the increasingly large amounts of blast attacks. TBI is associated with psychological, cognitive, and physical impairments. TBI can result in difficulties with concentration and memory; "problems participating in social communications; disorganized verbal expressions; diffluent speech; word-retrieval problems; and difficulties with planning, problem solving, judgment, and decision making" (Cognitive...). Physical symptoms of TBI include headaches, insomnia, fatigue, imbalance, and tinnitus (Daggit).