The Wounds of the Invisible Warriors

By Kristen O'Neill

Post-traumatic stress disorder has been referred to as a soldier’s “invisible wounds” (“About Us”) from battle, the new fight they face even after returning from war. Dr. Danny Wedding and Dr. Ryan M. Niemiec, two psychologists, write in their book Movies and Mental Illness about twenty-nine movies that show characters with diagnosed PTSD or PTSD-like symptoms. Though most of those films featured veterans and war victims, not one of them featured a female with PTSD. This is despite the fact women are about twice as likely as men to develop PTSD (“PTSD Statistics”).  

When PTSD was first being researched, it focused mainly on the male veterans returning from the Vietnam War. Researchers only looked into PTSD in females in relationship to the behaviors and symptoms shown by female rape victims (“Women, Trauma, and PTSD”). In 2012, over three-thousand sexual assaults were reported to the Department of Defense, 88% of the victims being women (Hlad). Between their increased risk of exposure to trauma due to combat and the risk of sexual assault in the military, servicewomen are put in a situation with two of the triggers commonly associated with causing PTSD. Yet, the National Center for PTSD in 2014 said future research needs to be done to determine the effects of this exposure on women.

So, females in the military are being passed over in Hollywood films that feature the debilitating condition that they are more prone to than their male counterparts. Even science has not done enough research to determine just how much more they are at risk. And now, people are ignoring the plight as even documentaries about soldiers with PTSD feature mostly men. Out of six documentaries specifically focusing on PTSD and adjustment back into civilian life, five of the films featured just men. The last film featured one woman and her struggle (“About the Film”).

With more and more stories coming out about women being sexually assaulted in the military, and the plight of veterans with PTSD gaining more and more exposure, there is no reason for the lack of representation of these invisible warriors in our society. These women have served our country above and beyond and risk so much only to come home scarred. Just as giving young girls role models they can look up to can bolster confidence (Periera), showing these warriors that society has acknowledged their wounds and that they are not alone can make all the difference to a soldier in a dark place.

Works Cited

Hlad, Jennifer. "Does Military Culture Foster Environment of Sex Abuse?" Stripes.com. Stars and Stripes, 23 May 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2015. <http://www.stripes.com/news/does-military-culture-foster-environment-of-sex-abuse-1.222408>.

"Myths about Posttraumatic Stress Disorder." PTSD Alliance. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ptsdalliance.org/about_myths.html>.

"About Us." Invisible Wound. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://invisiblewound.org/about-us/>.

Wedding, Danny, and Ryan M. Niemiec. "Trauma and Stressor-Related Disorders." Movies and Mental Illness: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology. 4th ed. Boston: Hogrefe, 2014. 108, 110-112. Web. <https://books.google.com/books?id=Zd3sAwAAQBAJ&pg=PP4&lpg=PP4&dq=movies+and+mental+illness+4th+edition&source=bl&ots=dEiNkt1cVC&sig=_7oNpma6aH6EqT0-78A-kIbEAd8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=3Qs0VZaILYO1sATxuYGoBw&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false>.

Grohol, John M. "DSM-5 Changes: PTSD, Trauma & Stress-Related Disorders." Psych Central Professional. Psychcentral.com, 28 May 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://pro.psychcentral.com/dsm-5-changes-ptsd-trauma-stress-related-disorders/004406.html>.

"PTSD Statistics." PTSD United. PTSD United, Inc., 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ptsdunited.org/ptsd-statistics-2/>.

Niemiec, Ryan. "About Ryan M. Niemiec." Ryan Niemiec. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ryanniemiec.com/about.html>.

"Danny Wedding, PhD, MPH: Alumni Directory." Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Health Policy Fellows. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.healthpolicyfellows.org/secure/alumni-bio.php?id=4440>.

"About the Film." HIDDEN BATTLES. VSM Productions. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://hiddenbattles.com/about/>.

Stuever, Hank. "TV Review: HBO's 'Wartorn: 1861-2010' Explores Battles off the Field." The Washington Post 11 Nov. 2010. The Washington Post Company. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/10/AR2010111006971.html>.

Friedman, Matthew J. "PTSD History and Overview." U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The National Center for PTSD, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/PTSD-overview/ptsd-overview.asp>.

"Not Just a Military Problem: Four Signs You May Have Posttraumatic Stress Disorder."American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. 19 June 2013. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <https://www.afsp.org/news-events/in-the-news/not-just-a-military-problem-four-signs-you-may-have-posttraumatic-stress-disorder>.

"Women, Trauma, and PTSD." U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. National Center for PTSD, 3 Jan. 2014. Web. 19 Apr. 2015. <http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/women/women-trauma-and-ptsd.asp>.

Periera, Eva. "The Role Model Effect: Women Leaders Key To Inspiring The Next Generation." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 19 Jan. 2012. Web. 6 May 2015.

Wedding, Danny, Ryan M. Niemiec, and Mary Ann Boyd. "Appendix F." Movies and Mental Illness 3: Using Films to Understand Psychopathology. 3rd ed. Boston: Hogrefe, 2010. Web. < http://www.hogrefe.com/program/media/flyingbooks/600371/files/600371.pdf>,

There was a Tragedy, Also, PTSD

By Kristen O'Neill

With multiple 24-hour news networks and access to them from any internet enabled device, it’s fair to say that the media has a big influence over Americans. It’s an important responsibility, when a single word can change the tone of a sentence, and consequently the entire article. As a Journalism student at Stony Brook University, I know how important it is to make sure everything I say is as fair and correct as possible. But it seems like the media drops the ball with a topic every now and again. This time, it’s with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In the past few years, soldiers in the military have been involved with various violent crimes and incidents, most recently with the Fort Hood shootings on April 2nd, 2014. A specialist named Ivan Lopez reportedly killed three people and then took his own life following an altercation with another soldier on the base. When news networks began to report, officials were clear in saying that had not yet established a motive and they didn’t know what caused Lopez to do what he did. Yet CNN’s story on the incident mentioned the soldier was being evaluated for PTSD within the first two sentences. The article then says officials have the task of figuring out what in his “background and medical treatment (Sanchez and Brumfield)” could have triggered the shooting. A reader four sentences into the article now knows nothing about the event except that Lopez was suffering from various psychiatric disorders, was being evaluated for PTSD, and he killed people. These associations plant a seed in the reader’s mind that PTSD is associated with violence.

So many news outlets were making this unconscious connection between PTSD and the shooting that the New York Times published an article on April 4th, 2014 about mental health officials concerned with the media’s handling of the Fort Hood incident. Officials were concerned that they were painting those suffering from PTSD as violent, despite a lack of data backing it up and that being dismissed as a possible trigger anyway. Dr. Harry Croft, a psychiatrist, said, “There’s a misconception with PTSD that a symptom is anger and violence” (“Experts Dispel PTSD…”).  

But even after the New York Times ran that story, less than a year later they published an article about an army veteran who was being charged with threatening a shooting in the U.S. capitol. In the first sentence, the veteran is said to be diagnosed with PTSD and has threatened to shoot his wife and others. In the next sentence, we learn the suspect’s name. The story is only 214 words long yet mentions the soldier’s PTSD two more times but not any official motive for the threats (Simpson). Even the most level-headed reader is left to assume that the two must be connected in some way; the article implies that PTSD had something to do with it.

Here’s the problem with these implications and associations. They are not based in fact. Journalists are not psychiatrists, they are not experts in mental health and they don’t have the authority to decide whether a person’s health is connected to their actions – they have to ask questions to figure that out. The fact that these soldiers were suffering from or being evaluated for PTSD is an important fact about them and should be included in the story, just not in the first few sentences, only to be dispelled later in the article. There is a lack of transparency and fairness in reporting about PTSD and it is misleading. As a journalism student, if there’s one thing you don’t want to be, it’s misleading. These media outlets are falling into the stigma and stereotypes of PTSD and in doing so are perpetuating them in the process of reporting.

Works Cited

Simpson, Ian. "Army Veteran Charged With Threatening U.S. Capitol Shooting." The New York Times 5 Feb. 2015. The New York Times. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2015/02/05/us/05reuters-usa-maryland-capitol.html?_r=0>.

"Experts Dispel PTSD Link to Violence After Fort Hood Incident." The New York Times 3 Apr. 2014. The New York Times. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/04/03/us/03reuters-usa-shooting-forthood-health.html>.

Sanchez, Ray, and Ben Brumfield. "Fort Hood Shooter Was Iraq Vet Being Treated for Mental Health Issues." CNN 4 Apr. 2014. CNN. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/02/us/fort-hood-shooter-profile/>.