Military training intended to help soldiers to react quickly in combat makes them more prone to various emotional and psychological issues upon return to civilian life, according to research at the University of Arkansas. Rural areas should take note because military enlistment is disproportionately rural.
"What we learned talking to soldiers and mental health professionals affirms the findings of the Department of Defense Health Board Task Force on Mental Health, particularly regarding the stigma attached to psychological problems and the shortcomings in available treatment," says sociologist and lead researcher Lori Holyfield, an assistant professor in UA's Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. Her research team analyzed oral histories of Iraq War veterans and mental-health professionals who were active in the field or work in Veterans Administration facilities and soldier, as well as professional accounts from military blogs, documentary films and news coverage.
The analysis used what sociologists have learned about emotions and "edgework," which is what they call voluntary, risk-taking behavior through negotiating between danger and safety in life-and-death situations. Edgework consist of four stages: preparation involving confidence building, performance marked by suppression of emotions, completion allowing emotional release, and maintenance that redefines emotions. Soldiers interviewed for the Veterans Oral History Project consistently reported feelings of hyper-arousal. Despite the suppression of many emotions, the constant threat can produce extended states of rage or anger.
During the completion stage, anger often resurfaces, and when soldiers return home, they must learn to control their emotions and reconcile their feelings and actions. According to the researchers, "the ability to get a perspective on one's self is blocked" because emotions have been continually repressed. They found that soldiers returning to civilian life often redefine their emotions in hyper-masculine ways, including toughness or self-sacrifice. High rates of post-traumatic stress disorder coupled with increasing rates of suicide, substance abuse and alcoholism place mental-health problems for returning veterans at crisis levels. Yet, the number of mental health professionals is declining, which has encouraged the Veterans Administration to work on increasing its mental health staff. Read more.
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