Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Battling the Effects of War

InNewsweek, I found an article by Peg Tyre called Battling the Effects of War. The article is very interesting because it talks about the psychological disorders of people who come home from the Iraq War. Some of the most common psychological effects are post tramatic stress disorder that is a mental condition caused by extreme stress. It also makes soldiers hypervigiliance, insomnia, recurring nightmares, anxiety, mood disorders, depression, and intrusive thoughts. People who suffer from these conditions fall into drug and alcohol abuse, unemployment, homelessness and suicide very easily. The United States is trying to help these people by counseling, social workers, mental hospitals, outreach programs, mental health clinics, and psychiatric hospitals. Sometimes these programs don't work for example, "Jefferey Lucey hanged himself in the basement of his family home" one year after returning from Iraq. Sometimes soldiers become schizophrenic and die because of it.

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