Meanings of PTSD in Contemporary Life: A Social Constructionist Examination of Recent Veterans' Experiences

• In Event: 282 - Section on Medical Sociology Paper Session. Trauma, Victimization, and Health (co-sponsored with the Section on Sociology of Mental Health)

Abstract

The readjustment difficulties of veterans upon return to civilian life have a history as long as war itself. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the current name for what was previously referred to as soldier’s heart, shell shock and combat fatigue. The experience of this phenomenon depends on nested influences including the events that occurred, the individual’s mindset, and the larger social understandings of the phenomenon. In this manner, the experience of “disease” has to be understood in a larger social context. This paper examines PTSD as experienced by 30 recent veterans in New York City through in-depth interviews and 2 focus groups (10 participants each). The paper explores how the veterans learned about PTSD, how they came to realize they had it, and their evolving relationship to the stigma commonly attached to this disorder. Veterans reported learning about PTSD from military superiors, family members, military pamphlets and through the internet. Most came to realize and internalize the diagnosis through interactions with friends and family. And most were well-aware of the stigma associated with PTSD and spoke articulately about its emotional and material consequences. Knowing how these veterans perceive and characterize the disorder in their own words offers a set of views of PTSD with implications for improving mental health care and calibrating the responses of the military to PTSD. Further, the findings of this research provide an opportunity to address and augment larger societal understandings of the varied manifestations and potential repercussions of trauma rooted in military service or elsewhere.

Authors

• Alex S. Bennett, National Development and Research Institutes

• Kelly Szott, Syracuse University

• Ernest Drucker, Columbia University and City University of New York-John Jay College