PTSD OF VETERANS

PTSD SYMPTOMS

• Symptoms include the experience of actual harm or threats to be harmed physically and or emotionally, intrusive
• symptoms that include flashbacks, disturbing dreams or memories, negative changes in cognition, the avoidance of
• stimuli associated with the event and changes in arousal levels.
• In order for there to be a diagnosis, symptoms must be present for over a month and the level of stress has to be
• significant enough where everyday activities are negatively affected.

CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS

• Soldiers were exposed to far more carnage than other wars
• Witnessing this novel amount of gore would have been a severe trauma that could have produced anxiety and other
• psychological symptoms associated with PTSD
• Between 15 and 20 percent of the Union army soldiers enlisted between ages of 9 and 17

CIVIL WAR VETERANS

• During the American Civil War, military physicians diagnosed many cases of functional disability as the result of fear
• of battle and the stresses of military life. This included a wide range of illnesses now known to be caused by emotional
• turbulence, including paralysis, tremors, self-inflicted wounds, nostalgia, and severe palpitations