Soldiers and Post Traumatic Stress; Asian Americans
Not all soldiers develop post-traumatic stress syndrome. Some soldiers develop post-traumatic stress syndrome while others do not. The finding supports this fact that many factors come into play before a soldier develops post-traumatic stress. The vulnerability of the soldier before the war is as equally important as the trauma experienced by the soldier during the war to the contributor to the development of post-traumatic stress by a soldier (Xue et al., 2015). The pre-war vulnerability as well as the trauma of war also plays a part in determining how long the symptoms of the post-traumatic syndrome will last.
These situations especially the pre-war vulnerability can never be similar to the soldiers, it is no wonder some soldiers get the syndrome while others do not. According to studies conducted on the topic, the trauma witnessed during the war, the traumatic experiences of the war such as sexual assaults, childhood physical abuse, family histories of substance abuse and soldiers taking part in harming the civilians or the prisoners played a part (Xue et al., 2015).
Reports indicate that serving in the army can be an isolating affair for the Asian Americans. They have no one to look out for them should there be a problem. There two cases of Asian American soldiers who took their lives. Chen, one of two had been fed up with the incessant bullying and jokes poked at him because he was Chinese, he later put a bullet in his head. Lew also suffered a similar fate, though he was after severe hazing in the hands of his fellow Marines after falling asleep during his shift (Tsai, Whealin, & Pietrzak, 2014). The incident has sparked intense reactions from the Asian American communities in the country, with many questioning the line between disciplinary action and hazing.
References
Tsai, J., Whealin, J., & Pietrzak, R. (2014). Asian American and Pacific Islander Military Veterans in the United States: Health Service Use and Perceived Barriers to Mental Health Services. American Journal Of Public Health, 104(S4), S538-S547. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2014.302124
Xue, C., Ge, Y., Tang, B., Liu, Y., Kang, P., Wang, M., & Zhang, L. (2015). A Meta-Analysis of Risk Factors for Combat-Related PTSD among Military Personnel and Veterans. PLOS ONE, 10(3), e0120270. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0120270
