Great discussion about PTSD and secondary trauma. [video: 32 mins]
"I asked the lead scientist, Marinus van IJzendoorn of Leiden University, what might account for other studies' finding of secondary trauma in vets' spouses or kids. He said he's never analyzed those studies, and wonders if the results would hold up to a meta-analysis. But: "Suppose that there is a second-generation effect in veterans, there are a few differences that are quite significant" from children of Holocaust survivors that "might account for difference in coping mechanisms and resources." Holocaust survivors "had more resources and networks, wider family members and community to support them to adapt to their new circumstances after a war." They were not, in other words, expected to man up and get over it.
"We await the results of the 20-year, 10,000-family-strong study of impacts on Iraq and Afghanistan veterans' kin, the largest of its kind ever conducted, that just got under way...."
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/ptsd-epidemic-military-vets-families
Infographic: Charts: Suicide, PTSD and the Psychological Toll on America's Vets
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/charts-us-veterans-ptsd-war-iraq-afghanistan
See also: The Pentagon's PTSD Denial
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/09/pentagons-ptsd-denial
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