Secondary Posttraumatic Stress Disorder of Wives of War Veterans

Abstract

At the beginning it deals with numerous consequences of the war include a series of psychosocial disturbances. It confirms the necessity of interference of social institutions into lives of families with PTSD. Due to many traumatic experiences, a number of war veterans have developed PTSD. With its specific symptoms, PTSD has a significant impact on the usual social functioning of the veterans. It is especially pronounced in the family which, on one side, should offer emotional support to its sick member, and on the other hand, suffers most from the condition of one of its members. In most cases, the veterans wives are those who try to preserve and maintain previous family balance. In the present article, mental consequences of living with a husband suffering from PTSD were investigated. The article provides much information on the recent studies on the subject by scientists from the United States, Croatia and Israel. Results of the study indicate serious problems in families of veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Based on the above test results, we can draw the following conclusions: the wives of war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder have a high prevalence of symptoms of secondary traumatization; these women are much more depressive and prone to nervous breakdown; this group often feels the aggression and domestic violence; chronic disease is more common for wives of war veterans suffering from PTSD. Spouses of veterans with PTSD did not differ significantly from spouses of veterans without PTSD on various sociodemographic and other characteristics. This finding confirms the argument that in many cases veteran’s PTSD is probably the main source of problems for the whole family. This argument will coincide with some scientific research and clinical observations showing that many wives of veterans with PTSD have undertaken major financial, parenting and household duties in the relationship. Thus, it is important to emphasize that the changes in the behavior of one family member leads to dysfunction of the whole family.