Doctors attached the D-word to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder almost immediately. To many people, a “disorder” is a condition that randomly affects some people and not others, or even worse, a “disorder” excuses socially inappropriate behavior (e.g., I don’t have a bad temper, I have intermittent explosive disorder).
Medically, “disorder” basically means “unknown.” Schizophrenia was once considered a disorder. Now, doctors have identified the physical cause of PTSD. After extreme stress, like combat stress, the amygdala swells, essentially crushing the hippocampus. The amygdala controls emotional responses, and the hippocampus controls logical responses.
This imbalance explains hypervigilance, anger, depression, personality changes, anxiety, and other classic PTSD symptoms. To control these symptoms, many PTSD victims self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, making a bad situation worse.
Even if a private military contractor with PTSD self-medicates, a Defense Base Act lawyer can obtain maximum benefits. Since PTSD is a physical injury, as discussed above, it is a covered condition. Furthermore, the DBA insurance company cannot use a victim’s vulnerabilities, even if those vulnerabilities were self-inflicted, as an excuse to reduce or deny compensation. This compensation usually includes lost wage replacement and medical bill payment.
Revolutionary War Era
People recognized the symptoms of PTSD long before anyone bothered to figure out the cause. That is probably why the injury remains stigmatized today. An unexpected source is playwright William Shakespeare, who may have been one of the first people to document these symptoms.
One of the Bard’s lesser-known plays, Henry IV Part 1, openly discussed PTSD. In one scene, Lady Percy confronts her husband, Hotspur, about his disturbing post-conflict personality changes.
“O my good lord, why are you thus alone? For what offense have I this fortnight been
a banished woman from my Harry’s bed? Tell me, sweet lord, what is it that takes from thee thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep? Why dost thou bend thine eyes upon the earth and start so often when thou sit’st alone?”
Hotspur’s symptoms, unexplained anger against family members, loss of interest, depression, and hypervigilance are classic PTSD symptoms. Yet Lady Percy somehow blames herself for these symptoms. PTSD doesn’t just affect private military contractors who struggle with the condition. It affects their friends and family members as well.
Civil War
Fourscore and seven years later, or thereabouts, PTSD diagnosis had not advanced very much. But at least doctors had identified the medical condition, which was a step in the right direction.
First, a bit of background. The Civil War was emotionally tough on soldiers for many reasons. Detachment may have been one of the biggest ones. Young men from Texas and Minnesota went to Virginia and Mississippi. Those do not seem like big trips to us today, but in the 1860s, such a journey was almost like flying to the moon.
In these faraway places, these young men experienced extreme trauma. Most soldiers agree that daily life is about 90% sheer boredom and 10% absolute terror. Soldiers never know when the switch will flip. At the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862, some Union soldiers were killing time in the camp when forest animals unexpectedly came running through the area, followed by crazed Confederate soldiers.
Doctors noticed many soldiers developed some of the aforementioned symptoms. They accounted for the detachment but, for some reason, did not account for the combat stress. So, they diagnosed stressed-out soldiers with nostalgia, an advanced form of homesickness. Doctors believed a vigorous military campaign would cure that homesickness. Sadly, the prescribed treatment simply worsened their mental conditions.
World Wars I and II
Medical science advanced slowly over the next several decades. PTSD was shell shock in World War I and battle fatigue in World War II.
Unfortunately for the kids who fought the Great War, military technology advanced by leaps and bounds over the next several decades. Civil War soldiers did not wear helmets because artillery shells were little more than fireworks. However, the TNT-packed artillery shells of WWI required additional head protection.
The extreme noise of an explosive blast could cause a brain injury, much like an electromagnetic pulse knocks out electrical devices. Shell shock was the label for a stress-related brain injury. This video might be the saddest and most hopeful video we’ve ever seen.
Many of the young men in this video recovered quickly and completely. Also, that is usually not the case with PTSD. Available drugs treat the symptoms, like anxiety, but not the cause. Physical therapy is, at best, hit-and-miss. Not all kinds of PT work for all victims.
Shell shock was battle fatigue in World War II, a mental condition that caused about a quarter of the Allied casualties in Europe and almost half the Allied casualties in the Pacific. Doctors optimistically believed that, after a few hours’ rest, these kids were ready to go once more unto the breach, dear friends.
Vietnam War
Public perception, as opposed to medical science, strongly affected Vietnam War-based PTSD diagnosis and treatment. By the 1980s, PTSD was still a misunderstood brain injury, but things were improving.
A fictional character, John Rambo, is a good example. The character only had sixteen lines in 1982’s First Blood because he was a raging PTSD monster. In the sequels, particularly the 1980s and 1990s sequels, Rambo was a troubled war hero.
PTSD Today
Many PTSD monster holdouts still exist in the medical community. But these doctors are now in the minority. Recently, the Canadian Armed Forces relabeled PTSD as OSI (operational stress injury), a wound that is eligible for the Canadian equivalent of a Purple Heart.
Treatment continues to advance as well, especially in terms of medication. Marijuana and MDMA (molly or ecstasy) have shown promise in clinical trials. These developments are exciting because PTSD, which has a chemical cause, probably has a chemical solution.
A Defense Base Act lawyer helps ensure that injured contractors get the latest and most effective medical treatment, regardless of the nature of their injuries. Most private military contractors who were injured overseas are eligible for DBA benefits.
For more information about Defense Base Act benefits, contact Barnett, Lerner, Karsen, Frankel & Castro, P.A.