Women Veterans And Healthcare Research Assignment (Research Paper Sample)

Women Veterans and Health Care
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Women Veterans and Healthcare
Traditionally, men have been the primary source of workforce in the military. Before World War II, women had limited roles in the military. In fact, they were just known as the military wives. However, during the World War II, adjustments were made in the law to allow women to serve merely as nurses and medics in the army. It was not until after 1990 when women were given combat roles in the army, hence gaining real time war experience. Since then, the number of female military personal has been rising significantly. Presently, women make up approximately 12% of the total military population in the US with some holding senior positions. Likewise, the number of female veterans has also been on the rise contributing to a total of close to 2million female veterans in the US which is 11% of all the American veterans. Over the years, there have been several reasons for women being discharged from the military. Some may be relieved due to personality disorders while others as a result of adjustment disorders (Baker, et al., 2012). Also, women veterans may be discharged honorably, dishonorably, other than honorable conditions, and bad discharges. As such, the female veterans face many challenges after dismissal from the military. Since most of them do not openly disclose their status as veterans, women, tend to suffer more as compared to their male counterparts. This essay seeks to identify the health related issues that the women veterans undergo and reveal the health strategies that have been implemented to care of them.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is the biggest health complication that affects women veterans. There are different forms of PTSD and have serious consequences on the victims if not treated or managed properly. Firstly, combat trauma is one of the major causes of PTSD. As more women continue to join the army, many of them are deployed to real combat experience. They are thus subjected to life and dead situations that include open shootings, watching fellow soldiers get shot or wounded and in worst case scenario, they get shot and injured baldy. Constantly subjection to these situations has dire effects on the psychological state of an individual (Baker, et al., 2012). They are likely to cause severe depression and lack of sleep as a result of nightmares. For instance, female soldiers deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq were more likely to experience combat related PTSD since the experiences in these wars were severely traumatizing. Besides, studies have shown that combat related PTSD is more prevalent in female than male soldiers because of levels of military preparedness is lower. As compared to men, they are not sure of what to expect in combat and sometimes their level of skill and mental preparation may not be sufficient to handle combat experience. Besides, sometimes ladies may experience lesser cohesion to the units hence they may feel out of place affecting their psychological states. The fact that women have a higher rate of susceptibility to depression is also a key factor to them experiencing PTSD. It is also important to clarify that not all women that are subjected to traumatic combat situations experience PTSD (Brooks, et al., 2016). This implies that mental and psychological prepared goes a long way to preventing the condition.
Military sexual trauma (MST) is also a major contributing factor towards PTSD. It is caused by sexual harassment in the form of sexual advances and discrimination based on sexual orientation. Also, it involves cases of sexual assault such as rape and unconsented sexual touching of the female soldiers by their superiors or male counterparts. The impact of MST on women is more severe on women when compared to combat trauma. In fact, studies have shown that its effect on the ladies can be equally compared to the effect of PTSD in men. If not handled properly, there is a high probability that the victim would suffer from chronic depression, anxiety, and substance abuse (Brooks, et al., 2016). Most cases of MST are never reported since the perpetrators of these crimes are the superiors or colleagues of the victims. Besides, some women fear that if they reported these cases, their military careers would be jeopardized. For instance, as a result of bad relations with the perpetrators, the victims are likely to be unprotected during combat situations or even risks of bad reports to their supervisors. On the other hand, there are military laws that prohibit MST victims from reporting other military personnel. These laws are made in such a way that they do not shield victims from anonymity or in the case where they do provide confidentiality, the likelihood of the perpetrator being punished is relatively minimal. Also, the suffering as a result of MST is catalyzed by the fact that the victims have to see their assailants daily at their work stations (Markus, 2011). The fact that unlike civilian women, the women in the army cannot change their careers to get away from such trauma makes it even worse. The aftermath of such events is women veterans that went through MST experience a lot of pain and suffering and some may even opt to commit suicide.
Mental illness is another health complication that many female veterans are experiencing. These illnesses take the form of depression, anxiety, mood disorders, substance abuse, and intimate partner violence. Mood disorders are caused by Borderline personality disorder. This is a severe case of mental illness that causes constant shifts in an individual’s moods, behavior and self-image. Such people consider themselves unworthy or unappreciated in society. These individuals are characterized by periodic times of anger or depression and relatively impulsive. Female veterans are likely to experience Borderline personality disorder if exposed to traumatic combat experiences. Studies have shown that women veterans are more prone to mood disorders as compared to men because they contain more psychological risk factors. Also, male veterans receive more social support as compared to women (Markus, 2011). Over the last few years, it medical treatment and therapy sessions have been identified as the best treatment measures for women veterans experiencing the condition.
Female veterans are also likely to experience anxiety disorders. These are reactions to stress which may affect an individual positively or negatively depending on the type of disorder. Examples of these disorders include general anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, social phobia, and specific phobia. General anxiety disorders cause tension and worry in individuals without any particular reason (Meehan, 2006). Among women veterans, this could be attributed to the need to constantly watch their back during the war. Such individuals are restless and anticipate problems even when there are none. On the other hand, veterans experiencing panic disorders are characterized by constant panic attacks without reason. Those that experience social phobia are unable to socialize well with other people and would often be seen alone. They are very conscious about the people around them and assume that they are constantly being monitored or judged by the society hence retreating from society.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) also known as domestic violence is condition normally associated with mental illness. Some forms of IPV include physical, sexual, and psychological violence. In most cases signs of IPV include an individual threatening their spouses or family members, over controlling, breaking of items, and always finding reasons to pick up fights with their family members (Meehan, 2006). If not checked, this condition leads to destruction of families and in worst case scenarios it could lead to homicides or any other violent crimes. Victims of IPV are also likely to experience psychological and physical trauma over the long term period. Female veterans suffering from the illness are advised to visit psychiatrists for therapy and prescription drugs.
In most cases, veterans have always been associated with alcoholism and drug abuse. These are habits are as a result of depression, mental illness and PSTD. Most of the female veterans turn into alcoholism as a coping mechanism for their present condition. Studies indicate that when compared to civilian women, female veterans are relatively more into heavy drinking. Such habits have serious health complications to the users since it could lead to liver diseases, physical disability, and chronic depression (Oishi, et al., 2011). Besides, it is such habits that may lead to the victims being reckless hence neglecting family responsibilities, having a sense of self unworthiness and sometimes engaging into irresponsible sexual behavior that would lead to contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexual transmitted diseases. Besides, studies have also revealed that tobacco consumption among the female veterans is relatively common due to former habits in the military. As a result of its addictive nature, cigarette smoking is difficult to manage especially among the hardcore female veteran smokers. Efforts of the government to rehabilitate these individuals are almost proving futile since not many of them come forward for treatment. An example of such a program is TRICARE smoking cessation program that was initiated by the US government.
Depression has also been identified as prevalent among women veterans. In most incidences, these veterans experience depression due to PTSD, MST, and drug abuse (Oishi, et al., 2011). Research has shown that female veterans are more susceptible to depression when compared to their male counterparts. If untreated, the condition would cause cardiovascular diseases and metabolic syndrome. Depression is also likely to cause lower levels of sexual stimuli in women vetera...