Why do some soldiers come back with no mental issues and some do?

Answer 1

The pentagon has found that after 6 months in combat the incidence of PTSD skyrockets. Thus when The Iraq war first started the target was to keep deployments under 6 months. We don't have enough troops to maintain the 6 month deployments, so we now see longer deployments. Direct answer to your question is that no one knows why we see different results for different people other than we see different results in most activities for all people.

Answer 2

Some soldiers never experience the bombing, suicides, and killings. They may be in another line of work for their alloted time. It also depends where you are/what experiences you have. Many soldiers in Iraq can probably testify to having been at least slightly mentally scarred, whereas soldiers near the Queen of England's castle may not experience as much. Some soldiers may have better mental stability than others, as well. Some specific instances of extreme mental instability could come from seeing a good friend die before your very eyes, or become extremely wounded beyond repair, being kidnapped for a short period of time, or anything else.

Answer 3

Every soldier is different and events effect some people differently. Some soldiers have stronger mental abilities than some and others may have had a more traumatic experience.

Answer 4

alot of reasons for that. Some acually get into actual warfare, killing people, seeing gore etc. Some dont, or not as much. Ofcourse it would also depend on the Psychology of the person. Some can easily be Psychologically disturbed by such things, others not as much.

If you are a butcher, who butchers meat, and is used to seeing gore, even if it is of animals. No doubt you would be better equiped psychologically, then someone who teaches grade school math for a living.

Answer 5

The true fact of the matter is that nobody knows. It is a known fact that roughly 15% of those people sent to war suffer some kind of psycological injury.

One thing to note is that combat PTSD is the result of structural and biochemical changes in the brain that occur as it attempts to adapt to extreme levels of stress. Current scientific consesus is that these changes are perminant and cannot be undone.

However - nobody knows why it occurs in 15% of the people but not in others. You can have 100 people face the same expierences in combat and 15% will develop combat PTSD. There is no way of predicting who these people will be.

Answer 6

It is most likely a matter of the soldier's level of contact with death, not just that of his comrades in arms, but that of the enemies he or she has killed in combat. Add to that the constant fear and uncertainty and you have a recipe for a major case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Those who have positions removed from this are less likely to suffer the effects of it.

Answer 7

Oh heavens, there can be many reasons. Some soldiers experience different things than others. People are all different psychologically as well.

Answer 8

In addition to what the other poster said, many soldiers have brain injury without any overt signs of it due to blasts. It can manifest itself in mental problems that are not always obvious until they try to fit back into their former lives.

Answer 9

Many develop problems soon after the return home, some get it while in action, either way, some do and some won't admit it because they are unaware of it.

PTSD caused by combat does not include a single incident. It is caused by many factors. Today too many doctors associate it with one traumatic experience and write it off as PTSD.

The symptoms are numerous and too much to try and explain it here. m1a1mike has the right answer as to the statistics and other reasons.

For some of us, it took many years to manifest itself and changed our lives in many ways, divorce, loss of business, death wishes, loss of ability to stay focused, feelings of guilt (called survivors guilt),drinking, drugs and many many more symptoms. For the most, we who have it didn't realize it until it was too late.

Answer 10

The effects of war differ greatly in different human beings. Some can go on living as if they had never seen death and destruction. In other cases it can effect the person greatly. It can even effect them to the point at which they become genuinely crazy. Experiences they had before the war also can effect the outcome of their return.