P.T.S.D: The
Destruction of a Soldier
Hypothesis: Our soldiers are slowly being destroyed, not by
the hands of any man, but by themselves and a disorder, they can easily
contract while under high stress. This disorder may lead to insanity,
depression, or even more. This disorder is serious, and should be something
everyone is aware of, who knows one of your family members could have it, or
even your spouse, and you would not even know it. Many people have never heard
of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and if they have, they do not know all or any
of the effects. Some people planning to enter the military do not even know
what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is, and if they contracted it while
overseas and carried it over with them back home who knows how much it could
grow to affect that person's life or even family if they have one. While
conducting my research, I hope to find people that have heard and know or have
known somebody with P.T.S.D. I believe people will know what it is as far as
they know it's a disorder, but not know a lot about its effects or
how it is caused.
Context: I targeted my survey to anybody, anyone could know
or not know about P.T.S.D, which is what I was looking for, because most people
have family members in the military or even friends, and they could know
someone with P.T.S.D or someone that had it. I believe my results
are reliable and valid, and I know this because I know several people knew what
it was, and we even had a small conversation about it. My questions are
reliable because they are unbiased; there is not anything in them that would
make someone taking my survey to lean towards a specific answer.
Results:
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Have any of
your family members been in the military?
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Do you know
what post-traumatic stress disorder is?
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Should the
government pay for the treatment of P.T.S.D even after the person has left
active duty?
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Yes: 20
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Yes: 23
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Yes: 26
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No: 6
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No: 3
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No: 0
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On a scale
of 1-10 how serious, is P.T.S.D? 1 being Not Serious, and 10 being Very
Serious.
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1
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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7
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8
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9
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10
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|
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|
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|
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10
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16
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Data Analysis: In my survey, I found a majority of people
had family that had been in the military, or are in the military currently. Out
of the 5 branches of the military, the most popular branches were the Army, and
the Coast Guard, and even though most of them had family in the Army, or the
Coast Guard a majority of them said they believed the Marines and the Army had
the highest death rates. Almost 90% of the people who took my survey knew, or
heard about P.T.S.D. Even though they knew or had heard about it, they did not
know all of the effects of the disorder. The effects people knew the most were
High Stress, Flashbacks, Anger and Irritability, Nightmares, Headaches,
Feelings of Hopelessness, Eating problems, Social Withdrawal/Isolation, Trouble
Sleeping, and Guilt. Everyone that took my survey agreed the government should
pay for the treatment of P.T.S.D for the soldiers who develop it. When asked to
rate P.T.S.D on a scale of seriousness, 1 being not serious, and 10 being
Very
Serious, 100% of people rated it anywhere from 8-10. When asked their opinions
on P.T.S.D or if that opinion would, change if they knew more about it a
majority of people said it was serious, and the government should look into
trying to get better treatment for soldiers who developed it.
Conclusion: My hypothesis was semi-correct, people had heard
about P.T.S.D, but they knew more about the effects than I suspected they
would, they were able to pinpoint a majority of the effects and some of them
knew all of them. I was also surprised at the number of people who had or has a
family member in the Military, I expected for the majority of the people to not
have a family member in the military. Overall, I had good questions on my
survey, because I got a good and high response from them, and they provided me
with the information I needed to have. I was glad to see people knew what it
was, and glad to see they thought the government should pay for it, and some of
their opinions on it.
Follow Up: From this point I want to research more into the
causes of P.T.S.D. like what causes people to contract it the most, and whether
it is something that can be mentally beaten or certainly needs treatment. The
next research question I intend to research is what are the major causes of
P.T.S.D, what causes it the most? My results from my research did not change my
research questions, they have remained the same, because I feel they are the
strongest questions that I can have on this topic, and that they are going to
be the ones I will be able to find answers to.
