The Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Vietnam War - Essay Example The effects on the mental health of these soldiers has led to unemployment, drug addiction, divorce, suicide, and a range of mental illnesses. A key difference between the Vietnam War and previous wars was the intensity of the level of stress. War has always presented the combat veteran with a difficult situation in regards to stress. However, in World War II the soldier would engage in a battle that would last in terms of days. As the battle subsided, the front lines moved and combat ceased for a period of time. The battles lines were clearly marked and the enemy clearly defined. In Vietnam the soldiers faced a shadowy enemy with no front lines. They were in threat of losing their life 24 hours a day for every day they were in the country. There was no reprieve from the immediate threat of death. In past wars there were always cases of 'battle fatigue' or 'shell shock', but the Vietnam War redefined this as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) and its associated symptoms. While PTSD affects approximately 1 percent of the general population, it is as high as 15 percent among Vietnam veterans 35 years after the end of the war (Mollica et al. 2058-2059). PTSD in Vietnam veterans manifests itself through a variety of symptoms. These include social maladjustment, social phobia, guilt, difficulty controlling anger, joblessness, homelessness, and family strife (Frueh et al. 26). The Vietnam veteran is often faced with a lifetime of substance abuse, acute anxiety, and an inability to fit into a normal social setting. A problem that faced the returning Vietnam veteran was the negative attitude that society held for a veteran returning from an unpopular war. Army Captain Max Cleland, a soldier who lost both legs and was later elected a US Senator from Georgia explains, "To the devastating psychological effect of getting maimed, paralyzed, or in some way unable to reenter American life as you left it, is the added psychological weight that it may not have been worth it; that the war may have been a cruel hoax" (qtd. in Nicosia 159-160). This effect was even more magnified for the minority veterans who served in disproportionate numbers and came home to face the additional burden of racism. Limited opportunities for blacks after the war resulted in conflicting feelings about the brutality waged against the Vietnamese and resulted in rates of PTSD among black veterans that were significantly higher than among whites (Allen 55). The Vietnam veteran faced the difficulty of PTSD in a world that was unsym pathetic and ill-equipped to diagnose and treat the illnesses that the war had inflicted. The Veteran's Administration (VA) has been traditionally reluctant to recognize and adequately treat PTSD. The VA currently publishes estimates that indicate that as many as 30 percent of the Vietnam veterans suffer from PTSD, which is in excess of some other more conservative estimates ("How Common is PTSD"). However, the availability of resources has not been sufficient to meet the need. The American Psychiatric Association has reported that the reported cases of PTSD have risen by 42 percent in recent years, but funding has only been increased by 22 percent (Mulligan). The problem of under-treatment is also complicated by under self-reporting. Veterans may feel that if they

Effect of Bullying in Childhood on the Future of a Person Essay

Effect of Bullying in Childhood on the Future of a Person - Essay Example The difference between the children influences them towards such activities and there is an every chance to become an irresponsible adult. This is an unwanted scenario in the children and it has to be avoided to save the future of them and to carve them as a responsible citizen. There are some causes for the children to become bully. The family relations and gender differences as well as humiliations affect their psychology. The influences of the friends' psychology also attract the children and it affects their behavior as an adult. Another reason that affects them is humiliation through bullying. Some of them are being humiliated by the people in the environment and being bullied will be hurt and psychologically became more bully than the other children and they want to take revenge on the society. The above aspect results in affecting the behavior of the person in the future. Hence demographics can be taken as third variable that depends on parents, friends as well as all the peop le in society and decides the humiliation with which the child meet as part of his daily activities (Hee-Soon Juon, 2006). Hence, the variables considered are; environment, age, demographics The children considered in this paper are the ones investigated by academic researchers from Washington and Indiana Universities. According to a study, the children who are witnessing the violence at home become bully by themselves. The quarrellings between the parents or siblings influence the children and in turn affect their behavior as an adult in future. Lead researcher Dr. Narissa bauer opines that the children imitate the elders and they also want to behave like them and this brings out the reasons for the peculiar behavior in children. Hence, in this case the first variable environment plays the major role in children being bullied. One can have an assertion that imitation attitude in children may lead to abnormalities of their behavior in future and this aspect consolidates the fact that the environment is an variable to consider as imitation depends on it. Parents are role models for the children and as a result they follow their behavior. If once they believe or attracted towards violence they will walk in that path only to enjoy themselves. They may think that 'If daddy is beating mummy and bring her to his control I too can beat my friends and they also will become obedient to me and I can control them'. As a result the child turns to be a bully in the future and tries to control everything and everybody by bullying. The study came to conclusion that the 97% of the bullish children were victims of the home violence and as a result, one can blame the environment for bullying the children. The affect of bullying on children according to environment and age even considers the demographics as the affects are studied according to the people the children faced in their daily life (Alexandra Lupu, 2006). Bullish Impact on the Future of Children of Different Ages According to the study of Duncan B. Clark the behavior of children who are subjected to bullying is completely different than the other sober children and depends on age. They behave rudely in future if they are bullied in teenage and may turn into cowards or introverts if