Today (October 3), Donald Trump implied that veterans who return from war suffering from PTSD were not strong. The direct quote from the Republican candidate was "When people come back from war and combat and they see things that maybe a lot of the folks in this room have seen many times over and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it." There shouldn't be a reason to explain why this is the big deal, but here it is.
PTSD is not limited to war veterans. While men are more likely to experience PTSD as a result of accidents, physical assault, combat, or witnessing death, women are more likely to experience PTSD as a result of sexual assault or child sexual abuse. According to ptsd.va.gov, around 50% of the total population will experience some form of trauma in their lives. Around 7-8% of the total population will have PTSD in their lives. However, as it pertains to the military, anywhere from 11-20% of the total veterans from the Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom have PTSD in any given year. About 12% of Gulf War veterans have PTSD in any given year. There are even studies about Vietnam War veterans. This is not a new thing.
However, a serious contender for the President of the United States speaking out and calling any type of veterans weak not just once (see his past comments about John McCain), but twice, is unprecedented and, frankly, unacceptable. Donald Trump's statements about PTSD come from a place of misunderstanding and only further stigmatizes the conversation about mental health in this country. PTSD shows itself in many different ways, some of them being depression, anxiety, and in the most severe and tragic cases, suicide. It is estimated that 21-22 veterans take their own lives each day. We even have an internet challenge about it. I know that writing this article is not going to change the conversations that we have about mental health in America. But I don't understand how someone can continue to support a man who has said poor things about our veterans on multiple occasions. However, like most Trump supporters, the man will say tomorrow that he doesn't remember it and neither will they. That is a problem when it comes to electing the person who will represent this country for at least the next four years.
Most of the information in this article was found by yours truly at http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/PTSD-overview/basics.... I encourage anyone who has questions about PTSD to check out the website. There is tons of information on the website that I didn't know before. We need to change the conversation about mental health in this country and all over the world.
