June is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month

PTSD Awareness Month is about recognizing PTSD Signs and Symptoms and knowing there is treatment available.

In my book, “Finding Bomb Boogie,” I discuss how many World War II veterans returned from the war not quite the same. Many of them experienced signs and symptoms of PTSD, although they may not have been aware of it at the time. PTSD Awareness Month provides an opportunity to raise awareness about PTSD, its symptoms, and available treatment options. There is so much more available now to assist anyone suffering from PTSD, starting with the recognition that this condition exists, and it is okay to talk about it and seek treatment.  

The following is an excerpt from “Finding Bomb Boogie,” where I discuss World War II veterans confronting the impacts of their wartime experiences, now acknowledged as PTSD symptoms: 

In those early years after the war ended, PTSD was not an official diagnosis. The Army knew soldiers experienced stress during the war, and they called it battle fatigue, shell shock, or soldiers’ heart.

While the Army recognized this syndrome and created redistribution centers for their war-weary soldiers, long-term care, medication, and psychotherapy were not the norms. Not until years later, sometimes forty years later, after veterans had raised their families and retired from their jobs, could they take a breath, recognize, and talk about their situations.

I had heard stories of POWs who never felt quite normal when they returned home, although they desperately wanted to return to the life they knew before the war. And though they could not blame all of life’s troubles on their imprisonment, the experience certainly changed them, often mentally and physically.

The symptoms they experienced were varied. Some relived their trauma through nightmares and flashbacks, while others felt shame or guilt about the event. Others reported feeling on edge, startled by loud noises, angry or irritable, and acting out in unhealthy ways, such as smoking, abusing alcohol, or driving aggressively. 

In the case of the POWs, their exposure to traumatic events was prolonged and repetitive and occurred in a place where they perceived little or no chance of escape. Even if a harmful incident did not happen directly to them, they were trapped in a situation where they experienced secondary trauma on an ongoing basis. My father spoke about witnessing the plight of the Jewish people during his forced march, but he also observed firsthand the trauma he and his fellow POWs endured while imprisoned.

Although he never spoke of it, there were POWs in Stalag 17B who had lost limbs and suffered from severe burns and disfigurement. Some of the young men died from their war injuries or from diseases they contracted while in camp. They were also subjected daily to deplorable living conditions, including harsh treatment by the prison guards. Some inmates were on suicide watch, and several were executed while trying to escape. The list goes on and makes one believe that no one came back from a POW camp quite the same person.

One of my friends, whose father spent almost three years as a POW, confided that her father returned from the war a damaged man. She said that he suffered from recurring nightmares, and the sound of an unexpected loud noise could set him off on a tirade. Not until her father joined an Ex-Prisoner of War Organization, decades after the war had ended, did his nightmares subside.

Excerpt from “Finding Bomb Boogie,” pages 262-263. https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Bomb-Boogie-Rediscover-Father/dp/B0CGSWGMCY/.