Older Veterans Struggling with Late Onset PTSD
Dedicating time in service to your country is a noble profession, but it is one that can have consequences in the long run. According to this Bellingham Herald piece, older veterans are discovering the effect of their service during times of war, even years after their service ended.
A Bellingham mental health counselor, Bridget Cantrell, shared that some veterans she sees have encountered stresses in life that are becoming more intense with age as they think back on their experiences during war. Older veterans tend to struggle to understand why they are encountering anxiety and other stresses that make their war zone experiences rush back as if they happened just yesterday.
These symptoms best describe what the National Center for PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), a division of the Department of Veterans Affairs, refers to as late-onset stress symptomatology. Put another way, older veterans late in life are trying to make sense of their experiences during times of war and experiencing symptoms that are similar to PTSD.
Cantrell highlights that many veterans dealing with these emotions are also struggling with feelings of remorse for lives they feel did not live up to their expectations, or those set out for them by others. Many of these individuals relied on work as a mechanism for coping and in their retirement years, are searching for substitute methods for coping.
Isolation and avoidance can be common issues for these individuals. They will pull away from events and people, while they also emotionally close down. The symptoms are obvious to the veteran, yet willingness to admit when help is needed is often lacking. Cantrell relies on other veterans who have already received treatment and relief to take other veterans out for breakfast to build rapport and provide the right opportunity to share their story.
