Returning to civilian life after military service results in veteran mental health transitions for every service member. Veterans may struggle with PTSD adjustment or other veteran emotional health issues.
Military life means personal and unit discipline. Successful military service means following the rules demanded by a strict social structure. Camaraderie with fellow members provides a sense of team spirit, trust, and dependence on other team members. The work required generates feelings of working on matters of national importance. That is true whether working as a supply clerk or as part of SEAL Team 6. Everyone is an important member of a critical team.
Civilian life is far less structured. Civilian culture emphasizes the individual over the group. Civilian life provides more flexibility in identifying and pursuing personal goals. The camaraderie gained during military life is less visible. Severance from military service gives rise to the feeling that the veteran left those friends behind.
Adjusting to civilian life after military service involves significant veteran mental health transitions, especially for those who served long-term traumatic deployments. Civilian culture does not always appreciate that military veterans often experience feelings of isolation, anxiety, and loss of purpose. Those are difficult feelings to process and affect their emotional health.
Coping with PTSD, the Ultimate Anxiety
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, more familiar to people by its acronym PTSD, is a particularly debilitating mental illness. PTSD adjustment is a long road. Military veterans who experienced combat or other trauma (including sexual trauma) during their military service may find it difficult to acclimate to civilian life. Symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, inability to make decisions, difficulty sleeping, avoiding people or situations that trigger memories of the traumatic event, and suicidal thoughts. Combat veterans often report intrusive thoughts and feelings of guilt. Indeed, studies show that veterans with combat-related PTSD are more likely to experience ideas of suicide and attempt suicide.
Multiple Mental Health Issues Complicate Matters
Returning veterans may experience multiple mental health issues at the same time. The Veterans Administration (VA) defines mental health issues as “an emotional condition that impacts mood, thinking, and behavior.” Under this definition, a veteran may receive a diagnosis with multiple factors, such as PTSD, depression, anxiety, panic disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and substance abuse. When this happens, doctors call this co-morbidity. Co-morbidity greatly complicates symptoms and treatment, as well as recovery.
VA disability determination takes into account the effect that mental health issues have on a veteran’s full-time employment possibilities, as well as social impairment. Difficulties may range from trouble processing thoughts or communicating ideas to hurting themselves or others. Communication may mean trouble responding to complex demands. Complex mental health problems may mean trouble making and maintaining solid working relationships or teamwork. Disabled veterans may have difficulty performing the activities of daily living, such as personal hygiene, dressing, and mobility issues. Others may experience hallucinations or exhibit inappropriate behavior.
The combination of these may become debilitating enough to preclude employment. It is no wonder that veterans with co-morbidities often express feelings of sadness, irritability toward others, and a sense of detachment from society.
The good news is that families, friends, and professionals can provide help. The first step for veterans and their families is to recognize that the veteran suffers from a PTSD condition and the challenge it represents. Our article on PTSD can help veteran families know what to look for. PTSD adjustment is possible; however, it may entail a long journey. PTSD sufferers must acknowledge the feelings of vulnerability and be willing to ask for help from family members, friends, and professional medical sources.
Seeking professional therapy assistance is the best way to address the effects of mental health problems. Therapy and medication can help the veteran smoothly transition to civilian life, even with these problems.
Rebuilding that Sense of Purpose
A significant part of the successful reintroduction into civilian life is to rebuild the veteran’s sense of purpose. Veterans must redirect their sense of purpose from the military objective to personal goals. Redirection may mean introducing new educational goals, pursuing personal interests, volunteering for veterans’ groups or other organizations, integrating back into their chosen faith community or support organizations, and exploring creative interests. Whatever activity helps veterans feel part of something bigger than themselves is a step forward. Setting short-term and long-term personal goals is critical to success at the end of this journey.
Reduce Isolation by Building a Reliable Support Network
Life after military service often includes feelings of isolation. That isolation results from the loss of the military structure and support networks that are integral to military life. Gone is the camaraderie of fellow military personnel. The flexibility of civilian life comes at a cost. The combination of less structure and more flexibility means that returning veterans are left to their own devices to fill in the gaps resulting from separation from service.
All is not hopeless, however. If there is one thing the military taught veterans how to do, it is to strategize. Even in the unfamiliar civilian world, strategies exist to reduce feelings of isolation. The action word is reconnect.
Veterans may find that connecting with other veterans brings back those feelings of camaraderie. Other veterans understand past service experiences and current challenges. They provide the sense of community that civilian life may not.
Joining veteran support organizations, local veterans’ groups, and becoming involved in social activities are all ways to put isolation and loneliness in the rearview.
Returning Veterans’ Substance Abuse Concerns
Veterans returning to civilian life have a higher-than-average risk for substance abuse. Military service exposes veterans to stressors in many forms:
- Combat
- Death of a comrade
- PTSD, and other anxiety or depression disorders
- Chronic physical pain
- Other physical health problems
Returning vets may binge-drink alcohol within a short period. Binge-drinking alcohol is a popular activity in the service, so returning members may bring that habit home with them.
Veterans may use pharmaceutical substances to alleviate pain or address mental health issues. Studies have linked substance abuse in veterans to coping with re-entry into civilian life, homelessness, hopelessness, domestic life problems, difficulties in the workplace, trauma, and an increased risk of suicide. It is important to note that the rate of suicide for veterans is higher than that of the general population.
While alcohol is a popular drug of choice in the active military, substance abuse takes several forms: from marijuana use to opioids, as well as prescription drug abuse. Veterans are most likely to abuse the prescribed drug Vicodin, most likely ordered for pain.
Unfortunately, veterans with substance abuse problems do not always seek the treatment available to them. Families can provide the extra incentive and support needed to encourage the veteran to seek out treatment. They may succeed in providing the assistance veterans lack to obtain the mental health treatment they need. Sometimes, all that’s needed to begin the process of rehabilitation is a helping hand from a relative or a friend. Giving hope to someone feeling hopeless can start with one small step.
Veterans, Treat Yourselves Kindly!
Staying healthy in body means eating food that promotes health and partaking in daily physical exercise. Staying healthy in the mind may mean daily meditation. In other instances, a healthy mind may mean practicing mindfulness to reduce stress.
Changes in physical activities help, too. Practice deep breathing exercises on a daily basis. A simple walk through the woods can do wonders for the spirit and induce feelings of connectedness to nature. A hike in the mountains will combine physical activity with the connection to nature. These activities also help to improve mood and encourage healthier coping strategies.
Seek Professional Counseling
Many veterans come home contending with anxiety, depression, or PTSD. For them, seeking professional counseling is critical.
Mental health counseling and therapy (group or individual) may address veteran emotional health concerns by providing them with the skills they need to cope with emotional trials and trauma.
Families can help conduct the due diligence research necessary to find a professional mental health counselor with a background in the military and experience with specific veterans’ issues, such as disability and PTSD.
Veteran mental health transitions are unique to each individual. The returning veteran needs someone who can provide a treatment plan geared to personal goals and conditions.
Take the Next Step
If someone you know seeks professional help with issues related to returning to civil life from the military, encourage them to contact us today. We stand ready to schedule an appointment for a confidential consultation to demonstrate how our practice can help the veteran’s specific situation.
Our mission is to create a personal treatment plan, either in group or individual therapy, tailored to reflect the individual’s goals and needs.
Our goal is to help assimilate our military veterans into civilian life with as little disruption as possible. We strive to accomplish that goal, one veteran at a time.
We invite you to take the first step into a brighter future.
