Nov. 9, 2018
Nursing researcher hopes veterans' PTSD stories will help reduce stigma
During the Canadian peacekeeping mission in Croatia in 1994, as the region was wracked with a bloody civil war and the genocide of thousands of Croats and Muslims, Mark Meincke was there on the ground. āYouāre moving around in a white vehicle with a blue helmet, constantly exposed,ā says the former soldier. āWe were sniper bait all day, every day for six months.ā
Yet years after coming across Croatian towns destroyed, their inhabitants murdered, Meincke was dismissive when he heard of a buddy diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. āI was so flippant about it,ā he says. āI didnāt take it all that seriously and I didnāt understand that I had it myself. With PTSD, thereās very little self-awareness. You think everyone else is the problem, not you.ā
- Above: University of Calgary PhD candidate Lorraine Smith-MacDonald is researching post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for her thesis.
Later, with the help of his wife, he realized his temper was indeed a problem and he started getting therapy.
Meincke is one of 20 Canadian combat veterans who told his story to researcher Lorraine Smith-MacDonald in the Faculty of Nursing. The PhD candidate is writing her thesis about the ālived experienceā of veterans with the disorder (known in the military as operational stress injury) that causes disturbing thoughts, crippling sadness, fear or anger, and may bring on nightmares or flashbacks.
While there is a better medical understanding of PTSD now, society has far less ācultural understandingā than before. āIn World War Two, the whole generation deeply understood the cost of war ā everybody was affected,ā says Smith-MacDonald. āEven though they didnāt have the language of PTSD, everyone knew when someone would say āHeās having a bad day.ā You wouldnāt hear them say heās hyper-aroused, heās very angry and expressing triggered outburst.ā But everyone knew they werenāt the same person coming home.ā
Smith-MacDonaldās research initially set out to identify further symptoms of the disorder but she changed her focus to capture veterans' perspectives of PTSD and fill a gap in the literature. āThey were eager to tell their stories,ā she says. The veterans told of their struggles with a fractured sense of self, difficult or unsuccessful transitions to civilian life, a loss of military identity and relationships, and deep spiritual and existential wounds stemming from their deployments."
Meincke, who does a spent hours talking with Smith-MacDonald about his experiences in Croatia and back home in Calgary. āWhen I heard about Lorraineās research I thought if I can help, Iām going to help,ā he says.
Heās also hopeful other civilians will support veterans with PTSD, as suicide and homelessness are not uncommon. "PTSD wrecks lives,ā he says. āIf it doesnāt kill you, it wrecks you, and if doesnāt wreck you it dampens your life significantly.ā
Yet Smith-MacDonaldās research shows that with appropriate therapy and support, itās possible to overcome and manage PTSD and lead productive and meaningful lives. And the more we hear from veterans, the more we understand and the less stigma around the disorder.
āI think there is a tendency to remember veterans with PTSD on Nov. 11 and then forget,ā she says, ābecause itās not our norm in our society to think about soldiers or war.ā