Treating Veterans Not every member of the military goes to a Veterans hospital for treatment. In addition, there is proposed legislation that military men and women may opt to seek medical help in the private sector, and have costs covered just as it would be at a Veterans hospital or facility. If this happens, it will essentially mean that most military and ex-military will seek treatment at hospitals outside of the V.A. System. If you have not treated military persons previously, there are some guidelines that may prove beneficial in their care. Recognizing P.T.S.D. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition most often associated with military people, although it is a condition that can affect anyone. Military persons are often exposed to battles and situations that are just as the name implies, traumatic. In the private sector, if one traumatic event happens, it is generally not followed by another and another. And, in most cases, if a traumatic event occurs, the people affected have immediate support, professional or personal, to help them through the difficult times. In times of war or action, a soldier may experience one traumatic event after another. In addition, they won't have time to process what they have seen and been through. They are expected to continue working as usual, which may suppress what they experience. The problem with this is, the mind is a complex organ, and very seldom does it forget. It may suppress things for a while when needed, but most often it will at some point return to the forefront of the thought pattern. Related: How to Handle a Lack of Communication at Work With P.T.S.D., the sufferers describe the feeling as though when it hits them they cannot distinguish between the time the traumatic incidents of the past happened, and the current time. In, other words, they relive the experience as if they were right back in action. They may be confused, and unable to comprehend where they are, to them they are right back at the event. There are many factors that can trigger an episode of P.T.S.D., and occasionally it's nothing that can even be determined. For a patient in a hospital several things can provoke a scenario that could involve a reaction. Paging and communication devices can bring up remembrances of military time. The pain and discomfort of others, such as if someone is calling out in pain from another room that could certainly be reminiscence of war times. The patient's own pain and discomfort may also bring back feelings of an accident or situation that was traumatic.
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