From: United Press International

War may not be cause of all military PTSD

United Press International:

The experience of war or combat is not typically what triggers the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, a Danish researcher says.

Professor Dorthe Berntsen of the Center on Autobiographical Memory Research at the Aarhus University in Denmark, military psychologists at the Danish Center for Defense Veterans and researchers from Duke University in North Carolina surveyed 746 Danish soldiers who served in Afghanistan. The soldiers completed a questionnaire five times — before their posting, during their time in Afghanistan and three times after their return to Denmark.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, found many of the soldiers had already experienced trauma before they went to Afghanistan, and that affected the way they reacted during their posting.

Read the whole story: United Press International


APS regularly opens certain online articles for discussion on our website. Effective February 2021, you must be a logged-in APS member to post comments. By posting a comment, you agree to our Community Guidelines and the display of your profile information, including your name and affiliation. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations present in article comments are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of APS or the article’s author. For more information, please see our Community Guidelines.

Please login with your APS account to comment.