Stress of heavy combat can be life-long: Study

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 Stress of heavy combat can be life-long: Study

A new study at the University of Florida has found that the trauma from hard combat can devastate veterans until old age, even as it influences others to be wiser, gentler and more accepting in their twilight years.

The findings are ominous with the exposure of today's men and women to heavy fighting in the continuing Iraq and Afghanistan wars on terror at a rate that probably exceeds the length of time for US veterans during World War II, said sociologist Monika Ardelt.

"The study showed that we really need to take care of our veterans when they arrive home, because if we don't, they might have problems for the rest of their lives," she said.

"Yet veterans report that they are facing long waiting lines at mental health clinics and struggling to get the services they need."

The 60-year study, co-authored with UF graduate student Scott Landes and George Vaillant, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School, compared 50 World War II veterans with high combat exposure to 110 veterans without any combat experiences.

Results showed that heavy combat exposure at a young age had a detrimental effect on physical health and psychological well-being for about half of the men well into their 80s.

Getting treatment would not only prevent serious health problems but could also boost the mental well-being of veterans with heavy combat exposure to higher levels than their comrades who saw little battle action, Ardelt said.

The study found that about half of the veterans who experienced a high level of combat showed signs of stress-related growth at mid-life, leading to greater wisdom and well-being in old age than among veterans who witnessed no combat, she said.

"You can either conclude that God has abandoned you, the world is an unfair place and there is nothing else to do but close yourself off from it all or you can manage to open yourself up and develop compassion for the suffering of others realising that you have now become a part of it," she said.