Formerly called "Combat Stress Reaction," Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is diagnosed in people who survive traumatic events, such as a car accident or rape. After the Vietnam War, doctors began to diagnose soldiers with PTSD. Soldiers suffering from PTSD may have hallucinations, scary dreams, visions or sudden disorientation as a result of the fact that their brains have not yet fully coped with traumatic events. The brain recalls these events of war as a coping mechanism.
As a result of the physical and mental toll that war takes, some soldiers develop psychological feelings of hatred and desire revenge over the other side of a conflict. This results from the fact that feelings of hostility and anger are sometimes integrated into a soldier's training regimen, which yields a long-lasting sentiment in his psychology. A recent study by the London Institute of Psychiatry suggests that soldiers and victims of war experience "traumatization" or "brutalization" after war, in which they promote new cycles of violence after the fighting has ended.
Although many psychological disorders may take time to set in, psychological collapse, a phenomenon in which soldiers become immediately incapacitated as a result of psychological trauma, happens to some soldiers immediately. For example, in World War II, 504,000 United States soldiers were rendered unable to fight as a result of psychiatric collapse. These soldiers typically have repeated exposure to direct conflict and artillery range warfare. Prolonged exposure to these situations lead the brain to shut down as a result of seeing and experiencing traumatic and gruesome events.
One major psychological problem for soldiers who have recently returned from war is a feeling of listlessness and lack of direction. After spending a lot of time on the battlefield, many soldiers feel unequipped to handle a lifestyle in which they cannot relate to others who have not experienced such traumatic events. Joblessness and alcoholism are common characteristics for these soldiers, who cannot seem to re-enter into society in a healthy way.