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Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) is a positive psychological response to trauma, manifesting as improvements in critical life areas such as relationships, personality, self-efficacy, and spirituality. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder triggered by trauma. In many studies PTG and PTSD are found to stem from similar traumatic events and to be positively correlated. As many of today's veterans are returning with PTSD, it is important that rehabilitation counselors have a strong understanding of how to effectively treat PTSD as well as facilitate PTG in veterans in order to ensure lasting positive effect. After thorough analysis of the PTSD and PTG literature, several treatments were determined to be effective for both the treatment of PTSD and development of PTG in veterans of war. Recommendations for rehabilitation counselors are provided to help recognize and facilitate PTG in veteran clients post-trauma.
One in six Army and Marine veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) meet the criteria for PTSD, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder following return from combat (Hoge et al., 2004). Active Army troops and National Guardsmen together had a PTSD prevalence rate of 30.5% at 12 months following deployment, up from 20.7% at three months following deployment (Thomas et al., 2010).
Combat exposure is a key risk factor as it is positively correlated (between r=.25 and .29, /K.001) with the development of PTSD (Aldwin, Levenson, & Spiro, 1994; Pietrzak et al., 2010). A study investigating the experiences of 2,530 Army troops and 815 Marines found that more than 80% reported having been shot at, having handled dead bodies, having known someone injured or killed, or having killed an enemy combatant (Hoge et al., 2004). Another study found that more than 80% of Active Army troops and National Guardsmen reported being attacked or ambushed, receiving incoming artillery, rocket, or mortar fire, or receiving small arms fire (Thomas et al., 2010).
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that is triggered by a psychologically distressing event that elicits intense fear, terror, and helplessness in victims (DSM-IV-TR, 2000). Individuals with PTSD find themselves persistently reliving the traumatic event, avoiding stimuli associated with the event, and experiencing a consistently high level of arousal. These symptoms must be present for at least a month before a diagnosis...