The human body is amazing and can do many incredible things. It can also be fragile and injured in unseen ways. Traumatic events or stressful living conditions can severely damage a person’s mental capacities and their responses to the world around them.  Physical and mental illnesses can form in people who are continually placed under stress. This is especially true of combat soldiers.

Mental illnesses are a terrible thing, and can completely debilitate a person.  Called “shell shock” during World War I and later called “combat exhaustion” during the Second World War, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disease which can develop in a person exposed to psychologically harsh situations. It’s easy to see how this and other mental illnesses are experienced so often by those exposed to the traumas of war.

There are countless findings published on mental disorders sprouting from combat, but the truly important factor is how a soldier can cope and recover from them. Many people who experience these disturbances try to block out the sorrow or pain they feel with something else, like alcohol, drugs, sex, or self-mutilation.  The pain and pleasure centers of the human nervous system are so powerful they can override everything else in the body, even thoughts.  Because of this, the sudden pleasure of drugs or the pain of cutting can make a person forget, for a short time, the effects of their disorder.

Obviously, there are more healthy and long-lasting ways of dealing with and recovering from these. In addition, side effects, like drug reliance or alcoholism may need to be addressed. Psychological counseling is extremely beneficial, especially when combined with prescribed medication. The military has opened an alcohol treatment center to help those who have drinking problems stemming from the stresses soldiers face.  It’s important to remember that addiction is usually a coping mechanism for something bigger, but that there is help out there.