Understanding the Life Course of the Combat PTSD Experience: Veterans with PTSD, Public Stigma, and the Road to Treatment

Drummond KL, Mittal D, Curran GM, Blevins D, Sullivan G, Corrigan P. Understanding the Life Course of the Combat PTSD Experience: Veterans with PTSD, Public Stigma, and the Road to Treatment. Paper presented at: American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting; 2012 Nov 14; San Francisco, CA.

Mental health providers in the VA are concerned with ways to engage Veterans with combat-related PTSD in treatment at an earlier stage. However, in order to seek treatment, an individual must first perceive a need for professional assessment of lived personal and social experience. In a qualitative pilot study we conducted four focus groups with OIF/OEF Veterans currently in treatment for PTSD. Our participants shared details of their experiences before and after being diagnosed, including when and why they sought treatment; how they felt about receiving the diagnosis of PTSD; whether they felt stigmatized as a result of the diagnosis and if so in what specific ways; and how they respond to instances of stigmatization and specific stigmatizing stereotypes. In analyzing our data we found a common pattern of what we are calling the "life course" of the combat PTSD experience. In this paper we explore the stages and markers of this course, and the role that perceived public stigmatization of Veterans with PTSD plays in its trajectory. Our findings suggest that more refined understandings of Veteran perceptions and experiences are needed in order to design Veteran-centered, effective outreach and treatment strategies.