What Kinds of War-Zone Stressors Did Soldiers in the Iraq War Confront?
It is important to appreciate the various types of demands, stressors, and potentially traumatizing events that veterans of the Iraq War may have experienced. This will serve to facilitate communication between clinician and patient and enhance understanding and empathy. Although there may be one or two specific traumatic events burned into the consciousness of returning soldiers that plague them psychologically, traumatic events need to be seen in the context of the totality of roles and experiences in the war-zone. In addition, research has shown convincingly that while exposure to trauma is a prerequisite for the development of significantly impairing PTSD, it is necessary but not sufficient. For veterans, there are a host of causes of chronic PTSD. In terms of war-zone experiences, perceived threat, low-magnitude stressors, exposure to suffering civilians suffering, and exposure to death and destruction, have each been found to contribute to risk for chronic PTSD. It should also be
