Post-traumatic stress Disorder among Female Veterans
Post-traumatic stress Disorder is a prevalent condition among female veterans and causes them to participate in most inappropriate social activities (Zinzow et al., 2007).
Prevalence of PTSD among Women
The prevalence of PTSD among women during the first five months of therapy is represented below (Haskell et al., 2010).
In a single-case study style, the graph can also be applied to the Kim Petters case. Kim Peters is a female veteran who worked for nearly a decade in the Air Force wing. Currently, Kim is the Women's Veterans Group representative. The lady veteran reports to have the highest level of stress within the first one month after coming from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the public health and medical administration departments (Petters, 2017). However, after attending training sessions with psychiatrists, her levels of post-traumatic stress reduced. Kim reports to have began using medical marijuana from 2009 after serving in the Air Force for about seven years. After the first one month, the PTSD levels had reduced significantly by more than 50 percent. However, her progress might have stagnated due to the intense urge for medical Cannabis (Petters, 2017).
Kim's Case
Kim is a representative of the many female veterans who serve oversees and come back with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Unlike many women whose conditions tend to get worse after the war, Kim realized that cannabis was the only cure for her psychological illness (Petters, 2017). The veteran was unfamiliar with marijuana but eventually got used to it and witnessed a tremendous decrease in her anxiety levels. In summary, Kim’s case is a representation of how women veterans suffering from PTSD can manage their conditions using various techniques.
References
Haskell, S. G., Gordon, K. S., Mattocks, K., Duggal, M., Erdos, J., Justice, A., & Brandt, C. A. (2010). Gender differences in rates of depression, PTSD, pain, obesity, and military sexual trauma among Connecticut war veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Journal of Women's Health, 19(2), 267-271.
Petters, K. (2017). Veterans with PTSD need easier access to cannabis. USA TODAY. Retrieved 23 September 2017, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/contributors/2017/04/18/veterans-ptsd-need-easier-access-cannabis/100603430/
Zinzow, H. M., Grubaugh, A. L., Monnier, J., Suffoletta-Maierle, S., & Frueh, B. C. (2007). Trauma among female veterans: A critical review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 8(4), 384-400.
