Geriatric Mental Health Disaster and Emergency Preparedness

Chapter 16 The Experience of Vulnerability in Geriatric Combat Veterans 323
they want to change (i.e., social isolation). New cognitions such as “I am
okay as I am” or “I can make mistakes and still be a good person” have replaced
the old dysfunctional beliefs. As the belief about self changes, the
behaviors of social isolation begin to yield to increased social activity.
Responsiveness is a thought process integral to the neocortex. Reaction
belongs to the limbic system. In boot camp, training in quick, decisive
reactions is the central component to survival. This training is aimed at
the limbic system. Many veterans have become more aware of a global perspective
related to our interdependence and connectedness as human beings.
The veteran population has come to greater acceptance that (1) there
is little in life that is predictable and (2) that we have little control over
anything beyond our choice to respond rather than react to a situation.
Some WWII veterans often demonstrate a positive view supported
by their belief that good will triumph over evil in the end. Some Korean
War veterans are not as optimistic and endorse a more aggressive stance
as inevitable and the only solution to the present chaos.
The Expression of PTSD Symptoms
in the Geriatric Veteran Population
Wretched I was, wretched I am: Battered by sorrows. From
now on I must live alone with none—no companion in the
days to come, and in misery I shall die—sad sad sad! Doomed
to the sufferings I have had and for as many Horrible days.
—Sophocles
Philocetetes , a play written by Sophocles at age 87, is about a Greek citizensoldier
gone off to fight in the war against the Trojans. Philocetetes sustains
a festering wound from a snakebite and is dropped off on an isolated
island by his comrades in arms. Isolated and alone, he mourns two losses:
the life he knew as a citizen and the life he knew as soldier. Heracles makes
a gift of a magic bow to this mournful and isolated citizen-soldier. In the
end, the military leader learns from the god Heracles that the war against
Troy cannot be won without the wounded Philocetetes. This imposes upon
the military the responsibility to heal his wound and to reintegrate him into
the society of soldiers so he may return home as a citizen-soldier.
So, too, has been the mission of the VA and in some respects the military:
to seek healing for those soldiers physically or psychologically wounded
by exposure to traumatic events in the course of combat. PTSD, currently
classified as an anxiety disorder, shares an overlapping symptom