“The Vicious Dragon, Rearing Its Ugly Head”: The Language of PTSD in the Canadian Military Community

Abstract

There is increasing research and knowledge on the impact of PTSD symptoms on the health and functioning military community members, however, less is known about how PTSD is described and discussed amongst these individuals. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the language around PTSD used in the military community. This qualitative study used a combination of in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews, focus groups, and survey free-text responses. A total of 40 individuals participated in this study including military family members, veterans, health care providers working with veterans, and staff working with military families. Three themes were identified from the analysis including: stigmatizing perceptions associated with PTSD; using the term PTSD in the military community; and specific words used to describe and identify PTSD. This information is critical to the understanding of how mental health difficulties are perceived and understood through the unique experiences and lens of the military community. Understanding how PTSD is described will directly inform the content and development of military culturally informed programs and services. Further research is required to understand how the language of other mental health disorders are understood by this population.

Keywords:

• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• mental health
• military culture
• language
• qualitative study

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of this paper from #Here4U™ Research and Development Team. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This project was made possible through the funding support from IBM Canada, Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR), Mitacs, and Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP).