Beyond Pathologizing Harm: Understanding PTSD in the Context of War Experience

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Phenomenology
• Sociology

Background:

• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is often understood through neuro-physiological models, potentially overlooking the social and narrative context of trauma.
• This perspective risks separating the objective disease state from the personal and cultural meanings of traumatic events.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an alternative, hermeneutic phenomenological approach to understanding PTSD.
• To explore how PTSD symptoms meaningfully reflect soldiers' actual war experiences and sense of displacement.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative interviews were conducted with nurses caring for soldiers injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
• Sixty-seven wounded male servicemen in the rehabilitation phase were also interviewed.

Main Results:

• Service members described classic PTSD symptoms, including flashbacks, insomnia, and anxiety.
• A common experience among participants was a disturbance in their sense of time and place.

Conclusions:

• Symptoms of PTSD should be interpreted not as decontextualized mechanistic responses, but as meaningful reflections of war experiences and displacement.
• A narrative and phenomenological approach offers a more holistic understanding of PTSD in service members.