Running head: PTSD IN OLDER ADULTS INTERVIEW REFLECTION

PTSD IN OLDER ADULTS: Interview Reflection Georgia State University Name of Interviewer: Steven Miller Name of Interviewee: Allison Jackson LCSW Organization: Veterans Administration (HUD-VASH) housing program April 1st 2014

PTSD IN OLDER ADULTS INTERVIEW REFLECTION I conducted my interview with a LCSW that works at the Veterans Administration office in Decatur Ga. Her name has been changed for anonymity purposes. The interviewee has years of experience working with veterans belonging to all three developmental stages, providing services to homeless combat veterans through the section 8 (HUD-VASH Program). She is also a chair member of

the VA education department and VA Crises intervention team. In our interview we discussed the social challenges faced by older adults with PTSD. We also talked about issues specific to female older adult veterans with PTSD and then finally the similarities and differences in early/middIe adulthood veterans and older adulthood veterans with PTSD. Interview Content Analyze (Compare and Contrast) The obvious similarities in PTSD in all groups are the symptoms, PTSD looks the same in all genders, all ethnic groups and all ages. Another similarity shared with all groups that experienced military combat is that all combat veterans in all groups suffer from Post-traumatic stress, in her own words it is impossible to swim in water and not get wet. However it is the differences in support systems that each soldier has upon returning home that make the difference in experiencing just Posttraumatic stress or developing Post-traumatic stress disorder. Some of the social issues that specifically older adults grapple with from Mrs. Jacksons perspective, are complicated medical issues that come into play. She notices a lot of comorbidity with PTSD and physical medical ailments. Mrs. Jackson also mentioned that she will often see comorbid issues with Alzheimers disease and a number of mental health issues along the dementia spectrum. She stated that changes in support systems are common among older adults. The loss of spouses, loss of friends and the loss of military comrades, all play a huge role in PTSD seen in this group. She mentioned that older veterans such as those that fought in WWII and Vietnam, often are triggered

PTSD IN OLDER ADULTS INTERVIEW REFLECTION

by current or more recent conflict such as OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) in Kuwait, OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and OND (Operation New Dawn) in Afghanistan. As soldiers return from these more current conflicts it triggers a lot of issues for the older veterans (Vietnam) that they have not dealt with before. We talked extensively on how the differences in civilian support for Vietnam veterans play a huge role in the severity of PTSD for older adults. The Vietnam War effort was aggressively unsupported by American civilians who did not agree with that conflict. So returning soldiers were often ridiculed and criticized for their participation making it difficult if not impossible to seek help for the combat stress they were experiencing. Other useful information We spoke about the social un-representation of older female veterans with combat PTSD. The idea that females soldiers have only been in combat within recent conflicts is false. Female soldiers have always been in combat, in Vietnam all medical services were performed by female soldiers in conflict zones. These nurses experienced many of the same trauma of direct combat, death and loss that the infantry men they were serving, experienced resulting in the same post traumatic stress. However, many of these women do not even consider themselves veterans and are unaware of the services they are qualified for. Conclusion I feel like I really benefited from this interview and it really made me reflect on my own involvement in military conflicts and how those conflicts were received by the civilian public and what effect that had on my coping with the post-traumatic stress. Although combat veterans is not my first choice of social work, I absolutely would consider it an honor to service fellow veterans suffering with this social problem. This interview confirmed my already established perspective that this country has much room for improvement on how we serve those that served us in preserving American freedoms.