Aldwin, Carolyn M., Michael R. Levenson, and Avron Spiro III. "Vulnerability and Resilience to Combat Exposure: Can Stress Have Lifelong Effects?" Psychology and Aging 9.1 (1994): 34-44. Examines the stress put on soldiers while deployed and how stress makes soldiers better persons in their every day lives. Negative effects and symptoms do not completely describe the possible effects of PTSD on soldiers in combat. Argues that positive experience was more likely to stem from stress situations, and it also toughens the individual in many different aspects of their lives. Also looks at the other side of PTSD, which is having some difficult times in society in later adult life. Discusses that although stress heightens the ability to respond faster in the real world, it still negatively affects the veterans in certain aspects of their lives such as being a good father, husband, and over all a good all around person. This article is good for beginners in this subject of PTSD in combat veterans.

Combat Stress: The War Within. 1 July 2004. 18 Feb. 2005 <http://www.cnn.com>. Argue the fact that many soldiers do experience PTSD from a variety of different causes, such as traumatic memory. PTSD may come from just being attacked to carrying bodies. Out of a hundred soldiers, forty of them come out of combat with serious of mental problems. Another major problem is that the soldiers themselves do not look or ask for mental help or therapy. Mentions that the Army itself is at fault to a certain degree because they sometimes look at soldiers with mental problems as cowards. States that a lack of mental help will increase the mental problems of PTSD in the future life of a soldier. Article is very understandable and any type of reader can read it.

Elder, Glen H. Jr., and Elizabeth Colerick Clipp. "Combat Experience and Emotional Health: Impairment and Resilience in Later Life." Journal of Personality 57.2 (1989): 313-41. Article is based on a program of research on the social change in the life course of combat soldiers. Veterans were tested for different kinds of mental illnesses that they may have received through the torment of hostile situations such as combat. The veterans studied had fought in WWII and in the Korean War. The psychological states of these veterans were studied and the results demonstrated that the veterans suffered a variety of mental disorders, the main one being PTSD. Although PTSD was found in these veterans, the study also found that an increased ability of awareness and competence was high within these individuals. Also, the study examines the everyday life of these soldiers and how they react with the real world. It shows that some veterans have succeeded very much in their lives because of stresses they received in combat. This is a good article because it introduces the reader to both sides of the benefits of combat on soldiers.

Gray Matt J., Jon D. Elhai, and Chrisopher B. Freuh "Enhancing Patient Stratification and Increasing Treatment Compliance: Patient Education as a Fundamental Component of PTSD Treatment." Psychiatric Quarterly 75.4 (2004): 321-32. Discusses that treatments for PTSD sometimes get little or no attention at all because the veterans that have the disorder do not like to admit they have it. Describes an eight-week patient education of the mental disorder PTSD. Surveys were taken by a group of veterans and showed that treatments for their mental conditions greatly reduced the stress they had in life. Educational interventions have been shown to increase patient knowledge about their conditions, enhance medical visits, and help treatments go well. Different types of treatments are possible depending on the severity of the condition. Argues the fact that not only medications are helpful but that basic therapy also plays an important role of recovery. Article describes the physical and medical process in basic terminology, therefore making it an easy article to read for any type of reader.

Hoge, Charles W., Carl A. Castro, Stephen C. Messer, and Dennis McGurk. "Combat Duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mental Health Problems, and Barriers to Care." The New England Journal of Medicine 351.1 (2004). ProQuest Direct. Oklahoma State University Library. Article 659186091. 10 Feb. 2003 <http://proquest.umi.com.library.okstate.edu/>. Includes the study group questions and answers from soldiers before and after being deployed overseas to Afghanistan and Iraq. Responses of soldiers from when they were in combat and how that affected them mentally and physically. Most soldiers were tested for PTSD with a variety of tests. The tests were positive for mental disorders, but most soldiers were not likely to report that they had stigmatization or other barriers. Soldiers that were involved in Iraq had more PTSD than those that served in Afghanistan. Different types of Army units were tested: the Airborne units, Rangers, and Special Forces to see the different types of mental disorders. Article establishes excellent points for trauma caused by the affects of combat on soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Keane,Terence M., Frank W. Weathers, and Edna B Foa. "Diagnosis and Assessment." Effective Treatments for PTSD. Foa, Edna B., Terrence M. Keane, and Matthew J. Friedman, eds. New York: The Guilford P, 2000. 18-36. Points out the diagnostic and assessment of medical evaluations on people with PTSD. Describes that traumatic events are the cause of some mental illnesses such as PTSD. There was research done to find out the importance of knowing how to know and treat mental illnesses. Prevalence of PTSD in the general population is high and is of high importance. Studied the fact that not everyone develops mental illnesses from just one cause, but from quite a few different traumatic causes. Clinicians administered tests on people that reported to have had a traumatic event in their lives, and the results of the test showed that with much of therapy and medicine, recovery from such trauma may be cured. Good article for beginners reading over this subject.

Schnurr, Paula P., Stanley D. Rosenberg, and Matthew J. Friedman. "Change in MMPI Scores From College to Adulthood as a function of Military Service." Journal of Abnormal Psychology 10.2 (1993): 288-96. States the fact that stress can cause more good than harm. Military service is a significant developmental experience that has important effects on the lives of soldiers. Combat situations bring to mind "stress inoculation," which is mastery of ones personal skills is gained by amounts of stress exposure. There is also a "physiological toughening," where stressful situation heightens neurological responses. The veterans were tested with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which studies certain physiological outcomes in veteran soldiers. The score numbers were then correlated to see how the overall outcome of PTSD and other mental disorders were correlated with heavy and low combat. A valuable source when comparing numbers of tests from veterans with mental disorders, and easy to understand and read.

Spiro, Avron III, Paula P. Schnurr, and Carolyn M. Aldwin. "Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in Older Men." Psychology and Aging 9.1 (1994): 17-26. Article discusses PTSD in aging men that served in combat in WWII, and how they have developed PTSD over the years. Those soldiers that experienced high combat in WW II had a 13.3 times greater risk of PTSD than those in non-combat situations. Suggests that combat exposure does make a difference in having PTSD, and just military service in general is a "hidden variable." Psychologists also studied POW soldiers who served in combat. PTSD is more prominent in older men that had served in combat. Over the years PTSD increases with adult life because of situations that they face while growing up. States that PTSD is not being treated in certain individuals that need the medical help because it is not looked for during medical evaluations. Although symptoms are hard to see, they need to be tested for especially in men that were in combat around 20 to 50 years ago. Article can be read by any type of reader and it clearly states the objectives carefully.

Stimpson, Nicola J., Hollie V. Thomas, Alison L. Weightman, Frank Dunstan, and Glyn Lewis. "Psychiatric disorder in veterans of the Persian Gulf War of 1991." British Journal of Psychiatry 18.2 (2003): 391-403. PTSD has arisen in ex-combat soldiers because of traumatic events that can occur as a result of active duty. The sampling was conducted throughout the Military, and the results were measured. States that stressful situations cause neurological discomfort and leads to PTSD. Results of studies made on deployed soldiers' states that PTSD is found in soldiers that were in heavy combat. Veterans in the Persian Gulf War reported an increased prevalence of PTSD, and other common mental disorders when they were compared to soldiers that were not deployed to the Gulf. The outcome of the Persian Gulf War had a strong affect on soldiers, and those that served in combat had PTSD and most looked for mental help. Good source for PTSD on soldiers that have been deployed and easy to the Persian Gulf.

Ursano, Robert J., and Ann E. Norwood. "The Gulf War." Emotional Aftermath of the Persian Gulf War: Veterans, Families, Communities, and Nations. Ursano, Robert J., and Anne E. Norwood, eds. Washington: American Psychiatric P, Inc, 1996. 3-21. During the period of the Gulf War, combat was a major role in the life of a soldier. Analyzes the fact that this war caused PTSD in soldiers that were in heavy combat. Most soldiers that came back from the war reported to suffer traumatic situations that caused them to act strangely in different ways. Describes that not just the individual soldier has PTSD, but the family and wife may have it also. The burden experience by family, friends, and other close relatives also had a major part in the process of mental illnesses in soldiers. The Gulf War had much more of an effect on soldiers than most other wars because there were more things to worry about in this war such as the biohazard and chemical warfare that was much worried and concerned about. The article within the book is very easy to read and understand, and can be ready by anyone.

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