combat psychology

8/6/2019 Combat Psychology

1/17

Combat Psychology:An Analysis of a Battle

By: Amy Ringuette

PSYC 432 Psychology of CombatProfessor Sarah Johnson

February 25, 2011


2/17

The Stimulus of Battle

Sounds

Artillery Shells

Rifles fire

Machine gun fire

Bullets Whizzing through the

Air connecting with flesh

Screams, Pleading, and last

noises of the wounded anddying

The whiz of airplanes and

mortars

Smells

Mud/Earth

Gunpowder

Rotting Flesh

Rotting Vegetation

Blood

Feces Urine

Smoke


3/17

Battle is aplace where

the Tangible Reality of

the Mind meets the

Abstract Concept ofWar

Sights

Blinding Flashes of Light

Viseral (to the point of beingalmost unrecognizable to the

human brain) carnage

Collapsed Bridges

Dirty Water Desolate Environments

(often caused by humanbeings)

Bombed/Rubbled

Buildings, Schools andChurches

Trenches, Bunkers, Hideout etc

Tastes

Gritty Sand and Mud

Accidental pieces of Bloodand flesh

Sweat

Touches

The feeling of groundshaking underneath you

Your buddys body throwninto you

Bumping against other

soldiers


4/17

An EmotionalBattle

Society says

Killing is sanctioned

Enemy Soldier is a

Monster!

It will be an adventure!

The end justifies the

means!

The country needs you

to pull the trigger!

Youll be saving your

buddies lives.

You will die if you dont

fight back.

Failure to ones unit and

ones leader is not

acceptable.

Conscious Says

Hes a human being

Killing is never right

Hes just like you, a soldier

Neither of you would like to

pull the trigger

The person responsible for

war rarely are the people

fighting.

War is hell, not an

adventure


5/17

The Consequences of

Battle: How Battle Effects

the Soldier!

Battle Effects the soldier:

Mentally

Physically

Emotionally


6/17

The Mental Effects of

Battle After sixty (60) days ofcontinuous combat, 98

percentof all surviving soldiers will havebecome

psychiatriccasualties (Grossman, 2009, p. 43-4)

Some Mental Reactions to Combat are:

Combat Stress Reaction (CSR)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Acute Stress Disorder (ASD)


7/17

Combat Stress Reactions (CSR) or

Shell Shock/Battle Fatigue Symptoms (36!)

Largely:

Fatigue

Autonomic Reactions (seeslide 6)

Emotional

Behavioral

Lt. Col. Dave Grossmanargues that CSR is anatural reaction to an

unnatural situation.

BICEPS a Plan toCombat CSR and helpsoldiers. It involves:

Brevity

Immediacy

Contact

Expectancy

Proximity

Simplicity


8/17

According to WrongDiagnosis.com

the 36 symptoms are:

Fatigue

Shaking

Tremors

Sweating

Nausea

Vomiting

Loss of appetite

Headache

Backache

Frequenturination

Palpitations

Urinaryincontinence

Dizziness

Hyperventilation

Insomnia

Nightmares

Excessivesleeping

Hypervigilance

Increased senseof threat

Irritability

Anxiety

Depression

Substance abuse

Disruptivebehavior

Mistrust

Loss of beliefs

Reduced reactiontimes

Indecision

Disconnectionwithsurroundings

Inability toprioritize

Slowed thought

Lack ofconcentration

Excessiveattention tominor issues

Excessive time

spent on familiartasks

Loss of initiative

Difficultystarting routineactivities

(WrongDiagnosis, 2011)


9/17

What This Tells Us& What We Know!

Combat StressReactions were once

though to by apsychopathology.

People during WWIbelieved thatindividuals who did not

come from the upperclasses were defective!Lower class peoplewere thought to haveCSR more.

During WWII this wasproved wrong. Peoplefrom every walk of lifeduring the war reported

symptoms of CSR.

The wide variety ofsymptoms of CombatStress Reactions tells usthat Combat Stress is alsovery common and very

natural. Many cases of CSR are

reported.


10/17

Post Traumatic Stress

Disorder (PTSD) Common Symptoms

Repeated, disturbing memories,thoughts, or images of a stressfulmilitary experience or trauma

Repeated, disturbing dreams

Suddenly acting or feeling as if astressful military experience werehappening again or Reliving it

Being very upset when you arereminded

Attempts to avoid thinking aboutor feeling it

Followed by avoiding places,things, or people in fear ofremembering as well assituations and activities

Bad/Lost memory of incident(s)

Feeling lost, distant, or cutoff

Loss of interest in enjoyable thingsof the past

Feeling emotionally numb orunable to love loved ones

Feelings of doom or your futurewill somehow be cut short

Trouble falling or staying asleep

Feeling irritable or having angryoutbursts

Difficulty concentrating

Being unable to relax and stopbeing on guard and superalert

Being jumpy or easily startled(Kennedy & Zillmer, 2006, p. 173)


11/17

Effects of PTSD:

PTSD can Bring the Battlefield Back into Society.

This happens because, in his mind, the soldier never left thewar. So soldiers do usual/immoral things like:

Begin using drugs/substance abuse

Becoming an Alcoholic

Men come home and commit suicide

Rape

Murder

Incest or Molestation

Being an untreated soldier is highly dangerous because somesoldiers become progressively worse


12/17

Traumatic Brain

Injury(TBI) Military Members at High

Risk!

In WarTBI is generally theresult of a concussion from aBlast from a Mortar,Improvised Explosive Device

(IED)

Common Symptoms:

Headache

Hearing Changes

Loss of Consciousness

Dimmed Consciousness

Vomiting

Nausea

Failed Coordination

Dizziness

Trouble Focusing

Trouble Balancing

Dual/Blurred Vision(Kennedy & Zillmer, 2006)


13/17

TBI: Effects

Can Result in a Variety of Sequelae:

Cognitive

Emotional Behavioral

Physical (Kennedy & Zillmer, 2006)

TBI if untreated can result in:

Death

Brain Damage

Lifestyle being effected by social or cognitive imparement

Coma


14/17

Physical Consequences

Soldiers can and do come back missing legs, arms,hands, or fingers.

Disability often results in an honorable discharge anddisability pay

An inability to perform past tasks

Inability to do previous hobbies or enjoyable pursuits

Disability has mental effects as well, it can lead todepression.

The disabled run a higher risk for suicide


15/17

Emotional Consequences

of Battle An inability to connect with the rest of society

An inability to connect with loved ones

Isolation

Feelings of intense guilt, grief, or/and anxiety remain

with all throughout life

In many soldiers the feelings of horror do not diminish

In a rare few anger, fury, and prejudice remain


16/17

Summary

The complex reactions of human beings during war tell

us that war is not a natural thing for human beings.

In fact prior to Cognitive-Behavioralist training manysoldiers could not pull the trigger! The fire rates of

soldiers once were at 15-20%, after the new techniques

were applied to training soldiers it went up to around

90% during Vietnam! (Grossman, 2009)

The psychological impact of war exceeds that of the

physical and often creates some of the emotion impact!


17/17

REFERENCES:

Grossman, D.(2009). On Killing Revised Ed. Back Bay Books/Little,

Brown & Co: New York, NY.

Kennedy, C., Zillmer, E. (2006). Military Psychology: Clinical and

Operational Applications 1st Ed. The Guilford Press: New York, NY

Shephard, B. (2001). A War of Nerves: Soldiers and Psychiatrists in the

20th Century 1st ED. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Massachusetts

WrongDiagnosis.Com (2011) Symptoms of Combat Stress Reaction

www.wrongdiagnosis.com: Health Grades Inc. ACCESSED 02/25/2011http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/c/combat_stress_reaction/symptoms.ht

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