1

Dohwrenwend, Bruce P. "Why Some Soldiers Develop PTSD While Others Don't." Association
for Psychological Science RSS. N.p., 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 10 July 2014.

In this article, researcher Bruce P. Dohwrenwend, explains why some soldiers develop
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder while others who experience the same things dont develop
it. During their study the researchers focused mainly on three risk factors: severity of
traumatic events, veterans vulnerability prior to going to war, and involvement in harming
civilians or prisoners. This article also provides good facts and statistics to help me
understand why some soldiers develop PTSD and some dont.
The author of this article was Bruce P. Dohwrenwend with co-authors Melanie Wall, Ben
Adams and Thomas Yager who all attended Columbia University. This was a recent article
written February 21, 2013. The research was supported by the National Institute of Mental
Health which has supported researchers from some of my other sources.

This article will be useful for my research paper about veterans with PTSD. I think it
really goes into depth about veterans with PTSD and how it affects them and their families
in their daily lives. This in depth explanation provides support to my other sources that Im
using for my research paper. It became easier for me to understand the how and why these
affected veterans winded up in the federal court system when the PTSD in veterans was left
untreated.








2

Elbogen, Eric. "Study: Specific PTSD Symptoms Related to Anger and Aggressiveness among
Iraq/Afghanistan Veterans." - UNC School of Medicine. N.p., June 2010. Web. 10 July
2014.
The study sponsored by The National Institute of Mental Health, led by Eric Elbogen,
Ph.D., explains how focusing on specific symptoms of PTSD may be the key component to
helping veterans returning home from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The article focuses
on the main symptoms studied: anger, aggression and hostility. It explains how the veterans
with these hyper arousal symptoms of anger, aggression and hostility, have the highest
post-deployment adjustment problems. It details the worst of these adjustment problems as
alcohol abuse and violence.
I think that this is a source that is very useful explaining how veterans with PTSD may end
up in criminal court. It is a good article full of useful information about Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder. The article contains information about how if treatment focused on just
these main symptoms like anger, aggression, and hostility, the veteran, their families,
society and the U.S. Government may find relief to effects of PTSD.
The point of this article is to define the main symptoms that cause the most severe effects
of PTSD. I learned that alcoholism is the number one problem for these veterans with
violence being second. I was not aware that problems with alcohol and violence can lead
veterans into the criminal court system. The funding for this study was provided by the
Department of Veteran Affairs, The University of North Carolina and the National Institute
of Mental Health.







3

Hunter, Brockton D. Echoes of War: The Combat Veteran in Criminal Court. Brockton
Hunter & Ryan Else, eds., New York, NY: Penguin Group. 2014.

This source generally chronicles the psychologically injured combat veteran through
history and examines the unprecedented exposure to combat of the modern all volunteer
military. It surveys the expected impact on the numbers and severity of post-traumatic
stress disorder and similar combat related psychological damage among the veterans of war
in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as the expected resultant influx of those veterans into the
criminal courts. Finally the author explores the recent avenues of defense for the criminally
involved veteran under both emerging statutory law and the ever increasing recognition of
treatment alternatives in sentencing of the psychologically injured combat veteran.

The author of this literature is an accomplished criminal attorney and former U.S. Army
recon scout who handles a wide variety of criminal cases but who focuses his practice on
the defense of psychologically injured combat veterans in federal and state criminal courts.
He also advocates for reforms in the law and the justice system as they relate to the combat
veteran offender in the criminal system. Brockton Hunter is unashamedly biased in favor of
the combat veteran. He helped draft and lobby for passage of the Minnesota Veterans
Sentencing Mitigation Act which has been cited in recent years in landmark combat trauma
sentencing decisions of the United States Supreme Court and has served as a model for
drafting developing law in other states. Despite Mr. Hunters obviously subjective frame of
reference with regard to the plight of the combat veteran, his experience and work based
research and conclusions are a legitimate source of primary material and insight into this
rapidly emerging area of study and expertise.

The authors knowledge, insight and experience related to my topic and hypothesis is
invaluable. It is a unique and absolutely essential perspective on the impact, effect and
systemic response of the criminal justice system to the influx of the psychologically injured
combat veteran in the criminal courts. Mr. Hunters expertise, gained by hands on
experience defending the criminally involved combat veteran in the justice system, has
placed him on the cutting edge of legal reasoning and strategies designed to mitigate the
harmful effects of the combat traumatized offender and to steer both him and the system
toward an approach geared toward appropriate and effective treatment and supervision
which he would effectively argue is more suitably designed for the long term health and
safety of all of our citizens.

4

McClelland, Mac. Hearts and minds: PTSD is already at epidemic levels among returning vets.
And now its spreading to their families. Mother Jones Jan.-Feb. 2013: 16+. Opposing
Viewpoints In Context. Web. 19 June 2013.
This source explains PTSD and the effects PTSD has on veterans and their family members. It
discusses Secondary PTSD, suicide rates, issues with U.S. Government and Veteran Affairs,
creating awareness about PTSD and its effects. Some statistics given are: the suicide rate for
veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is much higher now than the deaths of veterans in
combat during war. He also explains how the VA is not able to treat all these veterans coming
home from war. It explains that because the U.S. Government does very little to nothing at all, that
expense of outside treatment for the veterans and their families is extremely high. This is causing
the veterans and their families to go into severe debt and sometimes bankrupt. Children of the
veterans are also being greatly affected. For example, the article describes how children in middle
school with a veteran parent with PTSD may need mental health care; get secondary PTSD and the
statistics of suicide idealization and attempts. The point of this article is to inform you about how
there is a rapid growing need for the government to help these veterans and how secondary PTSD
among these family members will continue to quickly grow without VA/US Govt help.
This article for Mother Jones Magazine is written by Mac McClelland, an award winning journalist
who brings awareness to controversial topics. She writes about topics that get forgotten after a
period of time or that havent been brought to the surface enough to satisfy her. She brings the
human face onto the problem by very personal interviews and spending time walking in their
shoes, thus, grabbing the readers attention. I think she is a very credible source using peoples
experiences and backing it up with statistics, history and facts using U.S Government sources
(NIMH, NCBI, NIH all sources that I am using).
This source tells one veterans family story about the effects of PTSD on them and their
community. I am using specific statistics about combat soldier and veteran suicide, secondary
PTSD and childhood depression. I also will bring in the different types of treatment this veteran and
his family has used/is using, including their PTSD Service Dog and the support he provides.
5

"PTSD: National Center for PTSD." PTSD Basics -. N.p., 25 June 2014. Web. 09 July 2014.
This article was written by the National Center for PTSD under the U.S. Department of
Veteran Affairs. It is an organization that focuses only on veterans and their families,
helping them how to cope with their mental health issues. The point of this article is to help
understand exactly what PTSD, how it affects the veteran and their family. This article also
explains the difference between regular reactions to trauma as opposed the reactions of
people with PTSD. The article offers how to get professional help for the veterans and
their families that need it.
This source, the National Center for PTSD, is credible because it is under the U.S.
Department of Veterans Affairs. The National Center for PTSD specifically focuses on the
mental health issue of PTSD. It concentrates its assistance only for veterans and their
families and only on the mental health issue of PTSD. This specified information is useful
for researching what PTSD is as a mental health issue and also how it affects the veteran
and their family.
This article is a good source to research about veterans with PTSD and how it affects their
families. I became aware of all the information that the VA has about my topic veterans
with Post traumatic Stress Disorder. This website provided me with multiple links and
questions that helped me further my research.












6

Reno, Jamie. "Nearly 30% of Vets Treated by V.A. Have PTSD." The Daily Beast.
Newsweek/Daily Beast, 21 Oct. 2012. Web. 11 July 2014.

This article was written by Jamie Reno, an award winning author and journalist. He has
been a Newsweek correspondent for twenty years. In this article he talks about how the
troops that have been deployed over and over again to Iraq and Afghanistan are more than
three times as likely to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as veterans that have only
been deployed once.
This is an excellent and reliable source to use for my research paper because it was written
by an award winning author so I know that it is a source I can trustingly use. It is a good
article full of useful information about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and gives a lot of
specific facts. Less than half percent of the veterans coming back from Iraq and
Afghanistan are filing for disability claims. The article also describes how less than half of
9/11 veterans diagnosed with PTSD are not receiving their benefits from the U.S.
government.
This source is very helpful in my research project because it describes detailed facts about
the veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It provides good support on how the
government is not giving the veterans with PTSD the disability money they deserve.








7

Seal, Karen, Md. "Trends and Risk Factors for Mental Health Diagnoses Among Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans Using Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care." US National
Library of Medicine. NIH, 1 Sept. 2009. Web.

This source is an article written by Karen Seal MD, a physician with the San Francisco
Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco. In this
article the author investigates the trends and risk factors for mental health diagnosis among
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans from 2002 - 2008. The point of this article is to inform the
reader about the substantial increase of mental health diagnosis in post-beginning Iraq War
veterans entering the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care, its findings in trends, risk factors
and the need for early preventative interventions.
I think this article is very reliable source for the topic concerning Iraq and Afghanistan
veterans with post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). The article has been peer reviewed
and includes additional contributors, e.g., physicians, mental health care providers, public
health care and social services specialists all working for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Additionally, the articles funding for its research and findings was provided by the VA
through the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Health and Human
Services. The article is copyrighted by the American Public Health Association and has
multiple citations. The article also contains support for the need of early interventions which
target specific risk factors for the veterans with PTSD.
This article is an excellent source to use on my research about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans
with PTSD. It made me aware of the fast growing increase of these veterans being diagnosed
with PTSD (including the undiagnosed) and how this affects these veterans, their families,
their communities, our society and America. It also made me aware of the growing emergent
needs for mental health care for our veterans along with interventions for the prevention of
PTSD that needs to be done by our government, societies and communities. This articles
research data for an epidemic of chronic mental illness will greatly help me with providing
information on the topic of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with PTSD.


8

Segal, Jeanne, Ph.D., and Melinda Smith, M.A. "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)":
Symptoms, Treatment and Self-Help. N.p., Mar. 2014. Web. 09 July 2014.

In this article the author defines Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), lists signs and
symptoms for PTSD, cause and risk factors and provides lists of events that can lead to
PTSD, in children, adolescents, and adults. This article also provides how to get help and
support for PTSD. The point of this article is to inform the reader about what PTSD is and
its symptoms, treatment and self-help for veterans with PTSD.

The authors of this article are Melinda Smith, M.A, and Jeanne Segal, Ph.D. This is a
recent article written in March of 2014. It was published by Helpguide.org (internet based)
not-for-profit resource to provide the public with help for health issues. This article will be
a helpful and good source to use for the research of my paper because it provides detailed
information about PTSD.
I found this in depth article defining PTSD through a link provided by VA.gov. The United
States Department of Veterans Affairs has proven to be a reliable source for information
about veterans with PTSD. In this article I was able to understand the signs and symptoms
of PTSD easier because of its concise bulleted facts and layman terminology.







9

Tull, Matthew, PhD. "PTSD in Iraq War Veterans - Rates of PTSD in Iraq War Veterans."
About.com Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD). N.p., 29 Jan. 2012. Web. 11 July 2014.

This article talks about the effects of PTSD in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. He discusses
how veterans returning back to Iraq and Afghanistan need to have mental health services
available to them at all times in order to help them manage all the trauma they have
experienced from the first time at war. The VA offers medical and psychiatric care
programs to the veterans at VA centers. The VA tested 120 veterans returning from war
and found that nearly 40% of them had signs of PTSD, depression, alcohol use, and alcohol
use and PTSD combined. The point of this article is to inform the reader that veterans from
Iraq and Afghanistan are coming home and suffering from symptoms such as PTSD,
depression, and alcohol use combined.
This article was written by Mathew Tull PhD. He received his training for PTSD and
anxiety at the University of Massachusetts. I think this is a reliable source because the
author has experience in the area of anxiety disorders, especially Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. This most current research focusing on identifying and better understanding the
factors that cause substance abuse among individuals with PTSD.
This article supports the need for veterans to have mental health services available to them
at all times. My other source with National Institute of Mental Health uses around 900,000
veterans for their studies. This source only uses 120 veterans for their studies. Both of these
sources studies come out with close to the same percentages of veterans with PTSD.

10

Williamson, V., and E. Mulhall. Invisible Wounds: Psychological and Neurological Injuries Confront a
New Generation of Veterans. Washington, DC: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, 2009.
http://iava.org/files/IAVA_invisible_wounds_0.pdf (accessed 10 July 2014).
This article is about the psychological and neurological injuries veterans have gotten from the Iraq
and Afghanistan war. It talks about how the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affects not only the
veterans but their families and society around them. It explains how if you dont get the correct
treatments for the injuries it can cause bigger issues in the future. This article lists the symptoms
one would have if getting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It shows many charts and many facts
about the topic of my research paper. The article also explains how the more times the veterans
were sent back to war the higher the risks for getting Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety,
depression, and more. The last thing it explains is how PTSD in veterans can lead to criminal
justice.
This is a credible source because it is a non-profit website written by Vanessa Williamson and Erin
Mulhall, with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA). This is a great source for my
topic for my research paper. It gives detailed charts and many facts about Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder. For example it says that one quarter of the veteran that were evacuated from Iraq and
Afghanistan war suffered from head and neck injuries. I was not aware that many of these troops
were becoming homeless due to PTSD.













11

Wolfe, Matthew. "From PTSD to Prison: Why Veterans Become Criminals." The Daily Beast.
Newsweek/Daily Beast, 28 July 2013. Web. 13 July 2014.
This source is written by Matthew Wolfe. Throughout this article he uses real life stories
about veterans who have suffered from PTSD when coming home from the war. It
describes the nightmares many of these veterans have when they return home from horrible
experiences and traumatic events that happened during the war. Another thing this article
describes is how the veterans like to drink a lot which leads them to become alcoholics.
They do this because it makes them fall asleep easier and helps them to avoid unpleasant
dreams.
This news article was written by Matthew Wolfe. I think it is a useful source because there
are a lot of useful facts and percentages about how PTSD, depression, and alcoholism take
place in many veterans lives when they leave the war. For example, one in ten inmates
has served in the military.
I think it is a reliable source to use because it has a lot of recent information on PTSD. This
article puts a human face to PTSD with the criminals stories that have been in the justice
system.














12

Wood, David. Combat Veterans with PTSD, Anger Issues More Likely to Commit Crimes: New
Report. Huffington Post, 10/10/12. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/veterans-ptsd-
crime-report n 1951338.html. Web. 12 July 2014.


This article reports a 2012 study: Combat veterans with PTSD and anger issues are more likely to
commit crime. Veterans struggling with anger and emotional outburst of combat trauma are two
times as likely compared to other veterans to be arrested for criminal activity. Shown is a direct
correlation of PTSD with anger from the trauma can cause criminal problems. It points out that
trauma related anger with a high amount irritability is a main cause for aggression that can cause the
veteran to commit a crime. Also discussed is how the Veterans Administration cannot meet the
demanded need for mental health care, PTSD testing and diagnosis and treatment, even though they
have had budget increases, hired additional staff. One main reason for this is the therapy that they
use, does not address irritability. These Veterans with PTSD where the trauma causes a high amount
of irritability and anger need specialized therapy, not provided by the VA.

The author is David Wood who is Huffington Posts chief Iraq and Afghanistan War Correspondent
and Pulitzer Prize journalist. His articles about the Iraq and Afghanistan War and Veterans are used
as sources in many other articles about the returning Iraq and Afghanistan War Veteran with PTSD.

This article relates to Dr. Elbogens studies that I will be using as sources. I especially appreciated
that in his article he discusses the specific problem of treatment with the VA. His article is the only
one I have found that discusses the need for specialized therapy needed for veterans and how the VA
does not provide it.