I have never really found any studies on this, but I have been saying this for years and hope that someone who does work with PTSD does look into this. Personally I wonder if PTSD is higher among married troops or troops in a serious relationship. While there are different levels of PTSD and it varies from person to person which makes studying it difficult. I have always felt that troops who have issues in their relationships while deployed seemed to have more troubles dealing with PTSD. As a bartender and the owner this site, many of the veterans that have talked to me about struggling with their demons also tend to question the fidelity of their lovers.
While you’re deployed so many of your thoughts are consumed by what your lover is doing back home. You trust them to keep your life in order while you’re away. You wonder what they’re doing constantly, and if they are being faithful. Then all of the sudden the situations and experiences you go through that cause PTSD happen. When you call home the phone is disconnected, bills you sent money home for are unpaid, you go online to check your accounts and you notice strange calls to strange numbers at odd hours of the day. Meanwhile you’re still going through your deployment and traumatic events are still going on. You come home and they act like they missed you and were perfect angels. You have a joyous reunion, and try to make up for lost time. while you’re adjusting to the fact that you’re home.
You start to go through the photo albums in your computer, then you notice some questionable photos. Then you ask about the weird phone calls. You start to ask who these people are they hung around with, and they avoid you like the plague now that you’re home. You’re already suffering from what you had to deal with on your deployment, now it’s compounded by how crazy your relationship is driving you. You have issues dealing with your anger, you get drunk a lot, you say and do things to your lover you’ll always regret. If this or something similar sounds like you, and you’re getting help or counseling please speak up. If everyone started to pay more attention to this, we could start figuring out better ways to improve these situations. In the mean time, Relation Termination is always here for anyone to vent or get things off their chest. Sometimes it helps to have a place to vent or direct your anger and clear your head before you go off and do something crazy. You can use our forum, or find Jody Hunter in our comment section below. Her profile is a place you can yell at, leave horrible comments, make fun of, or whatever makes you feel good.
