PTSD Through the MST Lens By Amber Robinson According to a website run by nonprofit, Unbroken Warriors, over 540,000 veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD. What the military is not talking about is how many of those cases were caused by Military Sexual Trauma? The VA reports that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 50 men said “yes” when screened for MST in its most recent report. Although combat PTSD is no joke, and something I struggle with, the PTSD load from sexual trauma is heavier. Sarah Blum, Vietnam veteran, licensed therapist and author of “Women Under Fire: Abuse in the Military”, says the depth of PTSD from MST is because a sexual assault is experienced as a breach in a person’s sense of self and bodily integrity. Thus, she says the victim’s feelings of safety, self-worth and self-trust deteriorate, making them question their safety, themselves and others constantly. In service, assaults are doubly damning in that it undermines the much-needed trust between military brothers and sisters in arms. What does it mean if you can’t trust the service member to your left or right during training or a deployment?
If you are a survivor of Military Sexual Trauma, please know that you are not alone. You can heal, you just have to take the first step.
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WWW.HomelandMagazine.com / June 2024
“To those who see their military unit or core as family, which that is encouraged, then the violation equates to incest,” said Blum. Once the trauma of an assault has damaged the brain, the survivor can become haunted by the event as their brain triggers them back to it over and over again. Triggering as well as dissociation during and after the event leaves survivors with an inability to connect to self and others. “Our thinking brain is shut down during trauma,” said Blum. “Survivors of MST become emotionally numb, unresponsive to the world around them, and thus they cut themselves off from resources.” Without the ability to connect to themselves and others, MST survivors can flounder. Many are often forced out of service for personality disorders that are actually acute PTSD. Symptoms such as anger, depression or issues with self-perception and relationships can easily be classified as personality disorder symptoms and often are. Unfortunately, for many survivors, a personality disorder is enough to separate them from service, many with an other than honorable discharge. Without honorable service on their record, most are ineligible for their