Breaking Ranks
How Medically Released Canadian Military Veteran Men Understand the PTSD Diagnosis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22158283 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Whelan (0000-0001-8612-0860, Mount Saint Vincent University, corresponding author), Maya Eichler (0000-0002-5951-8707, Mount Saint Vincent University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 25-36 |
| Publication date | 2022-08-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Veterans Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2470-4768 • E-ISSN: 2470-4768 |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech Libraries (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.21061/jvs.v8i3.345 |
| OpenAlex | W4289768517 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 37 |
This paper examines posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans through the lens of hegemonic military masculinity (e.g., emotional toughness, strength, courage) as the overarching social ecology of military life in which mental distress is experienced by service members. Three themes emerged from a focus group with medically released Canadian veteran men: (a) PTSD as a medically decided injury among male soldiers reporting mental distress is experienced as more than an individual or medical problem, but as a social problem—a form of “breaking ranks” with fellow soldiers; (b) the PTSD diagnosis creates intrapersonal and interpersonal dilemmas for medically released veterans that are directly a result of hegemonic military masculinity norms; and (c) veteran efforts to restore accepted masculinity, including resistance to a PTSD label, underpin their relationships with veteran peers and family members. We argue that applying a medical diagnosis of PTSD ignores the social ecology of military life and further erodes treasured masculinized identities among distressed service members. By recasting them as injured patients, male soldiers are separated from accepted demonstrations of masculine agency in re-establishing themselves as worthy members of the military institution. The analysis of veteran men’s first-hand narratives speaks to the importance of understanding military/veteran PTSD diagnoses within the gendered social ecology of military life. The results of this study can facilitate an understanding of how hegemonic military masculinity, medical regulatory policies, and relational and individual processes within the military interact to shape experiences of injury for military and veteran men
Distress · Hegemonic masculinity · Masculinity · Military personnel · Military psychology · Military service · Moral injury · Political science · Psychiatry · Psychoanalysis · Clinical Psychology · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Law · Leadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies · Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research · Psychology · Social Psychology
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
An ecological view of psychological trauma and trauma recovery
The prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder in Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Veterans
The Politics of Treatment
Choose Your Method
Intimate Others and the Othering of intimates
Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy
Military service member and veteran reintegration
A Meta-Analysis of Placebo-Controlled Trials of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy
Implications of masculine gender role stress in male veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder
Abject masculinity and the military
Military Deployment, Masculinity and Trauma
Using thematic analysis in psychology
PTSD in the U.S. military, and the politics of prevalence
Closing the gap in a generation
Burdens of proof
You do not live in my skin
Heroes' invisible wounds of war
The Trauma Risk Management Approach to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the British Military
Exploring the ambiguities of masculinity in accounts of emotional distress in the military among young ex-servicemen
Because it's easier to kill that way
From Military Masculinity toward Hybrid Masculinities
Male combat veterans' narratives ofPTSD, masculinity, and health
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |