No Mind Left Behind

A Little Bit About Us

Hello All! Welcome to our blog! Our names are Fu’tra and Mackenzie and we are undergraduate students at Louisiana State University Shreveport. The two of us are broke college kids who have a desire to make a difference in the world, no matter how big or small it might be. Although we are young and may not have it all together, we can both agree that we are mental health advocates. Therefore, we wanted to bring awareness to those who may not understand the importance of mental health among active military service members and veterans. Did you know that over one-third of veterans experience mental disorder while transitioning back into the civilian lifestyle? Many of us will never understand how difficult it is to transition from a war zone back into a local community. The purpose of this blog is to bring awareness to those who may not think about the severity of mental illnesses that these men and women deal with daily. Whether it’s depression, PTSD, or anxiety, it is important to get a better understanding of what we can do to support our troops.

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You Don’t Have To Suffer In Silence

A lot of vets and active members tend to be struggling mentally and don’t want to ask for help, or don’t know where to start. If you feel like you can’t talk to anybody, family or friend(s) there’s a military crisis line just for this. One site that I have viewed allows you to text and call them when you aren’t feeling your best. They even provide help with the deaf and hard of hearing.

Who’s Usually More Prone

People who are below the age of 25 are more likely to be diagnosed with mental health issues than older service members. Military.com did a diagnoses in 2018 on the different branches of the military being affected. The Army leading with 10.7%, the navy at 7.4%, Air Force at 7%, and the Marine Corps at 6.5%.

Female members serving had higher rates when diagnosed with higher rates of mental health conditions. Females with 12.8% compare to male’s 7.5%.

Familiarizing yourself with the common mental illnesses that troops and veterans struggle with daily.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs after an individual has experienced extensive trauma or a possibly life-threatening event. What many people do not know is that even though you can develop symptoms of PTSD in the hours or days following a traumatic event, sometimes symptoms do not surface for months or even years after one returns from deployment. As you can imagine, PTSD affects every person differently. Studies have shown that the four main symptoms regarding PTSD include:

• Recurring thoughts, flashbacks, and nightmares of the traumatic event where you feel like the event is happening again.
• Severe avoidance of people, places, or situations that one may associate with the traumatic event.
• Negative changes in one’s thoughts or mood. Whether it be low self-esteem, shame, guilt, or fear, loved ones tend to notice when their veteran has erased the ability to feel positive emotions.
•  Being jumpy, constantly on guard, angry, irritable, or having trouble sleeping. Unfortunately, It’s extremely common for veterans with PTSD to experience unwanted suicidal thoughts. An important reminder that we must reiterate to our troops is that feeling suicidal is not a character defect, and it doesn’t mean that they are crazy or weak. – Another mental illness that current and prior service men and women are often diagnosed with is depression. What many people don’t understand is that depression is more complex than just feeling “sad”. The most popular misleading issue that comes with depression is the belief that it is something you can just “get over”. Trust me, if it were that simple, I believe most individual’s problems would be solved. I’m sure most of you reading this post can agree how difficult it can be. Depression is an overwhelming feeling that can make you feel like you are the lowest of the low. It’s known to make people feel hopeless as if they have no actual purpose on this earth. Becoming depressed also interferes with one’s daily life that may require some sort of treatment along the way. Did you know that the rate of depression may be up to five times higher in active duty service members compared to civilians? Depression can also lead to substance abuse or unfortunately, suicide.