Military‐Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Intimate Relationship Behaviors: A Developing Dyadic Relationship Model

Abstract

The protracted conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan and an all-volunteer military has resulted in multiple war zone deployments for many service members. While quick redeployment turnaround has left little time for readjustment for either the service member or family, dealing with the long-term sequelae of combat exposure often leaves families and intimate partners ill-prepared for years after deployments. Using a modified grounded theory approach, digitally recorded couple interviews of 23 couples were purposefully selected from a larger sample of 441 couples to better understand the impact of war zone deployment on the couple. The veteran sample was recruited from a randomly selected cohort of men in treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Overall, it was found when veterans experiencing deployment-related PTSD reenter or start new intimate relationships they may bring with them a unique cluster of interrelated issues which include PTSD symptoms, physical impairment, high rates of alcohol and/or drug abuse, and psychological and physical aggression. These factors contributed to a dynamic of exacerbating conflict. How these couples approached relationship qualities of mutuality, balanced locus of control and weakness tolerance across six axes of caregiving, disability, responsibility, trauma, communication, and community impacted the couple's capacity to communicate and resolve conflict. This dyadic relationship model is used to help inform implications for clinical practice.

Comparing Intimately Violent to Non-violent Veterans in Treatment for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

“…Much of what they discussed reflected aspects of mutuality to include respecting boundaries and mutually agreeing on what and how things would be talked about. We believe these examples helped to differentiate couples that ultimately thrived in their relationships from those who did not (Gerlock et al 2014). …”

“…Many of those in the BIPV-No^group described mutually respectful and supportive behaviors across the span of their relationship, but others reported becoming more so over time. Partners and Veterans also described PTSD and substance abuse treatments as helpful in reducing the overt physical violence, but doing little to reduce the psychological abuse (Gerlock et al 2014). Both as a clinical and research question, would a couple's intervention that incorporated teaching aspects of mutuality for service members and Veterans within the first 2 years' post-deployment help to prevent or reduce the frequency of IPV?…”

“…In addition, both were asked if they had ever talked in detail about the Veteran's conflict/war zone or military-related traumatic experience (s) in order to gather additional qualitative information about relationship mutuality. While the information they provided were rich narratives about how they handled this type of information in their relationships (Gerlock et al 2014), it was captured for purposes of these comparisons as yes or no. Additional military-specific descriptive data was gathered from male Veterans only (Table 1).…”

Reintegration Stress and Family Mental Health: Implications for Therapists Working with Reintegrating Military Families

“…These changes may be consistent with a diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which often results from exposure to intense and prolonged traumatic circumstances during deployment (Campbell and Renshaw 2013). PTSD often occurs when veterans have experienced intense combat and other traumatic circumstances (Gerlock et al 2013;Monson et al 2009). Rank, (Reger et al 2007), branch, (Castaneda and Harrell 2008) time in the military, and number of deployments, (Blaisure et al 2012) have been found to impact the relationship between PTSD symptoms and reintegration stress.…”

“…Although the majority of research on combat veterans and PTSD addresses the individual trauma response (Gerlock et al 2013), researchers are beginning to investigate the relational aspects of PTSD (Gerlock et al 2013;Monson et al 2009). Specifically, researchers have found strong associations between PTSD symptoms and relationship problems, in that participants who report intense and debilitating PTSD symptoms are also more likely to report greater relationship discord (Monson et al 2009).…”