The Bomb Detonation: The Relationship of PTSD to Vietnam and Iraq Veterans A soldier returns home from duty and attempts to return to civilian life after spending months defusing IEDs. Experience recurring flashbacks to the war. His mind rewinds to the moment one of his best comrades died. He develops insomnia because the nightmares have become unbearable and he distances himself from his family. Memories and obsessive thoughts become too big. It's as if he never left the war. He realizes that this is the only IED he may not be able to defuse: himself. Throughout military history, PTSD and war often go hand in hand. That said, PTSD symptoms haven't always been listed under that name. The first occurrences of PTSD occurred during the Civil War and was called "soldier's heart" or even "madness" because the symptoms, at the time, were unfamiliar. In World Wars I and II, PTSD symptoms were listed under “shell shock” and “combat fatigue” after little research concluded that the symptoms were combat-related (“PTSD: Not a new disorder"). PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into categories: reexperiencing the trauma, dysphoria, anhedonia, and avoidance (Bulkeley, “Mental Ills Rise”). PTSD is complex because the symptoms often fall within other disorders including but not limited to: depression and generalized anxiety (Erbes, 187-189). PTSD is a psychological improvised explosive device that takes root in a veteran's mind and potentially affects all aspects of their life. As countless research has been conducted, veterans, especially Iraq veterans, have received better treatment than Vietnam veterans and the procedure for treating… half of paper… 2 (2012): 187-190 . Academic research completed. Network. April 9, 2014.Howard, Sethanne and Mark Crandall. “Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: What Happens to the Brain?” Washington of academic sciences. 93.3 (2007):1-18. Network. 11 April 2014.Martin, Ugo. The stick soldiers. New York: BOA Editions, LTD., 2013. Print.O'Brien, Tim. The things they carried. New York: Broadway Books, 1990. Print. “PTSD: Not a New Ailment on the 'Wartorn' Battlefield.” Narr. Terry Gross. Fresh air. National public radio. NPR. 08 November 2010. Web. 28 April 2014. Vasterling, Jennifer J., et al. “Increased PTSD Symptoms in Soldiers Deployed to Iraq: Comparison with Nondeployed Soldiers and Associations with Baseline Symptoms, Deployment Experiences, and Post-Deployment Stress.” Journal of Traumatic Stress 23.1(2010): 41-51. Academic research completed. Network. April 11. 2014.