The major motion picture American Sniper was released December 24, 2014. It is based on the true story of the life of the United States Navy Seal Chris Kyle. Based on symptoms shown in the movie and the criteria set by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th Edition, Chris Kyle would be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, which the movie accurately displays. Various forms of treatments were presented in the movie and more exist outside of those for individuals who suffer from PTSD. While the movie succeeds in sending a positive message about helping veterans with mental disorders, there is still stigmas that surround individuals with these disorders. Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder According to the …show more content…
The psychiatrist suggested that he try Shooting Therapy. This form of treatment allowed Chris Kyle to take others veterans out to the shooting range and help teach them how to shoot or help them to shoot his guns. Since Kyle has extensive experience as a sniper he had the skills to do this (Cooper et al., 2015). However, this exposes him and the veterans he is working with to a trigger of their traumatic experience. Hearing the gun being fired could trigger unwanted memories or experiences. Shoot Therapy is a type of prolonged exposure therapy that involved real life exposure to trauma-related cues (Sue, Sue, & Sue, 2016). In the movie, this seemed to be helping both Chris Kyle and the veterans who he was working with. However, on February 2, 2013 Chris Kyle was shot and killed by Eddie Routh, a veteran who he was trying to help via Shooting Therapy. While, this form of therapy could benefit many individuals it could also be harmful to others. Another type of treatment that could benefit individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder is trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). This form of therapy works to change dysfunctional thinking that involve guilt and self-blame. This could have benefitted Chris Kyle since he experienced survivor’s guilt. The last form of treatment is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). This is a nontraditional approach and it works on the individual visualizing the trauma while moving their eyes side to side and replacing the negative situation with positive cognitions (Sue, Sue, & Sue, 2016). This allows the intense negative emotions associated with the trauma to become detached and this can decrease
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition, similar to an anxiety disorder, that is triggered by trauma and other extremely stressful circumstances. Throughout the book, Junger talks about PTSD in a wide range:from PTSD rates in natural disaster victims to PTSD rates in veterans. The latter is explained on a deeper perspective. While Junger gave many examples of why PTSD rates in America were so high, the most captivating was:
One in five veterans from Afghanistan and Iraqi wars have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event and mostly effects military veterans. The book Lone Survivor, written by Marcus Luttrell, is an eye witness account of the 2005 operation Red Wing that tells the harrowing story of SEAL Team 10. Throughout the book, Marcus hears voices in his head of his fallen teammates. Even today, Marcus wakes up in the middle of the night because of the terrible nightmares, which are symptoms of PTSD. There are a lot of ways to combat PTSD so our troops do not have to endure this hardship. Some of the ways to combat the disorder is to understand PTSD, detect it early, having family support and preventing it.
PBS’ Frontline film “The Wounded Platoon” reviews the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers as they return home and transition back into civilian life, focusing particularly on the rise in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among American military members from Fort Carson Army base (Edge, 2010). Incidents of PTSD have risen dramatically in the military since the beginning of the Iraq war and military mental health policies and treatment procedures have adapted to manage this increase (Edge, 2010). In “The Wounded Platoon,” many military personnel discuss how PTSD, and other mental health struggles, have been inadequately treated (if at all) by military mental health services. Reasons and Perdue’s definition of a social problem allows us to see inadequate treatment of PTSD among returning United States military members as a social problem because it is a condition affecting a significant number of people in undesirable ways that can be remedied through collective action (Reasons & Perdue, 1981).
American Sniper is the movie that I chose to analyze because it is full of moral and ethical decisions that have to be made. The movie starts off with a boy at school that has to go pull a bully off of his little brother and he ends up beating the bully up so bad that blood is all over his face. The boys name is Chris Kyle. The film then skips forward to when he is in his twenties and is riding a bronco at the rodeo since that is his passion. He then decides to join the Navy and become a SEAL after he feels like his purpose was to serve his country. He gets deployed to Iraq and the mental part is hard on him especially when he has to shoot a women and a kid when he sees them trying to throw a grenade at a group of Marines. He tries to help
After watching the movie and then reading the book American Sniper I noticed a few different things. Comparing the two and thinking about the similarities and differences. There are not many differences from the movie American sniper and the book American Sniper except that the book talks about his childhood life more. The comparison between the two is interesting because Chris Kyle wrote one while other people directed the other.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is not something to think lightly of, and affects several people in society, not just soldiers. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is best known as a mental health condition that many soldiers experience after the war, but it’s a problem that stretches far beyond the military. PTSD affects 5%-10% of all men and 7%-14% of all women in this country(Charles, PTSD). In Chris Kyle’s autobiography American Sniper he touches on many subjects involving PTSD, and talks about the challenge of being a good father, husband, and soldier while stationed overseas. In American Sniper Chris Kyle is a very talented long ranged sniper for the United States Navy Seals, during his tour in Iraq, Chris tallies up several kills.
The mood of the story is dark and weary. In this scene the sky is gloomy and there are Republican and Free Starter soldiers fighting in the Irish Civil war, “The long June twilight faded into the night. Dublin lay enveloped in darkness but for the dim light of the moon that shone through the fleecy clouds.. machine guns and rifles broke the silence of the night, spasmodically” (O’Flaherty 1). Although the mood of the story is creepy and dim for the most part, it is silent with the sudden sounds of guns firing. As the story progresses, the sniper’s emotions begin reflecting on his actions. He begins to feel guilt and remorse for killing someone and the mood shifts to tension and violence.
"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful thananything that bleeds. Don 't wait until you break. - Laurell Hamilton" This is oftentimes the sentiment felt by soldiers who have served in active duty and have been witnesses to tragedies that leave them emotionally scarred. The Clint Eastwood directed film, American Sniper is amovie that features the real life tragedy of American soldier, Chris Kyle, who served in theUnited States military as a Navy Seal, which is an elite group (Kenny, 2014 and Treitschke,2015). His story is unique in that he himself suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), but as he worked to recover, he valiantly served again by helping fellow soldiers withPTSD ("Chris Kyle," 2013), and was senselessly gunned
In the stories liberty, dangerous game and sniper they have many similarities and differences in them even though they are different stories. Here are the reasons for these stories.
PTSD, otherwise known as Post traumatic stress disorder, is “a mental health condition triggered by experiencing or seeing a terrifying event.”(Mayo Clinic) Some of the symptoms Chris showed in the movie were visible anxiety at the sound of certain noises such as drills in a workshop. He almost tried to kill a dog when he thought it was attacking his son when the dog and child were just playing around. After being a sniper for 4 tours, all the loud noises and stress associated with that, it was almost unavoidable to not suffer effects once back home. Once back home he also became detached from his wife and society, when the wife would want to do something, all Chris would want to do is stay at
“It’s not about how many I killed it’s about how many I could’ve saved.” These were the words spoken by Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle a U.S. Navy SEAL and the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history. The 2015 action film “American Sniper” tells the story of Kyle’s heroism and willingness to return to battle despite his struggles with PTSD and his failing marriage. “American Sniper” stars Bradley Cooper as Chris Kyle, Jake McDorman as Ryan “Biggles” Job, and Sienna Miller as Taya Kyle. “American Sniper” was written and produced by Clint Eastwood and released by Paramount Pictures.
The author of “The Sniper” is James Riordan. James Riordan created a name for himself as a respected Russianist, and children’s author and translator. Riordan is relatively qualified to write a story based on the snipers of Stalingrad, for he spent an amount of time researching the topic in Russia. In Moscow, Riordan studied Russian politics and history, becoming well versed on the rising of The Communist Party (Riley). Much of Riordan’s life was spent studying and debating Russian politics and history, making him relatively qualified to write “The Sniper.” One could argue that Riordan held extreme political opinions, which could cause a story to fall towards subjectivity. However, the story has remained extremely politically neutral, and “The Sniper” is fictional; a subjective fictional
Many people have stated in reviews around the globe that American Sniper is glorifying war. This movie I feel is far from glorifying, if anything it’s more of an anti-war movie. The film shows Chris Kyle serving his 4 tours of Iraq, but shows more the mental and physical side of war, what really happens to those brave men and women that actually get sent to war. It shows Chris calling her wife multiple times on missions, one where they get ambushed. It then also shows the time in between tours at home and how his condition worsens. This movie I think would be reassuring for war veterans that have been suffering because this movie really shows how horrible war is, and how it should not be glorified at such a
National Institute of Mental Health 2009, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), viewed 18 August 2011, .
Isabel says, “If Dr. Nelson is right and he’s suffering from delayed shock surely new surroundings and new interests will cure him, and when he’s got his balance again he’ll come back to Chicago and go into business like everybody else” (48-49). Isabel’s statement though lacks understanding of what kinds of treatments are beneficial for treating PTSD. New surroundings and new interests won’t help treat PTSD because people who suffer from PTSD “tend to avoid places, people, or other things that remind them of the event” (Edwards). In order to understand what helps treat PTSD, we must come to understand that PTSD can never be fully cured. According to ptsd.about.com, “Treatments for PTSD will never take away the fact that a traumatic event occurred. Treatments for PTSD cannot erase your memory of those events,” (Tull) and, “That said, it is important to remember that symptoms of PTSD can come back again” (Tull). Even though it cannot be cured, it can be treated effectively with treatment. According to mayoclinc.org, “The primary treatment is psychotherapy, but often includes medication” (None). With the help of psychotherapy and medication, people who suffer from PTSD can begin to regain their life from anxiety and