According to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, deployments are stressful to spouses. Apparently, when someone you love is in danger, it can make you a tad anxious. Who knew?!
Ranger Up (via SpouseBuzz) has a good post on why this belongs in the category of no-shit-Sherlock. Perhaps in future studies, the Journal can study the nutritional value of romaine lettuce vs. deep fried Snickers bars, or the caloric output of running vs. watching Rock of Love reruns.
About a month after Sgt. K came home from Afghanistan, we were at a Yellow Ribbon reintegration event. We were suffering through a PowerPoint presentation on PTSD vs. plain-old reintegration issues. (The military sure does love that PowerPoint.) When the chaplain reached the hyper-vigilance bullet point, we both started laughing. Sgt K whispered something like, "Honey, I think you need help." And I said, "You don't understand, man, you weren't there." The chaplain was describing me!
Before going to bed, I double-check that the doors are locked. In restaurants, I don't like sitting with my back to the door. When I drive home from work, I pay attention to whether the cars parked on my street are familiar. (But I am constantly losing my keys and cell phone.)
I later learned from a counselor that it's common for spouses of soldiers to have symptoms of PTSD. The stress is literally contagious. In my case, the hyper-vigilance started during deployment #2. My non-medical opinion is that after being in a state of fear for three years, it takes a while to come back down.
I guess the Journal's study could be helpful if it brings more attention to military family programs. But as a military wife, I don't need someone to tell me that deployments are emotionally tough. How these emotions are likely to manifest, and how to deal when they do, is far more interesting to me.
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