Chapter Four:
Physical and Psychological Impact
Your war-related injury―or the injury of your friend or family member―is going to have a big impact on everyone’s lives. Each injury is going to manifest itself in many ways―both physical and psychological, both noticeable and hidden, and in ways that the veteran may not even notice or acknowledge. Many of these symptoms may not emerge immediately while others may reoccur over time. And to make matters more difficult, most veterans will return with more than one type of injury and all of these injuries have a cumulative effect, with each injury piling symptoms on top of each other, adding to the pain and the complications that can develop. Physical injuries can create psychological illnesses and psychological injuries can intensify and even lead to the development of physical maladies.
This chapter presents a detailed overview of some of the most common injuries of the war: loss of limb, brain injury, burns, stress, psychological disability, pain, and the psychological impact of these injuries. Each injury is explained, with attention
spent on the way that the injuries can intertwine.
This chapter describes some of the most common injuries of the war and the psychological impact of these injuries. Each type of injury is examined, with specific attention directed to the ways that the injuries can have multiplicative effects that intensify other types of pain so that psychological injuries can increase physical pain and physical injuries can create psychological issues.
Author:
John W. Klocek, Ph.D., has spent his career understanding the pain that these injuries can cause and has worked extensively with veterans and their families to help them cope with this pain through the rehabilitation process. His research focuses on pain management and integrated health care.
He has been a staff psychologist in the Central Texas Health Care System and Assistant Professor at Texas A&M College of Medicine since 2005. In addition to earning his doctorate in clinical psychology from Saint Louis University and completing an internship in medicine at the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill School of Medicine, he also served a postdoctoral fellowship in pain management at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center.
