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December 28th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28 (HealthDay News) — Instant communication may be all
the rage, but old-fashioned letter-writing may have a more beneficial
lasting effect on recipients.
In a study involving soldiers serving in war zones, most in Iraq,
researchers found that letters from home — just a few words from the
heart, scribbled onto paper or typed into an e-mail — served as an
inoculation against one of war’s most insidious and long-lasting wounds.
Recipients were less likely to exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder.
“Those positive, permanent forms of communication may have mental
health benefits,” said Benjamin Loew, a graduate research assistant in the
psychology department at the University of Denver who co-authored the
study, published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress.
More “instant” forms of communication, such as telephone calls or video
chats, did not have the same positive effect on soldiers’ mental
well-being as the receipt of written communication or even care packages,
the study found.
One theory why this is the case, according to the researchers, is that
people tend to think through what they write in a letter and are less
likely to be argumentative and more free to share affection and other
positive feelings.
“These delayed forms of communication are going to be protected from
conflict-type discussion,” Loew said.
Letters also serve as mementos that soldiers can carry with them as a
reminder of home.
“A soldier could repeatedly pull out a letter or an e-mail and feel
support,” Loew said. “A phone call can be recalled but can’t be
re-experienced. A letter can be read over and over again.”
That makes perfect sense to Marion Frank, a Philadelphia psychologist
and past president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Gold Star Wives of
America, an organization for military widows and widowers.
“There is more thought that goes into writing, versus a call or a text
message,” Frank said. She also agrees that a letter’s value as a memento
likely adds to its value in helping soldiers cope with their
circumstances.
“When we have something from a loved one, it has meaning and it gives
us comfort,” she said.
Such physical forms of communication can help even if a person isn’t in
the high-stress environment of combat, Frank said. Letters, cards and
e-mails can help bolster the spirits and possibly reduce the stress of
family and friends who are away at college or on an extended business
trip, for instance.
“It certainly helps if you’re leaving a loved one,” Frank said. “When
people send a memento or a card, it helps the person feel connected to
home. It’s the whole idea behind the greeting card industry.”
However, Frank said such letters would probably not have the same
effect as those received by people in the sort of high-risk, high-stress,
life-threatening situations that can produce post-traumatic stress.
“That’s when you’re in danger in terms of your life,” she said. “In
civilian life, letters and cards won’t prevent stress from happening, but
they can be helpful in reducing stress for people who have left a loved
one.”
But for those in the military, the aftereffects of trauma can be
powerful.
“What people are doing in the service often exposes them to traumatic
experiences,” Frank said. “Even if they have this kind of concrete
support, they could still suffer PTSD.”
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a form of anxiety brought on by
exposure to a horrific, life-changing or traumatizing event, according to
the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Symptoms can include reliving the
event in your mind, avoiding things that remind you of the event, feeling
numb to the world around you or becoming jittery, keyed-up and on a hair
trigger.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has estimated that PTSD
afflicts nearly 31 percent of Vietnam veterans, 10 percent of Gulf War
(Desert Storm) veterans, 11 percent of veterans of Afghanistan fighting
and 20 percent of Iraq war veterans.
For the study, the research team surveyed 193 married Army soldiers at
Fort Campbell, Ky., who had returned in the past year from an overseas
tour that included combat. They evaluated each soldier for PTSD symptoms,
their exposure to combat and their marital satisfaction. They also quizzed
each soldier on the frequency and types of communication they had received
from home while they were deployed.
They found that happily married soldiers who received frequent
communication that the team described as delayed — letters, e-mails, care
packages — had fewer PTSD symptoms than those who’d received more instant
communications, such as phone calls, video chats and instant messages.
But they also detected one scenario in which letters from home proved
detrimental.
Soldiers in unhappy marriages who communicated often by delayed means
tended to have more PTSD symptoms, the study found.
“We don’t know if the communications are more negative, or if it
reflects a soldier doing a lot of writing home and not getting anything in
return,” Loew said.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more on PTSD.
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