"All the Danish soldiers who developed PTSD were much more likely (compared to resilient soldiers) to have suffered emotional problems and traumatic events prior to deployment. In fact, it wasn't traumatic war
experiences that predicted the onset of PTSD, but childhood experiences of violence, especially punishment severe enough to cause bruises, cuts, burns, and broken bones. PTSD sufferers were also more likely to have
witnessed family violence, and to have experienced physical attacks, stalking, or death threats by a spouse. They were also more likely to have past experiences that they could not, or would not, talk about....
"This disadvantage, combined with their pronounced mental-health problems before going to war, suggests that they may in reality have been escaping a different war zone: the family. In other words they only showed improvement as soldiers because they were in such poor psychological condition in civilian life. Army life, even combat, offered them more in the way of social support and life satisfaction than they had ever had at home."
www.huffingtonpost.com/wray-herbert/embattled-childhood-the-r_b_1596729.html
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