Table 1
Themes and Subthemes from Individual Interviews.
| SUBTHEMES | ASSOCIATED RESPONSES |
|---|---|
| Experiences with Leaving the Military and Adjusting to Civilian Life | |
| Loss of Military Identity | “Not being able to put on the uniform … just kind of, uh, hurt … I felt like I was gonna lose a lot of friend and stuff cause a lot of people once they get out you just kind of lose touch with them.” |
| Loss of Community | “When I moved out here, it was to start a new life … and it was hard because I had no friends or no family here and I didn’t know the area” |
| Loss of Daily Structure | “…even if, like you’ve gone through change, it’s like culture shock that’s kind of what it felt like; it’s like culture shock because you’re transitioning from living one way of life to like you’re getting out and all that involves.” |
| Purpose in Life | “… my son kind of gave me purpose again, that’s what kind of keeps me straight and done, but I know, like, sometimes it helps, it might help somebody to have either a person to look forward to or work towards; it might help in their healing process.” “I think I always found in my life, like you know ever since I’ve had my children, I feel a reason to be here, and I have a purpose.” |
| Impact of Trauma on Factors that Influence Resiliency | |
| Symptoms and Behaviors | “I don’t sleep much, my insomnia, and I would go where, you know, I would hardly eat anything and then there were times I would just eat all the time like diets and stuff; really I would try and wouldn’t be able to stick with it, and uh, working out and stuff, like I would, like I would, know I would have to do it but I didn’t feel the energy” “… because of that trauma and stuff is why I started drinking more and more, you know, just to try to drown it and it got to where the alcohol wouldn’t work anymore, so I was looking for something else so that’s how I got hooked on methamphetamine.” |
| Relationships | “I have horrible trust issues, I uh, I lose faith in people very fast, I don’t really give people a lot of chances … I don’t even like talking to new people … uhm, I don’t think of the world as a great, amazing place, I think people are, I don’t think people are very good I have uhm, I think a lot of people are just in it for things for themselves” “It makes me feel worthless, it makes me feel like I’m just a sex object, or I’m just something that people enjoy to look at, or like I’m only wanted because of that.” |
| Loss of Identity Following Trauma | “I’ve never been myself again, since the events.” “It was to a point where I felt I was constantly being punished, that I always wondered why I was put onto this earth … because what I’d been through, it felt like there was no end to it and that it just kept going and going and it got to the point where I’m like, why me, why was I put here, what purpose does this serve … that is where I felt, I felt like, like god was punishing me” |
| What was and was not Helpful for Trauma Recovery | |
| Helpful | “… it helps because I was able to speak with others who have gone through something similar, so it definitely allows me to know I’m what happened or my situation I’m not alone.” |
| Not Helpful | “I think it would be better to have more females handle some of the cases or you know, just so you could feel a little bit, maybe, a connection or something or maybe they might have some empathy, or they might understand, because when I reported everything it was all male … they didn’t quite understand and if they did they didn’t seem to care.” “The first time I went to group it was for an 8-week outpatient … I was not just going through my traumatic events I was going through their traumatic events as well, so it’s like, you are hearing multiple horror stories … and this was males and females it wasn’t just females … I don’t think it was very beneficial.” |
| What Could be Different | “I felt like … because I was a female I wasn’t taken seriously” “… I had to work hard, I had to work hard because 1) I’m a female, 2) I was smaller than a lot of people … I had to prove myself I had to prove … I did earn my rank 2) yes I am somebody that you can listen to and take orders from that’s equal to a male solider giving orders … and 3) I’m not weak because I’m a female and so it’s just harder to get that respect” “I think, like, being offered the group therapy, because when I first got discharged and stuff, I don’t think I was offered the group therapy stuff” |
| Understanding of Resiliency and Posttraumatic Growth | |
| Familiarity with Concepts | “Oh boy, post traumatic growth, you know to be honest I’ve never really heard that very much, what does it mean?” “Being able to bounce back to, to not let something stop you.” “Resilience is that like, say something has happened to you, and like you drastically drop and, like, your mood or your weight, or something has happened to you that made you less than what you were at the time, and after that situation happened you are able to bring yourself back to where you were before that situation happened?” |
| Positive Interest in Resiliency Group | “I think that would be a good idea, especially because you can communicate with other people who have been through that or who have more experience in some type of resiliency and the other people can learn from that.” |