Hospitalization for physical injury may contribute to recovery of invisible war wounds: Response to Peterson's (2021) commentary on Soumoff et al. (2021)

Abstract

Peterson's (2021) commentary on our recently published manuscript (Soumoff et al., 2021) suggests that our findings are an example of visible, physical injuries of war facilitating communication with others, which, in turn, fosters recovery from invisible war wounds. We agree that in the proper context, the retelling of one's traumatic story can be important for recovery from and, perhaps, even the prevention of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Participants in our study cohort differed from most others who experienced combat trauma in that while they were hospitalized, they experienced nearly daily visits from a behavioral health provider to address traumatic stress-related symptoms. It is likely that individuals who sustained more severe physical injury (i.e., higher Injury Severity Score [ISS] ratings) had longer hospital stays, received more support, and had more opportunities to retell their stories than those with less severe injuries, leading to decreases in PTSD and MDD symptoms. To note support of this supposition, in Table 5 of Soumoff et al. (2021), although not significant, the adjusted odds ratios (aORs) for PTSD and MDD were below 1 for service members with high (i.e., above 16) ISS ratings. The physical injury-related hospitalizations participants in our sample experienced fostered activities described by Peterson (2021) that likely contributed to the prevention and resolution of PTSD and MDD symptoms, benefits not received by most individuals who suffer only invisible wounds of war.