Living with post-traumatic stress disorder: the wives'/female partners' perspective.
OBJECTIVE
This phenomenological study examined what it was like for the wives/female partners to live with a Vietnam veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


METHODS
Audio-taped interviews were conducted with 10 women and data were examined from three overlapping phases of the veteran/partner relationship: the early phase, the middle phase and the later phase.


RESULTS
The early phase was conceptualized as a period of adjustment in which three themes were identified: (1) attractors, (2) feelings and (3) communication. The middle phase, one of enmeshment, was characterized by six themes: (1) dealing with veteran PTSD symptoms, (2) substance abuse, (3) physical and/or emotional abuse, (4) roles, (5) feelings and (6) coping techniques. Three themes depicted the later phase of resolution/healing: (1) stress related symptoms, (2) staying or leaving and (3) activities that promoted an ongoing process of resolution/healing.


CONCLUSIONS
The central meaning statement that best described the experience of wives/female partners who live with a Vietnam veteran with PTSD is that the experience is a gradual process of becoming enmeshed in the veteran's pathology, with all energies being directed at minimizing the effect on self and family, culminating in intermittent movement towards resolution/healing. This study has implications for practitioners who treat Vietnam PTSD veterans and their wives or female partners.
Lyons
M A
MA
University of Alabama, Capstone College of Nursing, Tuscaloosa 35487-0358, USA. mlyons@bama.ua.edu
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D003130:Combat Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*; D014744:Vietnam