Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Honestly, before this class period, I had no idea what post traumatic stress disorder was, and even if I may have been slightly familiar with the changes in war veterans, I was completely unaware of how the effects of war can so easily eat away at someone's life. I guess what shocked me the most isn't that war can leave a lasting imprint on its participants, but what that imprint causes. Not only does PTSD result in bad memories relating to the war, it prevents those affected from living ordinary lives. As we watched in the documentary during class, PTSD resulted in a need for escape in the form of drugs, alcohol, and an attempted suicide. In addition, PTSD fosters paranoia, and someone insisted on keeping a gun between the bed and the mattress because he became so afraid of the idea that there were always strangers trying to kill him. Someone suffering from PTSD found himself in relationships with older women with a dependence on drugs or alcohol who already had children. PTSD literally destabilizes patients' lives, and the worst part is that the damage is purely psychological. In all of the cases I've seen, the problem arises from the individual himself. They barely have control over it. How do you treat something that exists within someone else's mind? Not to mention, the "craziness" or "depression" that comes with PTSD looks like a permanent blemish on one's army record, and the current social order of the army looks on it as a bad thing. It's terrible that the environment is such that those suffering from PTSD can't address their concern with a friend or doctor without bearing the shame that they believe will come with it. The only way, it appears, to clear one's mind from a severe case of PTSD is to discuss it and confront the issue, but when they are discouraged to publicly acknowledge the problem, they begin a descent into substance abuse so that they can numb the pain.

On anther side of PTSD, one particular treatment really interested me in which soldiers suffering from war-related PTSD underwent a war simulation customized as therapy to their own personal experiences that triggered PTSD. Because PTSD is connected to memory of an incident long after it has finished, and it is this memory that leaves them constantly on edge, doctors believe disconnecting the memory from its negative connotations will lessen the impact or do away with PTSD altogether. This fascinated me because of the insight it provides into the human mind. It's the scarring memory that causes PTSD, so why not neutralize it and pacify its reaction? The memory of the incident and its reappearance in everyday life are really the root causes, and the paranoia, depression, and substance abuse are the methods of coping. By being exposed to the same experiences that started PTSD, its victims face the problem head on (with no real danger), and in this way, they can overcome it.