Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Reflecting on PTSD
Today in class we looked in depth on the causes, symptoms, and affects of PTSD. I browsed through many videos and pictures of soldiers suffering with PTSD. I read stories of soldiers coming home and killing their loved ones, or developing drug problems; each story seemed to end with the death. though all of the stories were somber the one on Sgt. Jacob Blaylock was especially dark. The short clip begins with a video entry from Blaylock days after he witnessed the death of two of his friends. It shows him as a troubled young man, with obvious symptoms of PTSD. It then goes on to tell the story of his eventual suicide, with interviews from his girlfriend at the time and more video entries from Blaylock there to provide the viewer with a picture of just how dark his situation was. the reason that this video struck me more than any of the others was because the video diary of Jacob showed me exactly how frightening PTSD is and mostly made it obvious to me why people with shell shock seek drugs and alcohol. The genuine fear in Blaylock's voice definitely showed me how horrible PTSD can be.
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It really is terrible how thoroughly PTSD can destroy someone's life. As you said, the video diary looking at Blaylock's helpless fear allows us to see PTSD's effects on a person who never would have suffered through this before the war. It truly is his "helpless" fear because in today's environment, few can understand what he's going through.
ReplyDeletePTSD is such a silent killer in that it comes and destroys people's lives daily and few can notice the full effect of PTSD before it is too late. Just like Blaylock's story and many others.
ReplyDeleteVery true. PTSD can be very dangerous, and can lead to killing your loved ones and yourself. It can play tricks on your mind that lead to worse things.
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