Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- the Things They Carried

Taylor Lineberger Mrs. Eddins English 3 CP December 5, 2012 Post-Traumatic speech pattern Disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety infirmity. PTSD usu eithery occurs after some hotshot has discernn or experient a di try outtic event that involved the threat of injury and death. It is commonly associated with the soldiers who micturate fought in contends or conflicts. All of the symptoms of PTSD are classified and categorized into three distinct groups reliving, avoidance, and arousal. Some of these symptoms take flashbacks, repeated nightmares, detachment, hyper-vigilance, and being easily angered, along with many others. (PubMed Health, PTSD)(*1). According to a survey conducted by the veteran(prenominal)s Administration, some 500,000 of 3 million troops suffered from PTSD after the Vietnam fight. The survey also states that evaluate of divorce, suicide, and alcoholism and drug addiction were higher among Vietnam veterans. (History, Vietnam War)(*2). We may never fully know how much this disorder has truly affected our troops. Most veterans are not open about their condition, however some run through accepted it and open up about it. So, how much does PTSD really affect someone? The combat injury that causes PTSD is just as unique as the suffering individual themselves.Any fearful trauma can produce symptoms of PTSD. Being in the Vietnam War did not help any of this. These soldiers were torn away(p) from the only things and the home they had ever known and dropped into a foreign place where the situation was kill or be killed. They had no other choice but to be exposed to the unimaginable horrors that awaited them. Cases of hatful with PTSD are famous for their abuse of drugs or alcohol however, ex-soldiers have an additional addiction that much lands them in trouble, or jail an addiction to adrenaline.The one thing that caused them to have this condition may precise well be the one thing that decides their fate. Inside every person with PTSD is a eon bomb. It is merely a matter of time before symptoms begin to show up. One may scupper all manner of symptoms in nearly everything they do, and still live what appears to be a normal life. However, it doesnt take much to bring out full-blown symptoms of a case of PTSD. Retirement and additional try can be a catalyst to cause the occurrence of symptoms to appear sooner than they normally would. health Directory MN, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)(*3). The war was over and there was no place in fussy to go (OBrien, 131). Thoughts of sorrow and loss overwhelm the Vietnam veterans upon their return back home. Crushed from the horror of war, they have to grapple back to even bigger disappointments and sadness. Instead of the calm lives they lead before they left their country and the nominal head of warm and caring everyday life, most of them encounter empty beds, a cold family and overall loss. already physically and emotionally defeated, they find betrayal instead of recup erating trust.There is nothing to nourish them they do not find anything to rely on. Even in instances of supportive partners, the inevitable horrors of the war haunt them in pause or come back to them in day envisage. They all came back with multitude of disorders, mostly with a post-traumatic puree disorder with the common symptoms of recurring nightmares, hypersensitivity, avoidance behavior, and intrusive thoughts, feelings and memories-commonly found in war vets. The Things They Carried is a documentary novel written by Tim OBrien, a Vietnam War veteran.There are many stories indoors the novel that show various examples of post-traumatic stress disorder. According to OBrien, upon their arrival home the veterans imagine, or even hallucinate, what things would have been like if they had not suffered through the war. Examples of such occurrences exist in the stories Speaking of Courage and The Man I Killed. Norman Bowker in Speaking of Courage dreams and fancies of sloping to his ex- female child, now married to another guy, and of his dead childhood friend, Max Arnold.He lives his unfulfilled dream of having his Sally beside him and having manly conversations with Max. He cannot stop day dreaming and dwelling in the past. Unemployed and overwhelmed by inferiority and disappointment, Bowker lacks a motivating force for life. Emotionally stricken, he only finds satisfaction in driving slowly and repeatedly in circles around his old approach in his fathers big Chevy, feeling safe, and remembering how things used to be when there has not been a war (OBrien, 158). These recurring events also spring memories f the beautiful lake where Norman used to spend a muss of time with his now married ex-girlfriend Sally Kramer and his high school friends. The lake invokes nostalgic and senti intellectual memories both of his girlfriend and his long gone drowned best friend, Max Arnold. Nothing fulfills Norman Bowker anymore. Instead, a terrible confusion has inte rpreted over his mind in the form of blur and chaos. He desperately needs someone to talk to. The guys go crazy in their unsuccessful attempts to maintain healthy balance of their minds and spirits.However, even though they faculty not realize it, or not at least at the time, most of the veterans end up losing sanity. They act upon and laugh at the most bizarre things. In How to Tell a True War Story, sponsor Kiley thinks of a gore of about 20 zillion dead gook weight as the the funniest thing in world history (OBrien, 65). The result of the post traumatic experience of comprehend his nineteen-year-old best friend, Curt Lemons, body being blown up into pieces by a grenade, is that Rat Kiley takes his anger out on a baby buffalo by shooting him pieces by pieces multiple times.He shoots the animal, until nothing moved except the eyes, which were enormous, the pupils shiny black and dumb at which Dave Jensen, one of the two who collected Lemons body pieces off of the tree, gets ch ildishly amused (OBrien, 76-79). Not realizing his new condition of mental imbalance, Dave Jensen goes on to make jokes and sing about the Lemon Tree. This is a parallel to Dave Jensens insanity, OBrian, even after twenty years, still gets woken up by the memories of this event Twenty years later I can see the sunlight on Lemons face (OBrien, 80).As a consequence of PTSD, OBrien both despises and values the war. Even though Tim OBrien might not sound very convincing with the credibility of his own memories as a narrative, the post-traumatic stress disorder remains a scientific certainty. The results of the trauma soldiers suffered in the war, along with the emotional baggage, (grief, terror, love, and longing) show of all of the veterans post-war turmoil and heartache.Sources*1 Vorvick, Linda J. and Timothy Rogge. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PubMed Health. N. p. , 13 Feb. 2012. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .*2 Vietnam War. History. N. p. , 2003. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .*3 Post Traumat ic Stress Disorder. Wellness Directory MN. N. p. , 2006. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .