The Cause and Effects of Ptsd
Natalie Parker
HE1
Bowers
26 April 2013
The Cause and Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder “Even in times of trauma, we try to maintain a sense of normality until we no longer can. That, my friends, is called surviving. Not healing” (Goodreads). This quote by author Lori Goodwin explains the truth that there is no such thing as complete healing from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The effects that it has on a person are so severe, that it completely alters their reality. As a result of this physical and mental change, one’s perception is permanently distorted from the truth of reality. Research has shown that the trauma in war caused many World War II victims to suffer from irreversible mental instability. Likewise, in the novel A Separate peace, John Knowles explores the issue of perception versus reality through the character Leper Lepellier entering into the war and Gene Forrester through the war inside himself.
The physical effects caused by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are lasting and a direct result from trauma endured by a person. They are just as harmful and destructive as the emotional ones. To begin, during the American Civil War, military physicians diagnosed many cases of functional disability resulting from fear of battle and the stresses of military life (Bentley). Many soldiers experienced a wide range of illnesses such as paralysis, tremors, and self-inflicting wounds. This took them out of the war and put them mentally in a disabled state. One of the most common illnesses of this time was the “soldier’s heart” or the “exhausted heart” or severe palpations of the heart (Bentley). PTSD grew rapidly as field commanders and surgeons urged the war department to build military hospitals for the psychologically insane. According to Richard A Gabriel, a consultant to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and chronicler of PTSD, “They were put on trains with no supervision, the name of their hometown pinned to their tunics, others
HE1
Bowers
26 April 2013
The Cause and Effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder “Even in times of trauma, we try to maintain a sense of normality until we no longer can. That, my friends, is called surviving. Not healing” (Goodreads). This quote by author Lori Goodwin explains the truth that there is no such thing as complete healing from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The effects that it has on a person are so severe, that it completely alters their reality. As a result of this physical and mental change, one’s perception is permanently distorted from the truth of reality. Research has shown that the trauma in war caused many World War II victims to suffer from irreversible mental instability. Likewise, in the novel A Separate peace, John Knowles explores the issue of perception versus reality through the character Leper Lepellier entering into the war and Gene Forrester through the war inside himself.
The physical effects caused by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are lasting and a direct result from trauma endured by a person. They are just as harmful and destructive as the emotional ones. To begin, during the American Civil War, military physicians diagnosed many cases of functional disability resulting from fear of battle and the stresses of military life (Bentley). Many soldiers experienced a wide range of illnesses such as paralysis, tremors, and self-inflicting wounds. This took them out of the war and put them mentally in a disabled state. One of the most common illnesses of this time was the “soldier’s heart” or the “exhausted heart” or severe palpations of the heart (Bentley). PTSD grew rapidly as field commanders and surgeons urged the war department to build military hospitals for the psychologically insane. According to Richard A Gabriel, a consultant to the Senate and House Armed Services Committees and chronicler of PTSD, “They were put on trains with no supervision, the name of their hometown pinned to their tunics, others