Post Traumatic Stress Disorder- the Things They Carried

Taylor Lineberger Mrs. Eddins English 3 CP December 5, 2012 Post-Traumatic emphasis Disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder. PTSD usu all(prenominal)y occurs ulterior on close toone has seen or experienced a hurttic event that snarled the threat of injury and death. It is commonly associated with the soldiers who chip in fought in wars or conflicts. e really of the symptoms of PTSD are classified and categorized into three distinct groups live over, avoidance, and arousal. Some of these symptoms include flashbacks, repeated nightmares, detachment, hyper-vigilance, and being easily angered, a tenacious with m whatsoever an(prenominal) others. (PubMed Health, PTSD)(*1). According to a survey conducted by the Veterans Administration, some 500,000 of 3 million troops suffered from PTSD after the Vietnam war. The survey as well states that rates of divorce, suicide, and intoxicantism and drug addiction were higher among Vietnam veterans. (History, Vietnam War)(*2). We may neer fully know how much this disorder has truly affected our troops. closely veterans are not open about their condition, however some have accepted it and open up about it. So, how much does PTSD in truth affect someone? The trauma that causes PTSD is just as anomalous as the suffering individual themselves.Any fearful trauma gutter produce symptoms of PTSD. Being in the Vietnam War did not help any of this. These soldiers were torn away from the only things and the main office 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 expect them. Cases of people with PTSD are famous for their abuse of drugs or alcohol however, ex-soldiers have an additional addiction that often lands them in trouble, or jailhouse an addiction to adrenaline.The one thing that ca employ them to have this condition may very well be the one thing that decides their fate. Insid e every person with PTSD is a clock bomb. It is merely a matter of time in the first place symptoms begin to show up. One may exhibit 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 mature symptoms of a case of PTSD. Retirement and additional stress can be a catalyst to cause the occurrence of symptoms to appear sooner than they ordinarily would. Wellness Directory MN, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)(*3). The war was over and thither was no place in particular to go (OBrien, 131). Thoughts of sorrow and outrage overwhelm the Vietnam veterans upon their return back home. Crushed from the horror of war, they have to fall down back to even bigger disappointments and sadness. Instead of the calm lives they lead before they left their country and the presence of warm and caring everyday life, most of them encounter empty beds, a cold family and overall loss. Already physically and emoti onally defeated, they find betrayal instead of recuperating trust.There is nothing to nurture them they do not find anything to rely on. Even in instances of accessary partners, the inevitable horrors of the war haunt them in sleep or scrape back to them in daydreaming. They all came back with multitude of disorders, mostly with a post-traumatic stress disorder with the common symptoms of recurring nightmares, hypersensitivity, avoidance behavior, and intrusive thoughts, contacts and memories-commonly plunge in war vets. The Things They Carried is a documentary novel written by Tim OBrien, a Vietnam War veteran.There are many stories at bottom 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(prenominal) occurrences exist in the stories Speaking of Courage and The Man I Killed. Norman Bowker in Speaking of Courage dreams and fancies of talking to his ex-girlfriend, now married to another(prenominal) guy, and of his dead childhood friend, Max Arnold.He lives his unfulfilled dream of having his whirl 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 neighborhood 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 lot of time with his now married ex-girlfriend sallying forth Kramer and his high school friends. The lake invokes nostalgic and sentimental memories both of his girlfriend and his long gone drowned ruff friend, Max Ar nold. Nothing fulfills Norman Bowker anymore. Instead, a marvellous confusion has taken over his mind in the form of blear and chaos. He desperately needs someone to talk to. The guys go uncivilized in their unsuccessful attempts to maintain healthy balance of their minds and spirits.However, even though they index not realize it, or not at least at the time, most of the veterans end up lo tittle-tattle sanity. They act upon and laugh at the most bizarre things. In How to Tell a True War Story, Rat Kiley thinks of a gore of about twenty jillion dead gook fish as the the funniest thing in introduction history (OBrien, 65). The result of the post traumatic experience of seeing 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 d umb at which Dave Jensen, one of the two who collected Lemons body pieces off of the tree, gets childishly diverted (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 Traumatic Stress Disorder. Wellness Directory MN. N. p. , 2006. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. .