How to Encourage PTSD.

The idea of "encouraging" (I use the term facetiously) Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is something that people don't think about much. How can anyone who wasn't there encourage a disorder based on some traumatic experiences? Well, I remember reading some pieces post-9/11 about traumatic stress and people's reactions. Often similar pieces were covered in news shows. The big difference being that the news shows usually included clips from 9/11 of the Twin Towers collapsing or some such image. Not having been near NYC at the time, but being affected on 9/11, those images have a pretty serious impact on me even now, nearly 7 years later. Now, take those images and imagine that you saw the Towers collapse in person, or that you had family members in those buildings. You see the induction of the traumatic stimuli?

Now, the example that brought all of this to mind was semi-related... the War in Iraq. I was at the VA earlier today doing an interview for my assessment class. I'm working with dementia patients, so they are elderly adults. The two I've interacted with for this assignment were both WWII vets. The patient I interviewed today, however, finds himself experiencing flashbacks/hallucinations more recently than he had in the years since he returned from combat. Part of the reason is likely to be his increasing dementia (when the long-term memories are all that you can remember, and those memories also involve trauma, suddenly trauma that hasn't been there in years also resurfaces). But another likely reason for this trauma to be resurfacing is all of the media attention on the War in Iraq! All the graphic images and clips shown in the news these days bring up memories for these Veterans. It's horrible, when you think about it. They have had no direct involvement in the war that is going on now -- they've served their time and have moved on with their lives. Then the media comes along and dredges it all back up for them. It feels unethical and irresponsible for them to cover the War with such a cavalier attitude towards such things, with so little recognition for the pain they may be causing.