My understanding is that the military use this designation to apply to trauma experienced by soldiers in war, either mentally or the mental effect caused by physical injuries.
My understanding is that PTSD took the place of the term “shell-shocked”, used in either WWI or WWII. Of course it is also used for much more today.
My poor ex-roommate had PTSD. He used to do a lot of stuff that literally drove me crazy. One day he was half asleep and I was fed up and I sat up on the edge of my bed and I stomped my foot loudly. The poor guy woke up and freaked out. He got disoriented and scared and sat up like a bolt and said “What was that?”
I went to work and when I got home he had told a counselor. It didn’t turn into a big deal he just asked me what happened. I did it in anger but I downplayed it and made it sound like it was no big deal because I didn’t want to get into trouble. At the time I felt bad but he did stuff to me that was worse so now I’m glad I did it.
PTSD can be experienced by anyone who has experienced some form of severe trauma though I believe like you said it was first recognized in soldiers and yes like you said replaced the term “shell-shock.”
I believe actually with current statistics the majority of people with ptsd are actually abuse survivors rather than soldiers. Haven’t checked it recently though.
Basically what it is biologically is your brain gets permanently stuck in fight or flight mode and thus responds extremely inappropriately to stimuli that remind you of the trauma or minor stressors/scares.
Due to this often people with severe ptsd can be very difficult to live with…especially if the “fight” response is what is being triggered inappropriately, you can get people who display extreme rage and aggression at things that to a regular person would make no sense.
It’s really a horrific disorder. Ptsd messed up my life.
PTSD is when your feelings get sick…you dont feel things you should and you feel things you shouldnt. It happens when something really horrible took place infront of your eyes.
We get a feeling about everything…its one way of getting info…but if you get really disturbed about something your feelings wobble and your mind doesnt underestand what this wobble was …so all your feelings about everything in life wobble and you develope PTSD.
That’s a really cool way of putting it. When I got it my feelings became EXTREME and INTENSE to where I couldn’t stand them anymore. I’d never experienced anything like it in my life. So I wasn’t just depressed anymore I was in AGONY and extreme pain and needed to die. And I didn’t just get worried about things anymore I got extremely freaked out to point of paralysis for hours and hours even over very minor simple tasks like having to go print something. And anger oh my gosh. I never had any issues with anger beforehand, I was actually known for being a ridiculously patient and difficult to anger person and afterwards the SLIGHTEST inconvenience or someone doing something as simple as brushing into me on the bus or something sent me into unbelievable amounts of rage to where I literally wanted to not just kill but torture whoever was causing me the feeling. (Of course I didn’t act on this thankfully, but it did cause very awful intrusive thoughts which caused me to feel extreme guilt and hatred towards myself for a long time because I didn’t understand).
So yes, feelings being “sick” is a very good way to put it. Depakote helped mellow me out there.
Adolessents have these kind of feelings. When i was 15 i saw a girl steal my penfriend letter from my mailbox…i ran after her …ifi had catched her i would have killed her…siriously.
I don’t think fantasizing about pinning someone with nails to a wall, peeling off their skin, pouring salt on the open wounds, stabbing out their eyes and shoving them down their throat because their arm brushed into you while sitting on a bus is normal adolescent angst. Also I was an adult in college. Feels like a wildfire exploding in your chest.
It is a severe pet peeve of mine when adults say “oh that’s just normal for kids your age” because even if it is normal, if a person is in extreme distress about something, regardless of their age, they deserve to be taken seriously. I was suicidal and dissociative and denied help in high school because “well it’s normal for kids your age to have mood swings!!” BS.
Also it’s “normal” for little kids to be scared of monsters so I was ignored as a child. I was terrified for my life. I hid in different areas of my house every night and stayed up all night because I thought I was going to be killed. I came up with bizarre safety rituals. I ended up becoming delusional because I couldn’t handle the fear.
So even if something is developmentally appropriate you also have to look at if the extent of it is appropriate.
I met a veteran of the Korean War who had PTSD for the rest of his life. At night, when trying to sleep, he had hallucinations of being in combat all over again. These hallucinations were very vivid and real to him. He passed away at 90-something-yo a few years ago.