To start with, I agree with what you say. I would add that I think the phenomena called PTSD is not a disease as such, nor is it mental illness (although it can become so), and the fact that many in our society see it as such, bodes ill for veterans as a whole.
Everyone has an opinion mate, just don't force it on others. PTSD makes physiological changes to the brain, this is proven. We are all veterans and have all been diagnosed with A MENTAL ILLNESS according to the DSM V. Realistically though, and in 'my opinion', PTSD is just an umbrella term to encompass a variety of things, such as:
1. All of us have gone through a boot camp of some sorts where they rip you out of the civilian world and teach you to think military. You operate by a schedule, everything is uniform, you learn to kill.
2. They teach you to operate in small teams and rely on those teams to save your life.
3. They teach you to watch your back and cover your arcs so you don't end up dead.
4. They send you overseas for long periods away from 'normal society' where you see first hand how nasty humans can be by witnessing death and destruction up close and personal. You may also be called upon to pull the trigger or press the button, or you may be required to try and give aid to your fellow man who have been exposed to this. You may also witness your best friends evaporated in a blast or have their legs blown off.
Then they send you home without any real debriefing and expect you to function in society
I didn't come here to cause people to become upset. I didn't come here to start fights with people's conceptualizations of PTSD. If there is only one allowable interpretation of PTSD accepted here, and other thought on PTSD that may be at odds, to some degree, with the prevailing interpretation is not to be examined rationally and fairly, then perhaps I need to keep my thoughts to myself, and simply read without meaningful interaction.
I don't mean to disparage anyone, veteran or non-veteran, who has PTSD. I have been through enough demonization because of my own PTSD, that I would not want to visit this upon another.
You say you didn't come here to upset people or start fights, well what you have to understand is this. We are one of the best forums on the internet when it comes to helping our international brethren. The problem we have though is we have all types of whack jobs who come on here to cause trouble. We have university students wanting first hand stories to help with their studies, we have 'trolls' who come on here to cause trouble, we have wannabe's who for some strange reason want to pretend they have PTSD when they don't, and lastly (maybe I missed a few), we have so called experts who think they have miracle cures for PTSD. So that is why you might get some animosity from the guys and gals on here.
So it's simple, how about you get to know a few of the guys and gals on here first, or just come straight out and tell us exactly what you want.
Thread 'What do you think about the phrase 'trauma doesn't define you"?'
