Does Harry Potter Have PTSD?

[712xx]

This may sound crazy, but this is a fictional thread so might be okay to discuss. When V learns of his connection to Harry's mind, he began using that connection to infiltrate. Do you ever feel as if the people who have hurt you in the past, have a similar metaphorical connection in our minds (especially if they were in your life for a long time) and still can use that connection to 'infiltrate' even if they are far away. Their energy and connection (on a quantum level) is connected if they are of some relation. I've studied some quantum physics and learned that all subatomic particles come in pairs -- the ones studied did.

They did an experiment where they split the particles up ... the ocean was between them. As they experimented with one, the other was reacting on the other side just the same. I am simplifying, but you probably understand my meaning.

Well, people have these strange connections with each other all the time that we only see behaviorly, but isn't studied on an atomic level, I guess because no one has thought of it or doesn't know how to go about doing it yet.

It has haunted me for a long time; thinking that I am still connected with various people even though they have not been in my physical life for a long time. I still wonder whether a form of 'voodoo' is real -- not on a mystical level, but on a real physical level with rational scientific explanations. They were pseudo-religious people and some practiced a form of voodoo called goetia. Just like how there are many ways to practice Christianity and other religions ... they had their own interpretations on how to go about goetia -- guess you do what works for you and keep doing it even if it doesn't make sense to others.

It just scares me sometimes (when I can't ignore the memories, et al) thinking maybe there is something to it and that connection is still in me. I rationalize it away most of the time, but there is a grain of truth in everything. That grain rubs me raw sometimes, like sand from the beach.

 

[Red Feather]

Dear 712xs, I totally agree that connections can happen in this way. I am absolutely convinced that I had / have this connection with my exhusband and my mother both who traumatized me. Now I have been able to develop boundaries to my ex, but still its crazy. Like when I decided to make an application for a PhD Scholarship which would mean if I got it, that I would have to move away and was hoping to take my childen with me... I didnt say a word to him... because there was nothing set... I was only making the application.... but he started freaking out for no reason. It was like he was telapathic and then he told my kids that I was moving away, which wasnt true at all...! It was his way of controlling the situation and keeping me on line, which made it hard for me to concentrate on my application... and once I sent it away... that is when I started having so many panic attacks. It was because of these "connections" that a lot of the abuse that happened was psychological and I felt so trapped for 8 years of my life.

Sometimes he still sends me messages and says he can "feel" how I am doing and is thinking of me... sick. My mother does this too and then calls me and wants her worries and guilt issues to dominate.

 

[Abrasky]

lol.

:unsure: I watched Harry Potter and related it to PTSD too. Although I thought of the horcruxes like personality dissacotiations.

 

[Muzikluvr]

The dementors are like flashbacks... they leave you feeling like your soul was almost sucked out of you, and the best cure is chocolate. :)

 

[712xx]

Hmm, I thought the dementors were 'depression' itself ... since they suck the happiness out of you and you "feel as if you could never be cheerful again". What I wondered was, if they fed on good memories and thoughts and feelings, why did they look like death? Shouldn't a diet of 'happy' make you at least look pleasent? :unsure:

 

[Red Feather]

Yeah I remember reading that J.K. Rowling referred to the dementors as being like a depression - soul sucking creatures. Also, I read that J.K. Rowling was in crisis after her divorce and was even considering suicide, before she started doing therapy and decided to turn her life around. And that is when she started writing. For me Harry Potter has really been a comfort and I started reading a bit on her. This is a quote I found.... love it!

"Failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy to finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one area where I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter, and a big idea. And so rock bottom became a solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." – J. K. Rowling, Harvard commencement address, 2008

I hope I didn't make any grammar mistakes this time...:(

 

[Red Feather]

Maze, yes I see the horcruxes like disassociated personalities. That makes so much sense.

 

[712xx]

Yeah, did you see her slightly fictionalized biography/movie? It was called:
Magic Beyond Words: The J.K. Rowling Story (2011)

It was really good, and they kinda paralleled the HP story line with her life. Her books are ones I will read over and over again -- I already have, and know I will probably read the series once a year for a while.

 

[Sky Heart]

I want to see that movie!

As some one who has read all of the books during the most dificult times of my life I found Harry a true hero. Especially walking into that forest the last time. All I could think at the time was 'if he can do that and he must be so scared then what can I do'. I started to realise that I could do a whole lot that I had never considered my self capable of. Funny thing, I was frightened of churchs becuase of how I and my family had been treated there. But I was sure God wanted me to go back. I didn't want to face it but if a 17 year old could walk into that forest again knowing what he knew which at that time was very bleak. Then I could go to church. It turns out that church is a lot less frightning than voldemort. But it was a bit like facing a death eater head on and saying 'no more'.

 

[Red Feather]

This is a great quote from the last film:

Harry: Professor, is this all real or is this happening in my head? Dumbledore: Of course this happening in your head, Harry. Why should that mean that it is not real?

 

[Jen93]

As some one who has read all of the books during the most dificult times of my life I found Harry a true hero. Especially walking into that forest the last time. All I could think at the time was 'if he can do that and he must be so scared then what can I do'.

That is exactly why authors put these things into their books. We talked in Children's Literature about how there are books to help children with specific traumas, and Harry Potter was one of the ones that came up.

If we were looking at this from a perspective of just the medical and not the magic plot line and everything, I might be suspicious. He has nightmares; I think the scar hurting is some kind of flashback. He's had to deal with the death of his parents, the death of Sirius, the death of Cedric Diggory, being abused by the Dursleys, being bullied by Dudley and his gang, and I honestly think that Snape's whole "memory invasion thing" was a serious re-traumatization, and he REALLY wasn't nice about it. It sounds like PTSD to me- well, without the whole magic plot it could all be attributed to PTSD.

 

[Jen93]

Oh my god! I just had to share this! So I'm doing a blog post for school- Harry Potter DEFINITELY has trauma- COULD be PTSD. All during the first book- He has nightmares- he has a visual flashbacks of a green light several times. He has an audio flashback of a cold, high, cruel laugh. He has a "body memory" (I guess you could say) with his scar hurting; once on the train when Ron talks about Voldemort, once in the great hall when he sees Snape, and I'm sure there are more times too. He has nightmares.

And I think the description of Quidditch in the chapter "Hallowe'en" when Wood describes the Snitch and the Seeker is an analogy for the trauma and how to deal with it.