I have no idea the case you are talking about, and in fact in the course of offering my response, I am purposely completely removing any consideration of the case, pedophilia, etc. ..... my "take" on this has nothing to do with that guy and whatever he did. I am pushing it from my mind.
Now.
In terms of can PTSD cause a person to do Bad Things ???
Yes, absolutely, in my opinion.
To the non-sufferer, I would say, you have no idea the RAGE that comes with PTSD. Not just the absoluteness of the emotion, but the heat of the rage. It is so white-hot that a person cannot stand to have it inside of them, it must be let out to relieve some of the pain, the pressure, to cool some of the heat that is burning us up from the inside, out.
Even minor annoyances hit our breaking point (a very low threshold -- nothing that would even get a second thought by a "normal" person) and we will *SNAP* into anger or rage ... we lash out at whomever is around us, and it feels like we have no choice but to lash out, literally we can see no other option to deal with the situation & what we are feeling inside, than to vent it out. Bam! Vent.
Our whole existence is absolute, black-and-white, all-or-nothing, and completely IN THAT MOMENT.
Now to offer some perspective :)
In my experience, which is only my own experience :) there have been many stages to this condition. As my PTSD was developing and untreated (the first 9 months after my trauma) I felt as if I was plummeting down a steep, rocky slope... there was nothing to grab, nothing to hold onto, I was just falling, falling, tumbling, falling ......... I knew what it was (that it was PTSD) but that knowledge alone wasn't enough; it was totally out of control and worsening daily. During that uncontrolled/worsening period, that is when the rage and snapping at minor things was the worst; it was really black-and-white, all-or-nothing. I was living on such an edge that it took little more than a blink to punt me right over the edge.
Once I started therapy and started learning about PTSD, that's when things started turning around. I gained a lot of power over the PTSD just by learning about it. It brought tremendous relief to know that my symptoms were not unique or unexplained, that my symptoms were all NORMAL for what I was going through, that the health community had identified this as a real illness and I was not some fluke of nature. *WHEW!* -- that was huge.
Since getting that validation from the Establishment, naturally it's been an ongoing process of learning to identify WTF is going on in my head, categorize it, and trying to figure out what is the healthiest way through it. Identification of the emotions is 90% of the battle, at least for me. Once I can identify something as "out of whack," then I can more easily discount it and try to proceed in a more normal fashion. It has been a HELL of a lot of very hard work.
Another level of progress for me was brought about by medication. I've lucked out, and adding a second anti-depressant has greatly reduced some of my PTSD symptoms. Like, the overwhelming paranoia that makes me hide/live under the level of the windows (literally) in my own home... I still get "flares" of paranoia that last for a few days, but it is probably 75% gone. Lordy what a relief!!! I do occasionally overreact to situations, but the blinding rage is gone. That snap-anger is gone. (Now when I feel overwhelmed by negative emotion I am able to clamp down my jaw and remove myself from the situation, thereby diffusing it.)
What is my point? When I was undiagnosed and untreated -- back when I was still spiraling out of control? -- yes, I absolutely could see how someone would lose emotional control and do something Very Bad.
Personally, I never did act out on my emotions (like, criminally or causing someone harm), because throughout all of this I clung tightly to my moral compass. I was raised in a religious home, and I guess because of those deep roots, that's where I looked to find something to cling to as I was tossed around in this endless sea of awfulness. There was nothing else. So I was constantly looking to God for strength and deliverance from this horrible BEAST in my head, and I knew despite the maelstrom going on in my head that the Ten Commandments and what was considered morally right, were all safe, proper and what I should be striving for. Those were the compass to steer by -- not the whacked-out shit going on in my head. I knew the rules of millions of normal people trumped whatever crazy shit I was feeling inside. So those were the guides I kept looking to for sense and reason ..... even though my brain was pissed with it all. LOL
It was my only tie to what was sensible. Everything I said, everything I did, I held up against that compass to analyze before acting on it. I thanked God every day for giving me that "compass" to keep referring to. I felt like I was always 1 step away from flying right off the cliff, but having that compass to keep referring to was the sole thing keeping me safe, and keeping others safe.
I often wondered, what if that moral compass wasn't there??? What would keep a person from acting out on their emotions, what would keep a person from doing really bad things to others??
The answer I kept coming to was, Nothing.
Right? I mean, I couldn't think of anything else that would help them differentiate right from wrong ... because at that point, the only point of reference you have is a sea of fear, anger, irritation, rage ... It is overwhelming, suffocating, all-encompassing ... the bad stuff is all you can see at that point ... so without an external set of standards for what is right vs. wrong, what would keep a PTSDer from acting on what they feel?
I don't know what is the case for others with PTSD. I don't know if people who are using PTSD as a criminal defense, actually lost touch with the 'moral compass' I'm referring to, or if they're just trying to get away with a loss of old-fashioned impulse control. Is it possible? Is it real? Is it legit? Is it not? I don't know ... I never went over the edge, so I can't tell you if going over the edge even happens, or can happen, or how.
But given what I felt inside my own head and body, do I find it PLAUSIBLE? Yes. But have I personally experienced or witnessed it? No.
Just my opinion ......... and I am sure others' mileage will vary.
Bailey
