I have been compiling a list of things that I call 'PTSD Theatre'. PTSD THreate is some form of narrative - could be movies, TV, books, or actual theatre - that delves deeply into the mind of a trauma survivor that experiences either PTS or PTSD as part of their character development.
I find that as a supplement to conceptual understanding about PTSD or case studies of PTSD sufferers, these kinds of narratives can show (instead of tell) an example of how this experience affects someone and the choices they make and the different reactions they have compared to someone who doesn't have the same sensitivities.
Possible spoilers and possible triggers ahead.
I'll start with something very pop culture: Ellen Ripley in Alien and Aliens. Well, technically, she didn't have PTSD at the start of Alien. But by the time that movie was done, she'd had her baptism of fire - the horror of struggling against a life form that was both physically stronger and possessing no compunctions about killing each and every human it came across. Being locked on a ship with limited options to leave it, light years from home with no help. Betrayal by a peer that held a position of trust, escalating the horror to a whole new level. By the beginning of Aliens, when she is back on Earth, she now has full-blown PTSD, waking up screaming, re-living the trauma.
The little girl Newt has been through a nearly identical experience, but as a child instead of as an adult (higher risk factor for PTSD). The horror was exacerbated by watching her family taken away one by one. In this way Newt becomes not only a fellow PTSD survivor recovering from witnessing horrible violence, but a surrogate daughter who Ripley fiercely protects, for her own sake and the memory of the real daughter who is now lost to her. By saving Newt she is saving herself, her own self-worth as a trauma survivor and a second chance at being a mother. The final battle between the mother alien and Ripley is literally a battle of mothers, both trying to protect their young. Ripley pushes through the horrors of her PTS to summon that courage and resolve that is less plausible from someone who hasn't already been through hell and back.
Ripley's traumatic, adrenalin-soaked fight for her life in the first movie was what prepared her mentally and emotionally for the challenges in the second movie. The rough-and-tough Marines along for the ride THOUGHT they were the ones to bring their combat A-Game. But not having been through what Ripley had been through, for the most part they simply couldn't conceive that it would be as bad as all that, and suffered loss of life accordingly. At the beginning of Aliens, Ripley had already been broken down to nothing, was ready to just hang it all up and live in obscurity and relative poverty. At first that seemed like the easier way out, and the idea of facing the source of her trauma again naturally didn't fly at first. But waking up with the nightmares of her ordeal made her realize that she had to face her fear and try to wipe it out or she would always be a broken woman.
What fictional narratives remind you of your own experiences with PTSD? What characters illustrate the experience of post-traumatic stress most clearly or poetically? What kind of storylines resonate with your experience as a trauma survivor (or their supporter)? I'll add more as time goes on but feel free to jump in.
I find that as a supplement to conceptual understanding about PTSD or case studies of PTSD sufferers, these kinds of narratives can show (instead of tell) an example of how this experience affects someone and the choices they make and the different reactions they have compared to someone who doesn't have the same sensitivities.
Possible spoilers and possible triggers ahead.
I'll start with something very pop culture: Ellen Ripley in Alien and Aliens. Well, technically, she didn't have PTSD at the start of Alien. But by the time that movie was done, she'd had her baptism of fire - the horror of struggling against a life form that was both physically stronger and possessing no compunctions about killing each and every human it came across. Being locked on a ship with limited options to leave it, light years from home with no help. Betrayal by a peer that held a position of trust, escalating the horror to a whole new level. By the beginning of Aliens, when she is back on Earth, she now has full-blown PTSD, waking up screaming, re-living the trauma.
The little girl Newt has been through a nearly identical experience, but as a child instead of as an adult (higher risk factor for PTSD). The horror was exacerbated by watching her family taken away one by one. In this way Newt becomes not only a fellow PTSD survivor recovering from witnessing horrible violence, but a surrogate daughter who Ripley fiercely protects, for her own sake and the memory of the real daughter who is now lost to her. By saving Newt she is saving herself, her own self-worth as a trauma survivor and a second chance at being a mother. The final battle between the mother alien and Ripley is literally a battle of mothers, both trying to protect their young. Ripley pushes through the horrors of her PTS to summon that courage and resolve that is less plausible from someone who hasn't already been through hell and back.
Ripley's traumatic, adrenalin-soaked fight for her life in the first movie was what prepared her mentally and emotionally for the challenges in the second movie. The rough-and-tough Marines along for the ride THOUGHT they were the ones to bring their combat A-Game. But not having been through what Ripley had been through, for the most part they simply couldn't conceive that it would be as bad as all that, and suffered loss of life accordingly. At the beginning of Aliens, Ripley had already been broken down to nothing, was ready to just hang it all up and live in obscurity and relative poverty. At first that seemed like the easier way out, and the idea of facing the source of her trauma again naturally didn't fly at first. But waking up with the nightmares of her ordeal made her realize that she had to face her fear and try to wipe it out or she would always be a broken woman.
What fictional narratives remind you of your own experiences with PTSD? What characters illustrate the experience of post-traumatic stress most clearly or poetically? What kind of storylines resonate with your experience as a trauma survivor (or their supporter)? I'll add more as time goes on but feel free to jump in.
