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PTSD In Fallen Angels By Walter Dean Myers

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PTSD Affecting Soldiers He stood there, frozen, shocked, not knowing what to do when he saw a gun pointed at him. Thankfully, the trigger didn’t work, but he had to witness a scarring event, in which he had shot his enemy in the head. It is not surprising that soldiers returning from a stressful war often suffer from a psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. For instance, in the book Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, the principle character Perry unmistakably demonstrates how war troopers can be damaged and experience the ill effects of PTSD. Throughout the novel, it’s visible to see the post symptoms of the psychological disorder affecting Perry and the army. In the book, Perry describes one of his encounters with PTSD by saying, "The noise was terrible. Every time a mortar went off, I jumped. I couldn’t help myself. The noise went into you. It touched part …show more content…

He recounts his past experience by stating, "I really wasn't pissed, because I knew the real question wasn't about my knee. I thought the knee would be okay. The real question was what I was doing, what any of us were doing, in Nam" (Mayers 69). Many other soldiers, like Walowick, show a sense of helplessness. Some of the soldiers, a person who shows signs of PTSD, may experience nightmares, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, and feeling emotionally numb. Bruce Dohrenwend, and his colleagues have done research on the percentage of people affected by PTSD, “The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) of a representative sample of 1200 veterans estimated that 30.9% had developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during their lifetimes and that 15.2% were currently suffering from PTSD”(Dohrenwend et al). Monaco, Perry, and Walowick all experienced these symptoms at one point in Fallen

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