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PTSD In Kiowa's The Things They Carried

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PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder occurs when a person has been through either emotional or physical trauma. Veterans often times develop PTSD due to the physical and emotional trauma that comes along with being in a war. Symptoms of this disorder can include; “depression, worry, intense guilt and feeling emotionally numb. People with PTSD also display impulsive or self-destructive behavior and changed beliefs or changed personality traits” (WebMD). Lastly, AboutHealth.com states that people with PTSD are also very likely to partake in substance abuse in order to numb out their internal turmoil. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a debilitating condition that is blatantly displayed in multiple characters of The Things They Carried, by …show more content…

Kiowa is one of the men of the platoon who shows emotional numbness. In the first chapter, Kiowa is said to “wish he could find some great sadness, or even anger, but the emotion wasn’t there and he couldn’t make it happen” (pg. 17). Norman Bowker shows symptoms of depression, the feeling of being emotionally numb, and feeling disconnected from society in the chapter “Speaking of Courage.” For the first part of the chapter it’s a narrator speaking about how Bowker wanted to do and say things but instead plays them out mentally. An example of this is when he drives around and sees the woman he loves- who is now married- and imagines stopping to talk to her: “They’d talk for a while, catching up on things, and then he’d say ‘well, better hit the road…’” (pg. 134). This quote shows how Bowker imagines scenarios in his head and feels disconnected from the people he loves, so much that he can’t even stop to speak to them. In the same chapter, Bowker displays the feeling of being disconnected from society or life when the narrator says how Bowker feels as he’s driving aimlessly around town: “A tour bus feeling, in a way, except the town he was touring seemed dead” (pg. 137). PTSD can not only be expressed internally, but also externally. It can become more dangerous and drive people to do things they wouldn’t normally

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These are all examples of how Norman Bowker had changed throughout the story. He went from being innocent, or without war on his mind ever, to having nothing else to say to anyone if it didn’t involve war. After he had came back from war, he was not able to keep a job, he was not able to keep a conversation going with anyone because no one knew what he was going through. He was also suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) which in the long run, made him feel as if no one would understand him or his story because no one else was in war when he was and no one experienced what he

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O’Brien makes it understable to the readers that Bowker died in Vietnam and has no chance of recovering, he can’t seem to find meaning of life after the war. O’Brien’s main purpose of writing “Speaking of courage” was mainly to try and explain what soldiers had to deal with once they returned home from war, and not only how to deal with being disconnected from society, but also from their loved ones. After returning from

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When faced with a choice between his own life and Kiowa's, he chose to save himself. It is his lack of courage that leads to Kiowa's death; yet, even though he watches his friend sink into the "cesspool," he tries to save him - but the end is inevitable. War seems to force responsibility and guilt for the deaths of friends and enemies alike. Soldiers returning home from the war carry this guilt with them, making them feel like outsiders in their past lives. After being cut off from the outside world, Bowker "drove along a seven-mile stretch of tarmac around the lake, and then he started over, driving slowly" (O'Brien).

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Norman Bowker is a character throughout the story that has the overwhelming struggle in confronting and accepting the bitter realities of war, with his actions during it echoes with him. Holding the truth of the death of those around him and the overall trauma-inducing environment of Vietnam eventually led Bowker to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, being completely unable to integrate back into society. It is seen in Bowker’s character that the truth of war severely affected his mental state and perspective, as the remains of guilt and remorse resulted in his untimely suicide by hanging (O’Brien 99). Mary Anne Bell is also a very accurate example. Being represented in the novel as a symbol of peace and innocence, it is soon developed that the truth of war slowly transforms her as she becomes completely immersed in the reality of war around her.

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For instance, war veterans sometimes cannot view fireworks as it induces fear in them due to the sound of the explosions seeming like gun shots. In Slaughterhouse-Five, author Kurt Vonnegut, a former soldier in World War II, explores the concept of post-traumatic stress disorder by identifying the underlying causes, highlighting the impacts and symptoms of PTSD, and evaluating coping mechanisms. During a time period where post-traumatic stress disorder was still incredibly controversial, Vonnegut utilized the character of Billy Pilgrim to identify the causes of PTSD. The mental disorder can have many causes as explained in the article “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,” in which the National Institute of Mental Health states, “Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event.

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Throughout the history of American warfare there have been many different names for PTSD. Dating back to the civil war when this mental illness was called soldier’s heart, the First World War called it shell-shock, and the Second World War, battle fatigue; soldiers have been experiencing the trauma and psychological issues that come along with the mental illness of PTSD(cite Take heart; Post-traumatic stress disorder). Psychological deterioration was noted in men of combat as early as 490 B.C. and has since become the leading cause of death for U.S veterans. It was not until 1980 that PTSD was recognized as a true disorder with its own specific symptoms, and it was at this time that is was deemed diagnosable and was added to the American Psychiatric

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Excellent case study Marine. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) involves a high level of stress and anxiety with exposure to the traumatic event. Based on DM history, she experienced multiple sexual and physical assaults which caused her to develop PTSD. DM also reports depressive mood in her history. It is fascinating to read about the different types of therapies used in treating PTSD symptoms.

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PTSD means Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is a deadly disease emotional and physically. For example, it causes veterans to see flash backs of what they have saw over seas, they can physically hurt themselves and are unable to control the disease. PTSD is known to destroy family 's and break them apart even though the veterans can 't control it. "When trauma reactions are severe and go on for some time without treatment, they can cause major problems in a family"(Carlson).This shows how most family 's get divorced after a veteran has come back from war because of how severe the disease is. No veteran wants to admit that they have a disease, because they want to be seen as a tough individual.

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PTSD wasn’t really considered a “thing” until after Vietnam. The rate of PTSD among WWII vets is difficult to ascertain, but one study put the number at 26-33 percent (Bussel). One soldier who was a Prisoner of War in Germany described his experience to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. He said, “I tell them how PTSD has affected me: I avoid elevators, crowds and July 4th fireworks; I’m claustrophobic from the 12 days I spent in a lightless cell at the Luftwaffe interrogation center in Germany, and I won’t fly unless I have an aisle seat.” It is not uncommon that you hear about soldiers coming back from war with PTSD, as what they have endured and seen is bound to haunt their minds forever.

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CONCLUSION Post traumatic stress disorder is a disorder that causes people to feel fear and helpless, this can be treated in different ways and it is caused by different situations, biologically, socially and psychologically. It was found that Post traumatic stress disorder is the disorder that is caused by the trauma, in a way that a person feels anxious and helpless, after having to

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