Base off the symptoms that Conrad presented, he will be diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). According to the DSM-5, to be diagnosis PTSD, one must directly experience a traumatic event which is when Conrad witnessed the death of his brother, Buck. There are also recurrent, intrusive memories of the traumatic event that comes as in flashback and dreams. Additionally, when Conard encounters environmental and internal triggers it results in psychological and physiological distress, such as, feeling agitated, flashbacks, and night sweats. The environmental cues that triggered flashbacks include the sound of a train and when he learned that a friend killed herself. Also, Conard experience negative …show more content…
There are feelings of worthlessness and excessive guilt like how he blames himself for not being able to keep the boat starboard and stopping the boat from overturning. In addition, Conard quitted the swim team and he does not want to play at his country club which shows diminished pleasure in activities. Also, Conard show signs of insomnia, decrease of appetite, diminished ability to concentrate, and psychomotor agitation which may be related to his PTSD (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; …show more content…
One may even feel excessive guilty for surviving while the other person died, this feeling is known as survivors guilt. Judith Herman (1992) describes the thought process of a person experiencing survivors guilt as a “review and judge [of his] own conduct, feelings of guilt and inferiority are practically universal.” During one his sessions with Dr. Berger, Conard express his guilt for surviving the storming, and not being able to do more to save his brother (). However, Conard might not want to accept the truth that there was nothing that he could do to stop the boat from flipping over and not being able to save his brother. Conard might believed that if he kept the boat starboard or held onto his brother’s hand than Buck might have survived. But Conard was helpless in this situation because there were very little options for him to choice from. He could not hold Buck’s hand while holding onto the hull of the boat, and battling the elements of the storm. Additionally, Conard might believe that if he was strong enough or not an inferior person than the might have been different. Conard may also wonder why he did not risk his life to recuse Buck, for example diving into the water to search for him. By constantly wondering what he should have done differently it may increase the guilt that he has. These may conflict with Conard’s basic understanding of the world. For