In the video, “This Emotional Life,” war veterans Warren and Bob speak on their experiences of posttraumatic stress disorder after returning home. Warren and Bob explain various symptoms that are consistent with the criteria for PTSD located in the DSM-5. Both individuals directly experienced the event, Warren in Vietnam and Bob in Iraq, and experience recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive distressing memories of the traumatic events. Additionally, both men describe dreams/nightmares in which they relived experiences from their time in war. For Bob, these nightmares were directly related to the event, as he describes “going on patrol” and “shouting orders” during these nightmares. Further, there was a point in the documentary that Bob was seen having psychological …show more content…
Warren stated the only symptom experienced at this point was being “a little teary.” A moderator of trauma exposure that affected the emergence of PTSD is levels of support. The documentary explains that for thirty years after the traumatic events, Warren struggled with keeping a job and his desire to live. There is no mention that Warren had support during this time, such as a spouse, children, other family members, or close friends, so it is unknown what his support system looked like. Hypothetically, if Warren did not have support during the time after his traumatic experiences, this would likely dramatically influence and increase his PTSD symptoms. However, once Warren decided to participate in the prolonged exposure therapy, he appeared to have support that came from the therapist/staff member involved in this treatment. This support likely influenced his ability to remain in this therapeutic process, ultimately leading to a decrease in his PTSD symptoms. Another moderator may be the perceived severity of the traumatic