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Ptsd In All Quiet On The Western Front

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The Echoes of a Traumatic Event So many people are affected by PTSD and don’t realize it. I went through a traumatic event where I was burnt by the ashes of fireworks and am now deathly afraid of them. I did not fight through the war or gotten kidnapped, but everyone can be affected by an event and have an equal chance of getting this disorder. PTSD has many unpleasant side effects, but most of the side effects can be treated with different steps. In the book All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque, Paul and his comrades experienced events that could leave them with this life changing disorder. PTSD is a very emotionally disturbing disorder that can affect any body and their family. PTSD ( post traumatic stress disorder) …show more content…

In All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul and his comrades experience many traumatic events like death, pain, and combat that could very well leave them with PTSD. At the very beginning, Paul already has to watch his close friend Kemmerich pass away without being able to help. This would leave anyone scared and with serious anxiety to ever be put in a situation where they can’t assist in anything (Remarque 23). The readers then see PTSD take place in the story again when Paul says, “An explosion sounds somewhere. We wince, our eyes become tense, our hands are ready to vault over the side of the lorry into the ditch by the road.” Their reactions of wincing and becoming tense even though they know it’s distant shows great side effects of the disorder. Then in chapter ten, Albert has his leg amputated and Paul states, “They have taken him and amputated his leg. The whole leg has been taken off from the thigh. Now he will hardly speak anymore. Once he says he will shoot himself the first time he can get a hold of his revolver.” (Remarque 213). Albert is going through one of the side effects of PTSD, which is depression, from the traumatic event that has just taken place and doesn’t want to have to live life with this experience. After seeing many explosions and his friends die, Paul states “the war has ruined everything for us” (Remarque 81). They will never be able to live a normal life without feeling on edge or threatened by everyday things from

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PTSD Then and Now PTSD is an issue that many characters have to face in All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder and is a recognized mental illness today. During World War I, when this book takes place, PTSD was not a known illness. Because of this, in the past it was harder for soldiers to cope with the stress and anxiety of coming home from war than it is now. It still is nowhere close to easy for soldiers today, but there are treatment options available for soldiers with PTSD to make their homecoming easier.

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As a result of these horrors, those involved often were afflicted by “shell shock,” “battle fatigue,” or, as it is known today, Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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A large majority of the soldiers fighting experience a psychological change that causes them to lose their emotions. He eventually gets wounded and returns home on leave, but the dehumanization of war shows damage has been done - Paul decided to return to the front early when he can’t live the way he used to in his hometown. As for his attitude towards his comrades, he shows his insensitivity when Kemmerich is dying and wants his boots. Kat is the only close friend Paul has left, but he is hit in the back of the head by piece of a bomb and dies. Paul’s attitude changes once again, where this time he no longer cares if he lives or

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In the year 1914, a war started that would turn innocent people against each other, and have aftermaths that include thousands of people dead due to new equipment like tanks, gas attacks, and hand-to-hand combat. In this war there was a soldier named Paul Bäumer who is a German nineteen year old who has made friends that will last a lifetime during this experience, but has also felt immense pain. His daily routine is to sleep, eat, and fight in the trenches, and he experiences death every day. Most soldiers view death as a recurring event, but Paul views it as wretchedness, which makes him different from others by caring about his comrades more than others. Paul shows many qualities through this experience of being a soldier in the First World War, and he learns what is necessary in life, which takes some people years to figure out.

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In a more combat situation 15% who served are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most of us cannot imagine the horrors of war however, those who served in a war helps us realize or understand through their stories; the gruesome reality of war and its effects on those who served. In Erich Maria Remarque's landmark novel All Quiet on the Western Front illustrates how war is hell on the soldiers who served in WW1. In the novel, "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque, the author reveals the hopeful yet discouraging war experience between the main character of the story, Paul and his relationship to the first industrialized world war between Germany and others through a variety of literary elements including theme to emphasize the impact of war on young men, as well as employing characterization that appears to readers senses to illustrate how war changes the boys to men of the lost generation through irony. Erich Maria Remarque conceptualizes theme to teach readers how war is vile and putrid.

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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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For the very same reason the hair stands up on our arms and we get goosebumps people who experienced something tragic like war or in ancient time being attacked by a tiger you develop a fear of the things that have happened. Since 1980 the United States has been devoted to diagnosing and treating PTSD for veterans. This can’t possibly cover the veterans who went years with being undiagnosed or

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Human suffering is a major topic in both “All Quiet on the Western Front” and in “Civilization and its Discontents”. Sigmund Freud discuses and presents his theory’s on how people and society work and think while Maria Remarque describes the Life of a German solider in World War One. Freud underlines the reasons why humans suffer and Remarque describes a story where these aspect of suffering are present. Suffering is part of everyone’s lives and is present in society for several of reasons. People, their own body’s and the world around them causes suffering.

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Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front illustrates the horrifying repercussions of war on soldiers, showing how it creates psychological trauma, shatters relationships, and robs soldiers of their innocence. War is physically demanding, causing soldiers to get injured and exposing them to traumatic events that cause many mental health issues, such as, post-traumatic stress disorders, . These events are taking a toll on Paul Baumer's mental health, leaving him in exhaustion, fear, and depression. As Paul finishes a hard day of fighting, he says: “Night again. We are deadened by the strain--a deadly tension that scrapes along one's spine like a gapped knife.

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Although Erich Maria Remarque wrote a couple more war stories after All Quiet on the Western Front, none became nearly as popular ("Erich Maria Remarque."). Remarque created a story about Paul, a young German soldier who suffers the effects of war. By being placed in the everyday life of Paul, the readers are able to read about the slow progression of PTSD. The experiences of war have aged these characters beyond their years, leaving Paul to believe they are “ forlorn like children, and experienced like old men, [they] are crude and sorrowful and superficial.” (Remarque 123).

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Paul implies that battles are animalistic and even insensitive. Remarque concludes that a large aspect of the devastation of the war destroys a soldier’s humanity. Furthermore, the war has not only become apart of Pauls life, but is Pauls’s life. When Paul is on leave from the horrors of the front, he feels isolated from society.

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War destroys everything. It destroys countries, states, families, and the soldiers fighting. In his German novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque explores the psychological effects the war had on soldiers. Due to his experiences in World War 1, Paul Bäumer, a young German soldier, suffers mentally and emotionally by becoming unable to connect society, conditioned to death, and dehumanized. Being in the war caused Paul to be unable to connect to society.

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