Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Inspired by the Works of Tim O'Brien
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Inspired by the Works of Tim O’Brien Tim O’Brien is a veteran of the Vietnam War and is the author of such novels as The Things They Carried and Going After Cacciato. In his novels, O’Brien talks about in great depth of the horrors of the Vietnam War. Soldiers returning home from Vietnam had a hard time adapting to civilian life. Some veterans thought they were fighting in the war while at home. Many were later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Even today, a majority of PTSD cases handled by the Veteran’s Administration (VA) are from Vietnam veterans. What are PTSD and its symptoms and effects on the human body? Only recently are ways to prevent PTSD and viable treatments have been discovered to combat the illness. Clearly, what happens to veterans with PTSD once they have separated from active duty implies a need for care. How many Vietnam veterans suffered from PTSD and committed suicide is a topic that O’Brien’s work explores. More Vietnam veterans suffer from PTSD than any other war veterans per capita. What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and how did it get diagnosed? Before the Vietnam War, PTSD had been called many different things. Following World War II, veterans that developed PTSD was known as battle fatigue or gross stress reaction. For World War I veterans who developed PTSD, it was known as combat fatigue or shell shock. Then there were the Civil War soldiers that developed PTSD, which was known at the time as soldier’s heart (The History of PTSD, par 5). There are two types of PTSD, acute and chronic. The acute type can happen after a trauma and the chronic happens over a period of time. The sad part about PTSD it was recognized as an emotional disorder, there were those who thought of it as simply a cowardice or personal weakness (Wellness Directory of Minnesota, par 4). This form of emotional disorder did not receive official recognition from the American Psychiatric
Cited: O’Brien, Tim. Going After Cacciatio. New York: Broadway, 1978. O’Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway, 1990.