PTSD: Know the Facts

PTSD: Know the Facts

Tilie Vaughn, Staff Writer

Some people think that mental disorders aren’t as bad as they seem, or are minor. This may be true for some but for one as extreme as PTSD, minor is not a word I would use to describe it. PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder is a  dangerous disease that needs to be stopped.

A huge argument over ways to treat PTSD has stretched all the way to simply using firearms and hunting. According to Los Angeles Times in a newspaper article written by Molly Hennessy-Fiske doctors don’t think that exposing PTSD patients to firearms and hunting is a good idea. They claim that for veterans suffering from PTSD, using a gun and shooting it can take them back to the battlefield and worsen their state of mind. However, on the opposing side, the patients claim that hunting and the use of firearm’s help remove some of the stress and helps calm them by taking out all their anger with every shot. This is an argument that is sure to go on until a clear and rational treatment can be found and be better for use.

Hunting may not be the best treatment but one treatment is better than no treatment. PTSD can turn deadly. According to Los Angeles Times in a newspaper article wrote by Alan Zarembo, PTSD causes disabilities that can be impossible to come back from. In another article from the Washington Post written by Yochi Dreazen, military suicides have increased over the years and many were suffering from PTSD. Treatment for PTSD is worth fighting for instead of sitting back and letting people suffer from it.

PTSD not only changes one person’s life but it also takes a toll on the people in their life. According to an article in the Washington Post, written by Emily Wax-Thibodeaux, children of people suffering from PTSD often suffer isolation and become angrier and easily frustrated. The smallest trigger can set off the children just like the adults can be set off with the simplest action. The article also states that the family life changes. Fewer activities take place and the family stays on high alert at all hours of the day, ready for something to happen so they can deal with it. Some children of the patients dealing with PTSD miss out on enjoying their childhood and aren’t able to be a kid, they have to grow up at a young age to help take care of that parent. PTSD already makes the patient suffer but to make their family and people close to them suffer is just a cruel punishment.

PTSD patients and families still have hope even though everything they have to go through seems unbearable. In this essay I went over how some people believe that hunting can be a treatment for PTSD, how dangerous it can be untreated, and the toll it takes on the patient and the people involved in the patient’s life. PTSD is a very dangerous disorder and I now hope you too think we should put a stop to it.