Written by: James King
Edited by: Morgan Diep
People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are often perceived as volatile and dangerous. However, these perceptions stem from fallacious beliefs and, thus, greatly misrepresent these individuals. This stigma affects these individuals’ interpersonal relationships, as well as how they are treated by society as a whole. The symptoms of PTSD can be very distressing for individuals to experience. Granted, they need more of society’s support, not more of its neglect. Rewriting the aforementioned stigma is necessary for eliminating the irrational fear of associating and interacting with people with PTSD.
Many people know PTSD for its well-known symptom, the “flashback”, where one vividly re-experiences the traumatic event that generated their PTSD (Tull, 2023). But what does PTSD really entail? To receive a diagnosis of PTSD, one must have experienced a traumatic event in the form of a threatening stressor (Lebow, 2022). After experiencing the traumatic event, one must experience at least one criterion in each of the following categories of symptoms: intrusion symptoms, and avoidance of relevant stimuli. One must also experience at least two criteria in each of the following categories of symptoms: negative alterations in cognition and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity. These symptoms must persist for at least one month (National Library of Medicine, 2013).
Despite the wide array of symptoms associated with PTSD, stigmas about people with PTSD are often due to a select few of the more well-known symptoms, especially those involving re-experience. While flashbacks are the most well-known type of re-experience, people with PTSD might also relive the trauma in other ways such as painful recollections, or recurrent dreams or nightmares. (American Psychological Association, n.d.). The intense nature of these episodes of reliving one’s trauma is the primary reinforcer of the widely accepted myth that people with PTSD are inherently dangerous. Howbeit, neither one’s symptoms of PTSD, nor one’s level of distress over said symptoms is an accurate indicator of potential acts of violence. While there is a slight increase in the likelihood of violence in people with PTSD, multiple studies have shown that when other factors such as alcohol misuse are controlled, PTSD is no longer correlated with an increased risk of violence at all. In fact, violence and PTSD are not even more strongly correlated than violence and depressive disorders (Norman et al., 2023).
People with PTSD often feel misunderstood, mistreated, and neglected by society. This causes a lot of individuals with PTSD to isolate themselves from others. To amplify this inclination to self-isolate, the less people one is around, the less likely they are to be triggered by external stimuli (Foy, 2019). This only reinforces their decisions to be alone, even if deep down a large part of them would like to be more socially integrated. This self-isolation is actually dangerous to individuals, especially those with PTSD. Numerous aspects of one’s well-being are affected by self-isolation. Additionally, self-isolation is positively correlated with depression and suicidal ideation. Self-isolation leads to an unhealthy preoccupation with one’s challenges, and it decreases their likelihood of seeking or being receptive to professional or medical interventions. Therefore, while this is just the tip of the iceberg, it should be clear that PTSD is far more dangerous to individuals with a diagnosis than it is to individuals who do not experience symptoms of the disorder.
Moreover, people with PTSD are widely misrepresented by the public. This leads to their neglect, exacerbating their social isolation. This increases the duration and severity of their morbidity and the impact thereof. While different kinds of social support vary in their abilities to help different individuals with PTSD, it is fair to say that the general tendency to be present and care for people with PTSD is more favorable all-around than the tendency to fear and ostracize them. Given that harm is more likely to occur when one is alone than when one is with someone who experiences PTSD, no one should fear people with PTSD simply because they belong to this group. If we, as a society, eliminate the fear of people with PTSD, we can increase their likelihood of seeking treatment, and we can help improve their overall quality of life.
References
Tull, M. (2023, March 16). Flashbacks and Dissociation in PTSD: How to Cope. verywellmind. https://www.verywellmind.com/coping-with-flashbacks-2797574
Lebow, H. I. (2022, May 27). How Does the DSM-5 Define Trauma? PTSD and More. PsychCentral. https://psychcentral.com/ptsd/dsm-5-trauma-ptsd-stress-related-disorders
National Library of Medicine. (2013). Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services. National Center for Biotechnology Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207191/box/part1_ch3.box16/
American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Posttraumatic stress disorder. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/topics/ptsd/
Norman, S., Elbogen, E. B., Schnurr, P. P. (2023, August 7). Research Findings on PTSD and Violence. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/cooccurring/research_violence.asp
Foy, C. (2019, August 29). PTSD Social Withdrawal: The Reasons Your Loved One With PTSD is Self-Isolating. FHEHealth. https://fherehab.com/learning/reasons-ptsd-self-isolating/
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