I already commented on this, but I'll add
some controversy and blatant heresy against
the church on this'n, and say that I challenge
the very existence of PTSD. Why? Well(this'll
probably have the nice young men in their clean
white coats after me, but hey), it's like this:
Ok, I'm a doctor guy. I spent a decade getting
trained to do what it is that I do, if no one's sick, I'm unemployed. Damn healthy people anyway. Gotta drum up some business so I can pay that loan off.
Anyway, so here's a fellow or a gal that's
had a couple of rough spots in life, been
nearly Bobbetized or run through a farm
thresher or a combat veteran or something,
anyway, had the old Near Death Experience,
the kind that's supposed to discolor your
hair follicles and leave you a trembling
muttering wreck for life.
Well, let's ponder backward, here for a
minute, prior to Pfizer becoming quite
so profitable, and discover how previous
centuries' worth of people dealt with
such things. So, you were on the saber-tooth's
menu, but he got tired partway through the
appetizer and ran off to chase that she-lion
through the trees, and left you for the ants.
But, you lived. Now, the rest of the tribe
thinks You're Cool and gives you a special
indian name, but you're a little jumpy at
night just in case Fang might be in the
vicinity. You lived. You survived. The rest
of the tribe didn't have that encounter. You
invent the door lock for YOUR hut. Months later,
it pays off when you don't get eaten.
Fast-forward to the modern world, where the
closest most of us have been to combat is watching Saving Private Ryan in the theater
in full 130 degree Slaughtervision. Just not
quite the same. Not quite the same level
of experiential trauma, there. Now, people
that have Close Encounters with the lion
are a rarity, NOW they have 'a mental disorder'.
Well, maybe they don't, maybe we're just
becoming Planet Haldol, by necessity...or choice.







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Posted November 8, 2007 | 09:36 AM (EST)