Post-Hogwarts PTSD (was re: marvin's fanfic)

[naama_gat at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 10835

 
> Jim Ferer (I think) and Jim Flanagan have written both essay 
> posts and fanfics to describe this phenomenon.  As I stated 
> before, I agree strongly with them.
> 
> I also believe that not only would Harry be affected, I think that
> his 
> entire generation would be traumatized to a certain degree.  I 
> tend to think of the Marauders as part of the "Lost Generation"... 
> we don't know many of them in canon, but from what we've seen, 
> V. didn't just play pattycake the last time around.  
> 
> Weren't significant PTSD trends noted in Europe between the 
> world wars and Japan post-Hiroshima/Nagasaki?  Holocaust 
> survivors also fall into this category (I'm wondering if mass 
> post-WWI and Great Depression-induced PTSD aided the rise of 
> fascism in Germany)... as do survivors of any genocide.  Last 
> semester, I had the privilege of reviewing a volume of 
> literacy/technology case studies in which two participants were 
> refugees from Somalia and Cambodia.
> 
> In my fic, Angelina Johnson is one of many thousands wounded 
> in the coming war.  She definitely had to deal with PTSD, and 
> she wasn't even on the main front... how much more, then, would 
> Neville?  Or Ron?  Or Hermione?   This is why I think close 
> interpersonal relationships (never mind shipping for the 
> moment) would inevitably form amongst students who were at 
> Hogwarts in the nineties under Dumbledore, who at this point is 
> the only ultra-prominent wizard who believes that V is back.  It's 
a 
> matter of empathy... you can only understand what someone has 
> gone through on a fundamental level if you've walked in their 
> shoes for a mile or two.
> 
> I also agree with Jim Ferer's premise that if Voldemort is 
> defeated, the wizarding world (if not consumed) would have to 
> change.  Name a major Muggle war that did not alter human life 
> in some way... :::sounds of crickets chirping:::
> 
> As for Harry, *if* he can defeat Voldemort *without* getting killed 
> and *without* destroying the wizarding world and *without* 
> getting completely corrupted by a necessary close proximity to 
> pure, unadulterated evil... not only would he have post-traumatic 
> stress disorder to deal with... he *would* be regarded as a 
> messiah figure.  The question then would be, how would he deal 
> with that can of worms?
> 
> I'm still trying to form my opinions on that issue.  Thoughts?
> 
> --Ebony AKA AngieJ

Ebony, I think you're going a bit too far in "giving" all of them 
PTSD. After all, most people who have fought in wars do not get PTSD. 
As far as I know (which is not much), PTSD has a close connection to 
helplessness, situations when you *cannot* fight (for objective or 
subjective reasons, or for both). I read somewhere, for instance, 
that soldiers tend to get PTSD in relation to their sense of being 
abandoned by their command.
My point in all this is that Harry probably will not suffer from 
PTSD. I doubt that he will ever go through a more horrible experience 
than the graveyard scene. And according to the canon he has 
emotionally survived this. 
I also disagree that most of his peers will suffer from PTSD. With 
all due respect to Voldemort's power of evil, it was not and will 
not be the same situation as the Holocaust or other planned 
genocides. The psychological effects on those involved are 
different, IMO. Harry's peers will find themselves involved in a 
*war*, where they can fight and have the power to resist and make a 
difference. Genocide occurs precisely because the victims are so 
powerless (relatively) that they don't really have the option to 
resist. 
Thats not to say that some individuals will not go through terrible 
ordeals (like the Longbottoms) and suffer PTSD as a consequence. We 
should remember, however, that generally speaking people are tough 
and can survive very difficult times without breaking up emotionally 
(which is what I think PTSD is basically). 

Naama