[HPforGrownups] OT: PTSD

[Pam Hugonnet]

No: HPFGUIDX 11075



Jim Ferer wrote:

> You forgot one of the diagnostic criteria: if your attorney tells you
> you have it. I know PTSD is real, but I've been soured on it. I handle
> lawsuits in my work (the risk management side of safety/risk
> management) and I've seen allegations of PTSD from people with a
> broken arm. It's God's gift to the plaintiff's bar. And the setting of
> diagnostic criteria is not just a sceintific, but an ideological and
> political act as well.
>

Not really.   I do realise that attorneys will try to fly anything that could ahve potential to help their client.  That's their job; that's what they are supposed to do.  And there
are always unscrupulous people and unscrupulous attorneys who will claim just about anything.   But malingering (faking) is very hard to do and fairly easily spotted by trained
professionals.   It is unforunate that psychological illnesses are looked on as attempts to avoid consequences, malingering or characterological weakness by many and those who work
with or on behalf of those individuals are often treated like interlopers who are out to destroy the very fabric of society.


What I find interesting about the development of PTSD (which brings it back to Harry) is that many individuals who are victims of or witnesses to horrific events do not develop the
disorder.  Some research seem to suggest that it many have something to do with not only with individual differences (world view, stress tolerance, that sort of thing) but also with
the reactions and responses of others during and after the traumatic event.  How the event is understood by others (is it a shared experience?)  Is the victim supported by his/her
community?  Is there a willingness to talk through and process the events?   It certainly seems that Harry has a great deal of support at this point, particularly from Dumbledore
and Hargid.  At this point, I'd say I don't think he would develop a PTSD-like syndrome.  After the next three books though, I might have to eat my words.

drpam




>
> The thing is, it makes things harder on *you*, looking to understand
> and help people who really have it.
>
> I don't know if Harry is going to have PTSD in the clinical,
> diagnostic sense; but he's going to be beat up pretty badly in this
> war, and he's going to suffer. A lot.
>
>
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