What PTSD Is

[ysabetwordsmith]

Here's a brilliant post about the kind of PTSD that builds slowly, a pervasive shift in worldview, rather than the kind that comes from a sudden major shock.  This is how it can form in people who aren't front-line soldiers but rather support crew, or cops, or people living in poverty or neglectful relationships.  

Now look at the part where it talks about society not being a safe place, everyone's out to get each other, no trustworthy connections, no safety net if something goes wrong, nobody to care if you live or die.  That's what we're making our world into every time we cut public services and support.  We're making it more like the place inside a PTSD sufferer's head.  "Every man for himself and devil take the hindmost" isn't a society.  It's madness.

Comments

[blitzwing]

It is a great post; my problem though, is with this line:

It is the cur­tain pulled back, the deep and the­matic real­iza­tion that life is fun­gible, that death is capri­cious and sudden. That anyone’s life can be snuffed out or worse, ruined, in the space of a few sec­onds. It is the shaking real­iza­tion that love cannot pro­tect you, and even worse, that you cannot pro­tect those you love. It is the final sur­ren­dering of the myth that, if you are decent enough, eth­ical enough, skilled enough, you’ll be spared.

Isn't that just reality? I mean, I grew up in poverty, so maybe I just grew up with that worldview, so it's not a traumatic realization for me, but I can't see anything (morally) wrong with having that knowledge. It's the truth, and even social programs won't keep it away. Like you said, they can always be cut. Always. Anything that's not inherent can be changed or removed. Social programs are to some extent, what, being able to extend that myth of safety to the poor? Not to knock it, I get what the guy is saying, and what you're saying; it's very difficult to be emotionally/mentally healthy when you're dealing with that kind of reality. But it doesn't change the fact that safety is an illusion.

Not that I'm knocking social programs, lord knows where I'd be without them. It's just that relying on them is to rely on other's good will, and it's sad how often that will disappoint.

Okay...

[ysabetwordsmith]

The way I see it is like this: Life is not fair. The purpose of civilization is to make life more fair.

There's a spectrum. We can't stop death or random misfortune. We can choose to build societies with a high level of fault tolerance so those inevitable griefs do the least possible harm. We can choose to avoid creating avoidable problems. Or we can fuck each other over. Some societies are closer to the crappy end, some to the shiny end.

The more energy we put into resilience and compassion, the better for everyone.