3 ms·

At time of writing, 'PTSD' occurs in these comments fully an order of magnitude less often than 'trauma' (12 vs 178 instances). Even discounting for the biasing

At time of writing, 'PTSD' occurs in these comments fully an order of magnitude less often than 'trauma' (12 vs 178 instances). Even discounting for the biasing effect of the title, this seems remarkable given what is being discussed. When did this distinction largely disappear from the discourse? It seems like it could have a great deal of clarifying power here. I don't believe I've yet seen anyone from the 'it's trauma if you think it is' school attempt to fit the empirical fact of PTSD into their theoretical model. I would be interested to see that, if anyone's inclined to try it.

qazxcvbnmlp 3y ago
Trauma -> an experience that threatens your way of being / safety above and beyond what you’re capable of handling at the time. It exists on a spectrum. So there’s large and small traumas and something that is traumatic for one person might not be for another. To the spectrum point: seeing your friend killed in war can be traumatic. But also, if you don’t have the emotional tools to handle rejection, then that can also be an event that overloads your emotional system. (Not making value judgements, both no good) PTSD -> post traumatic stress disorder. A group of symptoms that are believed to be originated from a traumatic event and have certain characteristics. An event can be traumatic but not lead to ptsd. Playing a little bit of devils advocate here. I wouldn’t say I’m in the crowd of “it’s trauma if you think it is”. However it can be useful to look at the processes of how our emotional processing system handles events, even if the systems someone is facing don’t reach the level of full on debilitating PTSD.
graphe 3y ago
PTSD is also lumped in with shell shock, a jarring of the braincase after explosions (usually during a war) with physical damage. It's unthinkable to me they lump it in with mental problems. George Carlin skit. https://youtu.be/hSp8IyaKCs0 https://youtu.be/hSp8IyaKCs0
- throwanem 3y ago
  'Shell shock' is an obsolete term originating in the First World War (1914-1918) and referring indeterminately to either PTSD secondary to war trauma, or the chronic traumatic encephalopathy to which you refer. The term's imprecision is why it was retired. I recall the bit well, and being struck as much by its insistence on direct and meaningful language as by the fierce sort of kindness he made evident in its ending. Carlin was and is a treasure. But if I get treated for PTSD when what I have is CTE or vice versa, I probably won't do so well. In that sense, the more specific modern terms do have value, jargon though they also be.
  - graphe 3y ago
    It is not obsolete anymore, or will be renamed blast shock. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/blast-shock-tbi-ptsd-ied-shell-shock-world-war-one https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/blast-sho...
    - throwanem 3y ago
      I don't know that 'renamed' is the word. Borrowing from the older term to name a newly recognized phenomenon, I'd rather say. On the other hand, they could call it Tuesday for all I care, if doing so helps people get effective treatment for it.

qazxcvbnmlp 3y ago

Trauma -> an experience that threatens your way of being / safety above and beyond what you’re capable of handling at the time. It exists on a spectrum. So there’s large and small traumas and something that is traumatic for one person might not be for another. To the spectrum point: seeing your friend killed in war can be traumatic. But also, if you don’t have the emotional tools to handle rejection, then that can also be an event that overloads your emotional system. (Not making value judgements, both no good) PTSD -> post traumatic stress disorder. A group of symptoms that are believed to be originated from a traumatic event and have certain characteristics. An event can be traumatic but not lead to ptsd. Playing a little bit of devils advocate here. I wouldn’t say I’m in the crowd of “it’s trauma if you think it is”. However it can be useful to look at the processes of how our emotional processing system handles events, even if the systems someone is facing don’t reach the level of full on debilitating PTSD.

graphe 3y ago

PTSD is also lumped in with shell shock, a jarring of the braincase after explosions (usually during a war) with physical damage. It's unthinkable to me they lump it in with mental problems. George Carlin skit. https://youtu.be/hSp8IyaKCs0 https://youtu.be/hSp8IyaKCs0

throwanem 3y ago
'Shell shock' is an obsolete term originating in the First World War (1914-1918) and referring indeterminately to either PTSD secondary to war trauma, or the chronic traumatic encephalopathy to which you refer. The term's imprecision is why it was retired. I recall the bit well, and being struck as much by its insistence on direct and meaningful language as by the fierce sort of kindness he made evident in its ending. Carlin was and is a treasure. But if I get treated for PTSD when what I have is CTE or vice versa, I probably won't do so well. In that sense, the more specific modern terms do have value, jargon though they also be.
- graphe 3y ago
  It is not obsolete anymore, or will be renamed blast shock. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/blast-shock-tbi-ptsd-ied-shell-shock-world-war-one https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/blast-sho...
  - throwanem 3y ago
    I don't know that 'renamed' is the word. Borrowing from the older term to name a newly recognized phenomenon, I'd rather say. On the other hand, they could call it Tuesday for all I care, if doing so helps people get effective treatment for it.