Is PTSD Contagious?

P4. Caleb has been home since 2006, way more than enough time for Brannan to catch his symptoms. The house, in a subdivision a little removed from one of many shopping centers in a small town in the southwest corner of Alabama, is often quiet as a morgue. You can hear the cat padding around. The air conditioner whooshes, a clock ticks. When a sound erupts—Caleb screaming at Brannan because she’s just woken him up from a nightmare, after making sure she’s at least an arm’s length away in case he wakes up swinging—the ensuing silence seems even denser. Even when everyone’s in the family room watching TV, it’s only connected to Netflix and not to cable, since news is often a trigger. Brannan and Caleb can be tense with their own agitation, and tense about each other’s. Their German shepherd, a service dog trained to help veterans with PTSD, is ready to alert Caleb to triggers by barking, or to calm him by jumping onto his chest. This PTSD picture is worse than some, but much better, Brannan knows, than those that have devolved into drug addiction and rehab stints and relapses. She has not, unlike military wives she advises, ever been beat up. Nor jumped out of her own bed when she got touched in the middle of the night for fear of being raped, again. Still.

“Caleb has been home since 2006, way more than enough time for Brannan to catch his symptoms.

1. First claim tells readers that Caleb got home in 2006. Second claim is saying Caleb’s time back home is enough time for Brannan to catch catch the symptoms of PTSD.

“The house, in a subdivision a little removed from one of many shopping centers in a small town in the southwest corner of Alabama, is often quiet as a morgue.”

2. First claim tells us they live in a house. The house is in a subdivision neighborhood. The house isn’t near any shopping  centers. The town they live in is in southwest Alabama and its small. The neighborhood is as quiet as a morgue.

“You can hear the cat padding around. The air conditioner whooshes, a clock ticks.”

3. The house is so quiet you can hear things that are relatively quiet around the house like the cat walking around, air conditioner whooshes and clock tick. The silence is for Caleb.

“When a sound erupts—Caleb screaming at Brannan because she’s just woken him up from a nightmare, after making sure she’s at least an arm’s length away in case he wakes up swinging—the ensuing silence seems even denser.”

4. When there is noise Caleb get’s mad at mad at Brannan because he hates noise. Caleb has nightmares.When she wakes him us she doesn’t want to get hit because he thinks he is in dangour so ge wakes up swinging. The silence feels harder to maintain.

“Even when everyone’s in the family room watching TV, it’s only connected to Netflix and not to cable, since news is often a trigger.”

5. Watching the news triggers Caleb because they often cover stories about tragedies and violence.

“Brannan and Caleb can be tense with their own agitation, and tense about each other’s.”

6. They’re both on edge about each others agitation and their own. Them being around each other makes each of them agitated more than they would be alone.

“Their German shepherd, a service dog trained to help veterans with PTSD, is ready to alert Caleb to triggers by barking, or to calm him by jumping onto his chest.”

7. They have a German shepherd dog. They have the dog to help Caleb handle stress. The dog barks to let him know a trigger is near. The dog helps him relax when he is triggered.

“This PTSD picture is worse than some, but much better, Brannan knows, than those that have devolved into drug addiction and rehab stints and relapses. She has not, unlike military wives she advises, ever been beat up.”

8. Brannan knows that the PTSD that the situation she is in is bad but it’s not the worst case. She could be addicted to drugs and she could have a hard time breaking the addiction. She could also be victim to physical abuse but she is not.

“Nor jumped out of her own bed when she got touched in the middle of the night for fear of being raped, again. Still.”

9. She is not scared to sleep next to Brannan. Some people in her situation are scared to sleep next to their PTSD husbands because they were sexually assaulted be their husbands.