SECTION 5
1. “Trauma is a contagious disease; it affects everyone that has close contact with a traumatized person”
Living with someone with PTSD can be very stressful. Especially if you have to see someone you care about and are close with deal with such a burden. They may have flashback and not remember you and or they may become violent. This could lead you to have anxiety around them waiting for their next episode. It could make you feel unsafe and on edge as stated in the article. If you have younger children like they can be affected making them scared too or even mimic activities done. In this quote, Robert Motta, a clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Hofstra University calls trauma a disease. Now this I believe is a bit too far as it could affect others Trauma is more of a mental illness. It’s not contagious because it is not yet proven. Although, we look at couple of cases that say yes. There are still more then have a percentage that say no it is not contagious.
2. Katie doesn’t sound sure, or like she remembers exactly. One thing she’s positive of: “She just made me…so. MAD.” Brannan asks Katie to name some of the alternatives. “Walk away, get the teacher, yes ma’am, no ma’am,” Katie dutifully responds to the prompts. She looks disappointed in herself.
This quote describes a situation that happened in school with Caleb’s and Brannan’s daughter Katie. Katie got in trouble for spitting on another classmate. When asked why she did so by her mom she doesn’t recall. Katie just remembers being mad. Katie at home always is kind and cheerful. It’s almost like Katie blacks out like her father Caleb. Her behavior mimics the violent outburst that her dad out have during his episiode which could give evidence to they claim of PTSD be contagious but the studies would need more support.
3. Secondary traumatic stress has been documented in the spouses of veterans with PTSD from Vietnam. And the spouses of Israeli veterans with PTSD, and Dutch veterans with PTSD. In one study, the incidence of secondary trauma in wives of Croatian war vets with PTSD was 30 percent. In another study there, it was 39 percent.
Although studies where shown they never really analyzies or mention how the studies were conducted. Even with there facts of the percent of veterans wives affected was 39 percent in one study and 30 in another, these results are way too low to be certain of anything. This fact could be descredited by having to small of a study as well as comparing to studies with each other.
Rowan Counterintuitive 
You’ve taken an uncommon approach here, PS, arguing at length with lengthy sections of text instead of identifying individual claims and analyzing them. Your response is more refutation than claims analysis, but on that basis you’ve done a credible job of evaluating the persuasiveness of the argument the author lays out.
In “1,” your analysis could have been much simpler. The author claims that EVERYONE in close contact with someone who’s been traumatized will suffer trauma. But surely not everyone who has been traumatized exhibits symptoms like Caleb’s, and the author would likely withdraw his claim if you asked him whether family members of a trauma survivor who doesn’t exhibit symptoms would be “infected.”
My own take is that PTSD isn’t “contagious” in the way the flu is contagious. PTSD is a reaction to a threatening environment. For the vet, the environment was the battlefield. For Katie, the battlefield is the home she shares with a terrifying dad. She’s not being “infected” by his PTSD. She’s a victim of her own trauma, not his. Does that make sense?
Regarding “3,” I appreciate your demand for explanation and for more impressive numbers, but even the flu doesn’t have to infect more than 30% of the people it reaches to prove it’s contagious.
I thrive on interaction, PS.
If you respond, I’ll quickly learn that you appreciate feedback.
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