Category: A03: PTSD Claims

PTSD Claims- Ugandan Knuckles

Section 2

“Caleb had been home since 2006”

  • has he just been living in the same house since 2006
  • where is home?
  • has he gone to a hospital?

“Way more than enough time for Brannan to catch his symptoms”

  • what symptoms?
  • what is “more then enough time”?

“is often quiet as a morgue”?

  • morgue means dead, but is a morgue entirely quiet?
  • how often?
  • how quiet is a morgue?

“A sound erupts”

  • is it instant?
  • how loud was it really?

“Caleb screaming at Brannan because she’s just woken him up from a nightmare”

  • is Caleb really screaming?
  • did Brannan actually wake him up?
  • a nightmare is big claim to make. Was it actually scary, or was Caleb just talking in his sleep? I’d be upset too if someone randomly woke me up.

“after making sure she’s at least an arm’s length away in case he wakes up swinging”

  • whose arm length? Hers or his?
  • swinging like punching, or just waking up and sitting straight up wildly?

“the ensuing silence seems even denser”

  • how “dense” is said silence initially?
  • how much denser?
  • was it absolutely silent?

“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.”

  • is everyone in the family room?
  • are they watching TV?
  • does it only have connection to Netflix and not one of many other possible non-cable viewing networks?
  • what about cable is triggering?
  • how bad of a trigger?

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

  • what level of agitation?
  • are they both tense all the time, or are they tense at different times?
  • does it build to a certain point?
  • when do they get on each other’s nerves?

“Their German shepherd, a service dog trained to help veterans with PTSD”

  • the dog is a German shepherd
  • it’s been trained for a long time to watch verterans
  • it’s trained to specifically watch veterans that have PTSD

“is ready to alert Caleb to triggers by barking, or to calm him by jumping onto his chest.”

  • the dog is trained to help the veteran
  • the dog is able to identify what the specific veteran’s triggers are
  • the dog is also trained to help calm the veteran by leaping on their chest

“This PTSD picture is worse than some,”

  • this is a strong assumption, as there is no way of gauging how bad something is compared to someone else, as everyone is different
  • on what scale is it worse
    • is there a specific aspect that makes it worse

“but much better, Brannan knows, than those that have devolved into drug addiction and rehab stints and relapses”

  • makes the claim from the previous bit more realistic
  • how many people is this those that have devolved into drug addiction

“She has not, unlike military wives she advises, ever been beat up”

  • how many military wives have been beat up
  • how many military wives does she advise
  • are they all military wives
  • has she absolutely never been beat up?
    • there is no evidence to support that she hasn’t

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

  • was this ever a fear of hers
  • “again” means it’s happened before
    • makes it being a fear of her rational
  • “Still” means that she is vigilant

“Sometimes I can’t do the laundry,” Brannan explains, reclining on her couch. “And it’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m too tired to do the laundry,’ it’s like, ‘Um, I don’t understand how to turn the washing machine on.’

  • why can’t she do the laundry?
  • why can she not understand how it works?
  • she could just write the instructions down
  • there’s an on button most washing machines

“She sounds like she might start crying, not because she is, but because that’s how she always sounds, like she’s talking from the top of a clenched throat, tonally shaky and thin.”

  • there’s no way to compare her voice to what it normally is, so there’s no real way to say if that’s not just her speaking voice
  • judging by the stress she speaks about, she could always be on the  verge of tears
  • as someone just meeting her, is this actually how she sounds, or is this dramatized?

PTSD Claims- lbirch141

05

“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.”

  • “Secondary traumatic stress” is claimed to be a type of PTSD, but is not an actual disorder.
  • “documented” is just the record, not an actual study completed. We do not know how it was documented or if a study was even done.
  • “Spouses of veterans” only indicates spouses were studied and taken into consideration of secondary PTSD. This could show not everyone in a household was studied or documented.
  • “Spouses of Israeli veterans with PTSD, and Dutch veterans with PTSD” shows different people, that could have fought in different wars. All of these veterans could have different ways of life and ways they fought.

“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.”

  • “One study” does not show a whole picture. We cannot conclude secondary PTSD is real with one study being shown.
  • “incidence of secondary trauma in wives of Croatian war vets” does not show how many wives were actually studied. It could be two wives or two hundred wives.
  • “30 percent” gives us a number of just this group. We still also do not know what this 30 percent is out of. We cannot conclude this an accurate representation of a whole population of veteran’s wives.
  • “another study” is just a basic statement that another test was done. This does not give us a representation of how many people were actually studied.
  • “39 percent” is still a basic number that can represent some many different things. We do not know who was studied and what each wife has been though.

“’Trauma is really not something that  happens to an individual,’ says Robert Motta, a clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Hofstra University who wrote a few of the many medical-journal articles about secondary trauma in Vietnam vets’ families.”

  • “really not something that happens to an individual” does not make too much sense. There are many types of trauma someone can have and some types just cannot be contagious.
  • “a few of the many medical-journal articles about secondary trauma in Vietnam vets’ families.” a few does not give a very exact number. We cannot know how knowledgeable he is if it’s just a few. Also, if it is only Vietnam war vets, that’s only a small portion of veterans.

“Katie Vines, the first time I meet her, is in trouble. Not that you’d know it to look at her, bounding up to the car, blondish bob flying as she sprints from her kindergarten class, nice round face like her daddy’s. No one’s the wiser until she cheerfully hands her mother a folder from the backseat she’s hopped into.”

  • “the first time I meet her” shows that it is only one occasion. We do not know if this has happened before or not if it is only the first time meeting Katie.
  • “she sprints from her kindergarten class” could just mean what she does shows her age if shes only in kindergarten.
  • “Not that you’d know it to look at her, bounding up to the car, blondish bob flying as she sprints from her kindergarten class” shows us that Katie looks normal on the outside, but has something wrong on the inside.
  • “nice round face like her daddy’s” is comparing a kindergartner to a war vet with PTSD. That is not something you can do because they are have two different mindsets.
  • “No one’s the wiser until she cheerfully hands her mother a folder” shows Katie does not seem to know or understand she did something wrong.

“’It says here,’ Brannan says, her eyes narrowing incredulously, ‘that you spit on somebody today.’”

  • “It says here” is a second hand source. We do not know the whole story from just this note.
  • “you spit on somebody today” seems like something normal kids do sometimes because they do not completely understand right from wrong. Again, we cannot compare a normal child to a veteran.

“’Yes ma’am,’ Katie admits, lowering her voice and her eyes guiltily.”

  • “lowering her voice and her eyes guiltily” tells us maybe Katie did know it was wrong.

“Her schoolmate said something mean. Maybe. 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. Her eyebrows are heavily creased when she shakes her head and says quietly again, “I was so mad.”

  • “Her schoolmate said something mean. Maybe. Katie doesn’t sound sure, or like she remembers exactly” doesn’t seem like something that proves that PTSD is contagious. Katie is a young child, and normal children try to cover what happened.
  • “‘She just made me…so. MAD'” may tell us the other students did something to cause Katie to spit on her.
  • “She looks disappointed in herself. Her eyebrows are heavily creased when she shakes her head and says quietly again, ‘I was so mad.'” implies Katie knows what she did, but could not help herself and got very mad.

 

PTSD Claims, jdormann

11

“It’s to help kids like that that Brannan and her volunteers put together an informational packet on secondary trauma for parents to give to teachers, explaining their battle-worthy idiosyncrasies and sensory-processing sensitivities.”

-Brannan feels that PTSD can cause serious trauma to those that are around people suffering.

-This claim would be more effective if it explained the packet and why people needed to read it

2.“Brannan gave the packet to Katie’s kindergarten teacher, but thinks the teacher just saw it as an excuse for bad behavior.”

-Not all of the population is aware of PTSD and they do not understand the severity of it because they have not directly seen someone suffering.

-Katie’s teacher doesn’t think that her thoughts and behaviors should be effected by her fathers PTSD

-PTSD does not only effect the person suffering, it can also effect their family and friends

This claim would be more effective if it detailed what specific behavior or the teacher’s point of view about Katie

3. Though Brannan hopes Katie will come out of childhood healthy, she still says, “She’s not a normal kid. She does things, and says things. She’s a grown-up in a six-year-old’s body in a lot of ways.”

-There is proof that a child growing up with someone that suffers from PTSD can alter their behaviors.

-Children do not understand the world and life as grown adults do, so they can be inappropriate or sound absurd at times.

-Katie’s actions are effected by her parents thoughts and actions, just like every child that has an adult figure in their life.

-What exactly does she say? Does she feel that she is different from her peers?

4. “She certainly looks like a normal kid when she comes down from her room dressed for tap class. In a black leotard, pink tights, and shiny black tap shoes, she looks sweet as pie.”

-Katie participates in normal activities for a child her age

-this shows she does not want to be different, and she enjoys the same things her peers do

-How else is she a normal kid other then going to tap classes?

5. “One time, a bad guy in Iraq had a knife and my dad killed him,” she says, apropos of nothing. “Katie Vines.” Brannan is stern but impeccably patient. She doesn’t know why Katie adapted this story about confiscating a weapon from an insurgent into a story about bloodshed, but she isn’t too happy about it.

-Unknowingly, Katie says things that she doesn’t fully understand and it can be at an inappropriate time.

-Katies mother isn’t happy about stories like this because she worries her daughter will be too different then kids her age and seen as an outcast.

-The claim should not include “Brennan is stern but impeccably patient”. This statement is weak and has no correlation to the prior or following claim.

6. “Katie is sorry—God, is she sorry, you can see it in her face and guilty shoulders, but she seems to feel like she can’t help it”

-When Katie is told what she said or did is unacceptable, she understands that her mother and others are unhappy with her.

-Katie is sad because when she shares things she knows or thinks, she is told it is not okay and doesn’t understand why because her knowledge of the world is not formed yet.

-She cannot differentiate between what is okay and what is not

-This claim is repetitive but it supports the idea that PTSD can have secondary effects on families

Critical Reading-Morty39

Part 16:

“In 2009, it was Hovda who delivered the Pentagon the recommendation that because multiple concussions could cause serious long-term injury, concussions need time to heal. “

“The recommendation” makes it seem they were not really trying to push or force the issues of concussions and the time to heal from them

“Could cause,” if they really want to try and force these rules on concussion they are not using strong enough words to push the subject.

“A fight ensued. Hovda says some of the Army’s best doctors implied that if soldiers were told they needed rest after concussions, it was going to usher in an epidemic of fakers, or retired guys claiming disability way after the fact.”

“A fight” makes it seem like there was a big ordeal and that the army really does not want their soldiers getting break after concussions.

“Implied” They do not know if it would really happen, but they would rather take the risk of the soldiers having long term medical issues rather than the chance some would take advantage of it.

“Epidemic” is most likely exaggerated

“Retired guys” makes it seem kind of annoyed about the situation, they did not say vets, which they should be called

“Although, the NFL was given the same memo in the 1990s, and brain damage in boxers is even older news, so it doesn’t seem like it would take a neuroscientist—or the top medical brass of an Army that builds laser cannons—to figure out that if 25 mph punches to the head cause brain damage, IED blasts that hit at 330 mph probably do too.”

“Is even older news” They are really showing that this has been a big issue by now and most people have realized how bad concussions can be

“Neuroscientist” Sarcasm to show that this is simple and does not take a lot of thought to realize it.

“IED blasts that hit at 330 mph probably do too.” This is in a annoying tone saying that it is pretty much the equivalent as 2 + 2.

“Eventually, Hovda’s cause prevailed. These days, there are MRIs in theater, assessments after blasts, mandatory rest periods after a concussion. But those reforms came seven years into the Iraq War, after Caleb and a million other soldiers were already home. When people ask Hovda if they’re gonna get better, he encourages them that they’re gonna get different.”

“Eventually” This shows that they are more than annoyed at how long they took to realize how bad concussions are.

“Million other soldiers” I would say this is an exaggeration but it is most likely close to the number of solders, there were definitely not a million but it gives the idea of how bad it was.

“Encourages” encourages they are going to be different is not a good answer when they ask if they are going to get better.

 

 

 

 

 

PTSD Claims – picklerick

08

Brannan sent Katie to the school therapist, once. She hasn’t seen any other therapist, or a therapist trained to deal with PTSD

—”Once” makes me think that Brennan had not tried very hard to get help for her daughter. If she was really worried she would’ve brought her to the therapist a lot more than once.

—”She hasn’t seen any other therapist” reinforces Brennan’s lack of willingness to get help for Katie.

Brannan knows what a difference that makes, since the volunteer therapist she tried briefly herself spent more time asking her to explain a “bad PTSD day” than how Caleb’s symptoms were affecting the family.

—”what a difference” is used sarcastically to state how the therapist made no impact on Katie’s behavioral problems.

Certainly she seems better than some other PTSD vets’ kids Brannan knows, who scream and sob and rock back and forth at the sound of a single loud noise, or who try to commit suicide even before they’re out of middle school. Caleb spends enough time worrying that he’s messing up his kid without a doctor saying so.

—”Certainly she seems better than some other PTSD vets’ kids Brannan knows” means that Brennan must know many other parents with kids who have behavioral problems similar to, or worse than, Katie’s. This also reveals that this issue is not specific Brennan’s family, and that this is a normal occurrence within post-war households.

—”try to commit suicide even before they’re out of middle school” means that it’s normals for children in families with PTSD to attempt to commit suicide at an abnormally young age.

—”Caleb spends enough time worrying that he’s messing up his kid without a doctor saying so” let’s me know that Caleb is worried about Katies mental state and it doesn’t help when the doctors tell him what he already knows.

Brannan is a force of keeping her family together. She sleeps a maximum of five hours a night, keeps herself going with fast food and energy drinks, gets Katie to and from school and to tap dance and art, where Katie produces some startlingly impressive canvases, bright swirling shapes bisected by and intersected with other swaths of color, bold, intricate.

—”Brannan is a force of keeping her family together” reveals that the family needs Brennan, and without her, the family would fall apart.

—”keeps herself going with fast food and energy drinks” shows how Brennan doesn’t have time to eat healthy and take care of herself properly because she is too busy providing care for her family.

—”startlingly impressive canvases” shows that one wouldn’t expect Brennan to have such a creative talent due the issues she is forced to deal with on a daily basis.

She used the skills she learned as an assistant to a state Supreme Court justice and running a small newspaper to navigate Caleb’s maze of paperwork with the VA, and the paperwork for the bankruptcy they had to declare while they were waiting years for his disability benefits to come through.

—”maze of paperwork” means that the VA gives Brennan a lot of confusing and unnecessary paperwork.

—”bankruptcy they had to declare” means that they did’t want to declare bankruptcy, but were forced to because Caleb’s disability benefits took so long to come through.

She also works for the VA now, essentially, having been—after a good deal more complicated paperwork, visits, and assessments—enrolled in its new caregiver program, which can pay spouses or other family members of disabled vets who have to take care of them full time, in Brannan’s case $400 a week.

—”after a good deal more complicated paperwork, visits, and assessments” shows how the VA gave Brennan even more hassle and paperwork when she decided to become part of their caregiver program.

PTSD Claims-Dohertyk9

A09

1. “At home after school, she makes Katie a pancake snack and then, while Katie shows me the website for a summer camp that teaches military spy skills, Brannan gets back to work.”

  • Pancake snack- This reminds the reader/listener that Katie seems to always eat some type of “pancake snack”.
  • Summer camp- This shows that Katie is influenced by her father’s service and deliberately searches for information on her own to find the summer camp.
  • “Brannan gets back to work”- A reminder to the reader/listener that Brannan is constantly working.

2. “Brannan founded the organization in 2007, after panicked Googling led her to the website of Vietnam Veteran Wives (VVW) when Caleb returned from his second tour.”

  • “Brannan founded the organization in 2007”- Factual Claim
  • Panicked- Emphasis on Brannan’s stress and fear at the problems she was experiencing with her husband.
  • Second Tour- Reminds the reader that Caleb only started experiencing the worse symptoms of PTSD after his second tour.

3. “Life after the first tour had been pretty normal.”

  • Life- Shows that Caleb’s PTSD affected his family’s entire life.
  • “After the first tour”- Implies that the second tour made the real difference.
  • “Pretty normal”- Shows that she considered Caleb’s behavior to be odd, but not enough to be considered very abnormal.

4. “‘Things were a little…off,’ Caleb was edgy, distant, but he did not forget entire conversations minutes later, did not have to wait for a stable mental-health day and good moment between medication doses to be intimate with his wife…”

  • Off- She admits that Caleb was not acting like his usual self, and that it was affecting “things”.
  • But- She states Caleb’s behavior in a negative way, but she is only concerned with comparing it with his symptoms after the second tour.
  • This sentence emphasizes how Caleb’s symptoms have taken a turn for the worse, comparing his behavior after his first tour with his now pervasive symptoms.
  • “wait for a stable mental-health day and good moment between medication doses”. This statement outlines how rare the stable day and good moment between doses are.

5. “…and then when he finally tried, pray to Christ for one of the times when it’s good sex, not one of the times when a car door slams outside and triggers him, or the emotion becomes so unbearable that he freezes, gets up, and walks wordlessly out the door.”

  • Finally- Shows how long it is before the stable day and good moment between doses.
  • “pray to Christ”- shows his desperation for a moment without getting triggered.
  • “when a car door slams outside and triggers him, or the emotion becomes so unbearable”- This shows just how easy it is for his environment to trigger him.
  • Wordlessly- Makes it clear that Caleb is incapable of even explaining or apologizing for his actions.

6. “All that didn’t happen until after the second tour.”

  • A reminder to the reader that Caleb’s symptoms severely worsened after the second tour.

7. “Brannan was in a terrible place, she says-until she talked to Danna Hughes, founder of VVW.”

  • “Danna Hughes, founder of VVW”- Factual Claim
  • Terrible- Explains that Brannan is severely affected by her husband’s trauma.
  • “until she talked to Danna Hughes”- shows how much Danna Hughes helped Brannan

8. “Danna had been through the exact same turmoil, decades ago, and had opened a center to help get Vietnam vets benefits and educate their spouses and communities about their condition.”

  • Turmoil- Shows how messy it is to try to handle a situation with an immediate family member or spouse with PTSD.

9. “‘What choice do I have?’ Brannan asks about running her own organization. ‘This is the only reason I am well.'”

  • “‘What choice do I have?'”- This shows just how hopeless and trapped Brannan feels. It implies that she feels that she has no other option.
  • “the only reason I am well”- This puts her situation into perspective, showing how the organization serves as an outlet for her in her tumultuous life.

10. “‘People care when you tell them. They just don’t know. They want to help and they want to understand, so I just have to keep going and educating.'”

  • “‘They just don’t know'”- She reminds the reader that for people who have never seen signs of PTSD, it is a mystery.
  • “‘so I just have to keep going and educating.'”- She admits her sense of duty toward the people with PTSD to inform those that don’t know about it.

 

-END OF ONE HOUR-

PTSD Claims A03- summergirl1999

Section 00? 

BEGIN THE ONE HOUR EXERCISE.

  1. “The pictures in his brain disorienting him among the stacks, which could turn from stacks to rows of rooftops that need to be scanned for snipers.”

Casual Claim.

 The pictures in his brain disorienting: One of the effects Caleb is experiencing from PTSD. Pictures are coming to his mind from previous experiences.

  • Stacks to rows of rooftops that need to be scanned for snipers: Caleb just doing a normal thing, gets interrupted by the effects of PTSD.
  1. “Hypotheses for why PTSD only tortures some trauma victims blame it on unhappily coded proteins, or a misbehaving amygdala. Family history, or maybe previous trauma.”

Evaluative Claim.

  • PTSD does not affect everyone.
  • Some people with PTSD blame it on products or trauma.
  • Certain things can trigger PTSD in some people.
  1. “Whatever is happening to Caleb, it’s as old as war itself.”

Casual Claim.

  • “It’s as old as war itself.” Simile.
  • PTSD has been effecting people for a long time.
  1. The ancient historian Herodotus told of Greeks being honorably dismissed for being “out of heart” and “unwilling to encounter danger.”

 Factual Claim,

  • Greeks were dismissed from having side effects of PTSD.
  • There was not a given name for the diagnoses.
  • Instead of being dismissed from PTSD the Greeks were dismissed for being “out of heart and “unwilling to encounter danger.
  1. “It wasn’t an official diagnosis until 1980, when Post Traumatic Stress Disorder made its debut in psychiatry’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.”

Factual Claim.

  • Was not considered an official sickness until 1980.
  • Made a debut in book.

END OF ONE HOUR EXERCISE