Challenging Truth in Narrative About the War in Vietnam

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where, due to a psychologically painful event that the individual never completely accepted, one may act in ways far less responsible than before. There are many symptoms of PTSD such as flashbacks and nightmares from the war, lack of sleep or too much sleep, overpowering emotions, memory loss, confusion, violence, irritability, abuse of alcohol and drugs, alienation, and heart troubles.
According to the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment study, 26 percent of all who served in Vietnam developed some form of PTSD. Also, in an 11 month period, an officer at a mental hygiene clinic reported around 50 veterans who visited the clinic with PTSD problems. Treatment includes talking with a counselor, psychiatrist, or therapist, taking medication, and if severe; institutionalization.
In The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, Post Traumatic Stress is expressed throughout the book in the characters' actions. In the novel, the narrator's troop showed signs of PTSD while waiting for a ...

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shows signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He tells the audience, "this is one story I've never told before... to go into it I thought, would only cause embarrassment for all of us" (38). Many cases of people with PTSD are not accounted for, because the victims are afraid or embarrassed to tell anyone. They tell themselves they do not have a problem, no one would want to hear, or it's too embarrassing. The reason PTSD is often a problem though, is because the victims will not talk about it. Often, the victim just needs it to talk about his/her experiences with someone, like a counselor, psychiatrist therapist, or other specialist. Another character, Dave Jenson, also experiences PTSD. ...

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