Sam Muscella
Mrs. Burnett
AP English
25 December 2015

December Monthly Blog: Slaughterhouse 5

Expanding on the fourth Socratic Seminar question, I believe that the visions of the Tralfamadores that Billy sees are from his post traumatic stress from the war. The visions are his way of coping with his war memories. If he can imagine an alien race that look, think, and act crazily and abnormally, he can avoid the horrific memories that he has of his time in the war.
Billy's PTSD caused him to stand out in society, they thought that because he had visions of the aliens that he was insane. In a way, Billy's visions helped him cope with his memories. Throughout the book there are many flashbacks to Billy's memories. This is a common symptom of PTSD, while the book seems like it takes place during the war, if you take into account that Billy could have had PTSD, it makes more sense that the setting is during the Vietnam war and that he has flashbacks of his time fighting in the war. According to Kim Ann Zimmermann, a Live Science Contributor, PTSD can occur after an event that may cause stress or fear. Not all PTSD cases are from soldiers, anyone can develop this disorder. About 60% of men and 50% of women in the United States experience one or more traumatic events in their lives, this increases the chance of developing PTSD, though only about 5% of men and 10% of women actually have PTSD, which amounts to about 7.7 million Americans. Dr. Paul Schulz, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the Mischer Neuroscience Institute said, "Similar syndromes were called things like 'shell shock' in past wars. As a result of changes in definitions, and the very recent recognition of PTSD, it is difficult to determine whether PTSD is getting more common or [if] we are simply recognizing it more often."  Common symptoms include, re-experiencing symptoms, avoidance symptoms, and hyperarousal symptoms (the feeling of being on edge or stressed). There are medications that can help with the disorder, but the best treatment is counseling, telling the person that they are safe so that their memories can turn from something that they are scared of to something that eventually stops causing them stress. The symptoms in that article are things that Billy goes through. He recounts his memories repeatedly, he avoids people at his party and goes up to his room until he feels normal, the reason he avoids the people at the party is because he hears a song that reminds him of one of his bad memories and he starts to freak out. Also, according to the article's author, depression can cause PTSD to worsen. Billy will randomly break into tears during his life, he seems sad for no reason which could be caused by depression. I think that PTSD is a real issue in society. My mom has a friend who's husband is diagnosed with it and their family life has gotten worse because of his disorder. I believe that even though it can be bad, if the diagnosed person is helped in the correct way, then they can get over having PTSD. It is a disorder that is unavoidable, everyone has memories that cause them fear, stress, and anxiety. It takes a strong willed individual to look past these memories and move on, I believe that this is one way that is very helpful in overcoming PTSD. A person with the disorder needs people to help them realize that they can't be affected by their past memories, that they are safe and surrounded by supportive people.