Hand waving?  An unconventional for post-traumatic stress is put to the test

When Prometheus gave fire to the mortals, an angry Zeus chained him to Mount Causaus, where each day an eagle devoured his liver, and each night the liver grew back. Imagine for a moment that you must endure a variation of that Promethean hell. Instead of an eagle, your tormentor is a rapist, the murderer of your parents, a battlefield enemy who took away your legs and much more inside. For many people, the unbearable circumstances you are only imagining are real. The condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), forces it svictims to live the most traumatic events of their lives over and over again. Because the events are often wars, assaults or natural disasters, the persistence of memory alone would be difficult. But if you are a victim of PTSD, you may relive your tragic epiosde with such clarity that you can see the bloody bodies on the battlefield or smell the alcohol on your assailant's breath.

Magazine

English

Lynda Lui

Lui, L. (1996, July/August). Hand waving? An unconventional for post-traumatic stress is put to the test. The Sciences, 36(4), 13