PTSD is a psychological disorder that has symptoms such as disturbing flashbacks, paranoia, hyper arousal, night terrors, etc. It may develop after a person has one or more traumatic experiences such as sexual assault, warfare, or injury. However the article “Is PTSD contagious?”, written by Mac Mclelland, shows evidence that this disorder can be learned from another person. Now when I say learned this is not literally learning how to be paranoid but you are affected or influenced by an others behavior.
As an example, this article uses Iraq war veteran Caleb Vine. Back home from war in Alabama since 2006, it would appear that Vine’s behavior rubbed off on his wife Brannan Vines. This is an example of how this disorder can affect others who have not had a significant traumatic experience themselves. The article begins by explaining a time when she was at a store in line behind an elderly woman. Brannan becomes hyper aware, hyper vigilant, and extremely anxious as she hears the coins being counted. It would appear she has zero tolerance for the elderly woman. As far as we know from the given information, Brannan has never been to war or had any terrible experience that would have feeling like she needs to always be on guard. So this makes us womder what has caused her to act this way?
Mclelland expresses that Caleb being home since 2006 has given his symptoms more than enough time to affect his wife. The idea is that Brannans “T” in PTSD (Trauma), comes from the actions of her war scarred husband. Brannan explains her husbands behavior. Waking up from night terrors screaming, nearly striking her, carelessly mixing his medication with alcohol, and other reckless violent actions. We can see how this can cause stress and traumatize a person. With this said, we can conclude that her PTSD, if we can even call it that, was learned or more specifically, has affected her and thew way she acts.
Brannan worries that if her and her husband suffers from this disorder, it is only a matter of time before it begins to affect their daughter. This raises the question, is PTSD contagious. Literally speaking, it is not. However, it can be learned and reiterated. A person with PTSD can be quite difficult to deal with. This is evident when Brannan explains Caleb’s behavior. As i stated previously, the disorder is nit literally learned but can easily affect others.
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Counterintuitive Spring 2024 
This is good work, moneytrees. Thank you for posting early to give me a chance to respond before the deadline, for your sake and others’.
We didn’t talk yet about different types of claims, so I don’t expect you to readily recognize a definition/categorical claim. On the face of it, it’s clearly a claim about how a term is defined or what category of thing it belongs to.
1. Definition. When you say PTSD is a psychological disorder, in your first five words you’re making a definition claim.
2. Categorical. Your first categorical claim is the naming of several examples of PTSD symptoms. They all belong to the category: Symptoms of PTSD.
3. Causal. Your next claim, that PTSD develops following trauma is a causal claim (Trauma causes PTSD).
4. Categorical/Causal. The question the article raises “Is PTSD contagious?,” depending on how we phrase it, is either a categorical question (Does PTSD belong in the category “contagious conditions”?), or a causal question (Can one human “catch” PTSD from another human?).
It also seems like an analogy, doesn’t it? Is a yawn contagious? Is enthusiasm? Only in a poetic sense. Yawning isn’t spread through bacteria or viruses, so it isn’t literally contagious. Neither is enthusiasm. But it spreads similarly to diseases: one person in close proximity to others transfers a condition: a physical yawn or an purposeful emotional energy to a roomful of other people, for example.
What do you think? What’s the answer? Is PTSD transferred from one person to another? If so, is the process more like spreading the flu, or more like spreading enthusiasm? Or a third way you could explain in a different analogy?
Did Brannan “catch” Caleb’s PTSD? Or is hers an entirely new case?
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Feedback was requested.
It would seem the only problem was answering the question so i added my answer.
Feedback provided. —DSH
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Actually, moneytrees, you haven’t provided an answer consistent with your own claims.
In P1, you say the disorder can be learned. It’s not clear what you mean by this. Can night terrors be learned? How could a person possibly learn to have disturbing flashbacks? But that is what you claim.
In P2, you say Brannan exhibits hyper awareness, hyper vigilance, and anxiety in a CVS. In what way do her symptoms indicate that she has learned to be so? What does it mean to say Caleb has “passed” his symptoms to his wife? Can I “pass” you my cough without passing you my cold?
In P3, you suggest that Brannan has experienced a trauma “T.” Her trauma is that her husband wakes up in terror and nearly strikes her, and mixes drugs. You suggest that this is stressful for her and that life with Caleb amounts to a trauma.
In P4, you suggest that living with both parents might “affect” their daughter, but without indicating whether the effect is one of contagion or learning. Then you declare PTSD to be non-contagious. Then you declare PTSD to be learned behavior.
So, which is it? Did Brannan learn to have night terrors or is she simply terrified at night of her husband’s erratic behavior? Did she suffer a T, which resulted in her D? Is “contagious” just a metaphor?
P1.
—comma quotation error
P3.
—affect/effect error
—apostrophe error
—semicolon error
P4.
—pronoun problem (her suffers)
You appear to have the wrong idea about feedback, moneytrees. Your “it would seem the only problem” comment indicates you expect me to identify every way in which your essay could be improved and that, without specific advice from me, your essay is problem-free.
My general comments, observations, and questions are an invitation for you to take a critical look at your own work and make improvements not specifically identified in notes.
If all you do is try to fix the few words that will technically “solve the problem,” you’re doing yourself a disservice.
Your work is a good first draft, but you still haven’t made a consistent case for contagion or non-contagion.
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Feedback requested
Feedback provided. —DSH
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Here’s what you changed.
It’s hard to imagine that you considered that to be a sufficient re-thinking of your earlier draft to change your readers’ perception of your argument. You must think your first drafts are good enough for final grading, MoneyTrees. I will scale back my feedback accordingly.
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I feel as though I’ve made my point. In this piece, I express that PTSD is not LITERALLY contagious but it can have effects on a person that will cause them to act in a similar fashion.
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I understand that you think that’s a clear and specific explanation, moneytrees, because you say it so often and in the same way. There is an effect that causes a behavior change.
But suppose I told you that Caleb Vines had returned from Iraq with a pronounced Middle Eastern Arabic accent, and that his wife had picked it up, and they were both afraid his daughter might start speaking Arabic too.
Or suppose I told you that Caleb Vines had been sleeping on the front porch in a sleeping bag ever since he came back from the war, but that his wife was still using the bedroom and their daughter was comfortable inside the house too.
In both instances, Caleb would be acting differently on his return than he did when he left, and in one case only his behavior would be having “an effect” on his family that was
“causing them to behave in a similar fashion.”
How would your description of the events explain the transfer of behavior? Are the family unconsciously mimicking him? Are they trying to accommodate his behavior? Are they uncontrollably compelled to change their speech patterns? Is the accent contagious?
Do you see how little it means to say there’s been “an effect” that has “changed behavior”?
So, how do you explain that Brannan has nightmares, flinches when her husband moves, is hyperalert to sounds and motions, has a hair trigger temper, gets furious at strangers, etc?
You added two sentences to say what isn’t happening. Now say what is.
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Grade?
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