Is PTSD Contagious?

PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) – is a mental health problem that can occur after a traumatic event (war, assault, disaster)

“BRANNAN VINES HAS NEVER BEEN to war. But she’s got a warrior’s skills”

This statement is assuming that Brannan has a warrior’s skills, however the ones listed are not exclusively warrior’s skills.  “Hyperawareness”, “hypervigilance”, and “adrenaline-sharp quick-scanning” are all skills, not necessarily related to being a warrior.  Does she have increased strength or agility?  Even by the end of the first paragraph, she is described as: “snotty and deaf with rage, like some kind of maniac” after experiencing something that triggered her warrior skills.  The statement that she turns into a snotty rage machine undermines the original statement that she has warrior skills.

“Caleb has been home since 2006, way more than enough time for Brannan to catch his symptoms. ” 

After Caleb came home from war, he was diagnosed with PTSD.  The statement that his wife had “more than enough time” assumes that she has been exposed to her husband long enough to catch his disorder, assuming that she can catch it at all.  How does the writer of this article know how long it takes for someone to catch PTSD from someone else, considering it isn’t like a typical disease whereas transmission would be from a physical pathogen.

“THE VINESES’ WEDDING ALBUM is gorgeous…you’ve ever seen, in a shy kind of way.”

How is the paragraph relevant to the topic of PTSD being contagious?  It is understandable to use the paragraph to show how the war and PTSD has changed Caleb Vine, however the addition of saying that the mayor was at their wedding and she couldn’t drink doesn’t seem relevant.  The paragraph is an unnecessary distraction from Caleb’s transformation after getting PTSD.

“Caleb knows that a person whose problem is essentially that he can’t adapt to peacetime Alabama sounds, to many, like a pussy.”

Having Caleb’s opinion of others’ opinions about himself can only be used to gain sympathy from the reader’s.  If the writer actually wanted to display Caleb’s mentality behind his condition, they should have a direct quote from him.  Saying that he should simply “get over” PTSD is absurd, but does nothing to further the point that PTSD is contagious.