Away, boy, from the troops,

And save thyself;

For friends kill friends,

And the disorder’s such

As war were hoodwink’d.

— Shakespeare, Cymbeline, V, 2

PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). Such a fancy name for what people suffer from after a monumental event that adversely affects and impacts their lives. Usually it’s applied to soldiers who experienced the ravages of war and now can’t deal with the normal reality of life. It was General William T Sherman who said, “War is hell,” and hell has terrible consequences.

Even Shakespeare mentioned disorder in the quote above, and urges young people to save themselves and not fall prey to the disorder. It’s not only war that leaves people suffering with PTSD, but also from other tumultuous events that impacted heavily on their lives. And what can be more stressful than emotional crosses?

This can be almost anything — a bad childhood, an abusive relationship, a horrible time at school, or even a series of bad sexual experiences. Remember, all of these events can adversely affect someone, and what they do as a result can impact negatively on their lives and on the lives of others.

Emotional PTSD — we’ll find out more about this affliction, right after these responses to ‘When men cry’.

Hi Teerob,

Great and incisive piece on the oft misunderstood subject of men crying. I am happy that you sought the input of a psychologist to give your many readers a professional opinion. Pent up feelings cannot possibly be healthy. Continue the good work.

Owen J.

Hi Tony,

I can’t remember ever crying as a young adult. There were times at sad movies, funerals and such, that I fought and held it in, but now in my old age, I find the tears come more easily at really sad occasions. But I have a real excuse… dry eyes. According to my doctor, I think it is men-o-pause.

Cecil

PTSD is short for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and is usually attributed to military personnel. It’s become quite a popular term nowadays, especially in the USA where soldiers, after serving tours of duty and experiencing the horrors of war, return home and freak out, get depressed, and often commit their own horrors as they shoot up people and places.

In many cases, the remarks by others may be snide, as they comment, “Oh, he’s suffering from PTSD, yeah right.” It’s often used as an excuse, but it’s very real.

“Look how he shot up the place and burned down the house.”

“Oh, forgive him, he’s suffering from PTSD.”

Many are suicidal and, ironically, more US soldiers die every day from suicide than from battle-related conflicts. Twenty-two veterans commit suicide daily.

It seems as if every puss and dog and his granny are suffering from PTSD whenever they freak out and create havoc and mayhem in society. How can you tell if it’s real though, what are the symptoms?

The research indicates: Signs of PTSD can range from flashbacks to nightmares, panic attacks, to eating disorders and cognitive delays to lowered verbal memory capacity. Many trauma survivors also encounter substance abuse issues as they attempt to self-medicate the negative effects of PTSD.

Well, blow me down and knock me over with a feather, that sounds really fancy and highfalutin, but remember, I did say that it’s not only war veterans who suffer from this malady, but regular people who experience emotional turmoil too. Ergo, emotional PTSD. They shoot up the place, create mayhem, have severe mood swings, are suicidal. Sounds familiar?

“What happen to that man, how him carrying on like that, kill his woman and then himself, and he never went to war?”

“No, but he suffered from Emotional PTSD.”

Another symptom engulfs the person who got so used to the ravages of war that they often miss it when they return to normal life. Oh yes, after experiencing all that trauma and stress of battle, normal life turns out to be boring, so they’ll do anything to recreate the battlefield mayhem. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning, it reminds me of victory,” said Robert Duvall in the movie Platoon.

Ironically, some soldiers will choose war over staying at home with their spouse. What does that say about the spouse? “I will take war over living with her any day.”

Some women who experienced physical abuse in a prior relationship will often miss the battering and brutality, as they saw it as the norm. They may now wonder how come their current spouse doesn’t enjoy the thrill of conflict. “Cho, this man too calm and soff, I need a little excitement in my life, likkle cussing, likkle screaming, likkle boof baff.” Maybe she even wants to exact revenge on all men for what her previous man put her through.

“Caesar’s spirit, ranging for revenge, with Ate by his side come hot from hell, shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice, cry “havoc and let slip the dogs of war”, said Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar.

For this very same reason, some soldiers keep re-enlisting, going back to the battlefield, as they cannot cope with civilian life that they find so boring. So it is with regular people too, as they seek out the very same conflict that they suffered for years.

Men suffer from this too and will usually seek out the same type of woman that made their lives a living hell.

“How come him end up with woman who always cuss and create crosses suh?”

“Him suffering from emotional PTSD and miss the conflict and aggravation.”

I know many husbands who exhibit the symptoms of emotional PTSD. They walk and talk about how their wives treat them and also turn to substance abuse to self-medicate their condition. Either they smoke weed or drink alcohol.

That’s right, I’m sure that you know that many men are notorious for drowning their sorrows in alcohol as they suffer from emotional PTSD and don’t even know it. They may give the illusion that they enjoy hanging out with their friends and imbibing liquor, but that’s merely a symptom of emotional PTSD brought on by woman battlefield bangarang.

Back to the females who suffer from emotional PTSD, who at times will accuse their current man of having no guts, no backbone, just because he refuses to go to battle with her. “Say sumpting, do sumpting, don’t just sit there and remain calm like you’re made of ice; I dare you to hit me.”

There are those who suffered severely from past relationships, yet refuse to get involved with or marry a man who appears to be too calm and accommodating. “I know that my ex used to beat me, but at least I know that he cared, and I miss that feeling.”

There are men who also miss the thrill of being cheated on. As bizarre as it may sound, it does happen, as those men spent their entire lives tracking, pursuing, trailing, snooping on their wives. That gave them a weird thrill of the hunt, but now that he has a faithful wife who can’t even mash ants, he lost the zest, the excitement, a reason to make his heart race. Cry ‘havoc,’ and let slip the dogs of war.

There are men who actually pay other men to have sex with their wives while they watch. As weird as it may sound, it does happen. But back to those women who constantly return to the scene of the conflict. I’ve been following the case of Hollywood movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who’s accused of rape and sexually assaulting countless women.

What I find really strange is the situation of some of these women who claim to be victims, but actually continued to have a long-term sexual relationship with the man, with one even asking him to meet her mother. Many text messages from these women professing love were presented as evidence in the courtroom drama. Is this a case of emotional PTSD, corroborating what I’ve been saying all along? Were some of these women drawn to the emotional excitement but now regret it on reflection?

Emotional PTSD is real, and many are suffering from it without even knowing that they are. Do you exhibit these symptoms — mood swings, sudden outbursts of anger, excessive drinking, suicidal thoughts, resentment of the opposite sex? Then maybe you are a victim of emotional PTSD.

More time.

seido1yard@gmail.com

Footnote: Somehow we always manage to self-destruct. Our Reggae Girlz made it to the pinnacle of football when they qualified for the World Cup in France last year. Coach Hugh Menzies, who worked for years without pay, was hugely responsible for this success. Yet, he had to leave because of disagreement with the Jamaica Football Federation over money owed to him. Now the team is in shambles, suffering a humiliating 0-9 defeat to Canada recently. No good deed goes unpunished.

Switching sports, the two most prolific batsmen on the West Indies Cricket team were dropped from the squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, because they were deemed to be “unfit”. This after one of them scored a century in his last match and was awarded man of the series also. The reward for the best performance is to be dropped. Have these self-destructing sporting bodies all gone mad?