Why would war veterans, trauma victims be hurt by having a normal reaction to an abnormal event or events?

Question

Yahoo search what are the symptoms........

Answer 1

In a sense, the normal reaction is itself harmul. The survival reactions to terror are to suppress the fear mechanism once action is required. Adrenaline and fight reactions are still in place, but for the most part thought goes out the window. (this is why training for reflex is so crucial) Once the crisis situation is past, the brain kicks in, and begins to intellectualy, and emotionally process what just happened. Depending on how traumatic the event was, this will be the first "shell shock' symptom. It's simply an overload on the ctrl nervouse system.
Even a single event can lead to PTSD. Even years after the event, car backfires, camera flashes, even a vague reminder can instantly trigger a response where the person returns on an emotional level to the event. "Switched on" the person's reflexive response,will be based on the subconscious lessons learned in the original situation.
Symptoms: Other than acute reactions there are usually more general symptoms. "Flashbacks", depression, sensitivity to light, substance abuse, emotional withdrawl, isolation, tremors, nightmares,sleepwalking, anxiety, panic disorders, irritability, outburst of rage, eating disorder, phobia, and others. Everyone being different, not everyone has identical symptoms. Google, PTSD, and I'm sure you'll find tons of info.
A perfect case example is a man my mother worked with during her post-grad study. The man had been a Green Beret. 6 months after returning from Vietnam he was some kind o bar brawl. When someone pulled a gun on him, reflex took over. Seems the police considered the beating and 6 shots to the attackers head to be excessive.