Odysseus Does He Have PTSD JOSELYNNE TALAVERA
Have you ever been somewhere physically but not necessarily mentally? PTSD or
PostTraumatic Stress Disorder can be like that. It develops over a traumatic event or period in your life you were forced to experience. An excellent example would be a surviving soldier, a warrior who has returned from combat to his awaiting family. Aside from the changes in character each member may have due to time apart, the veteran is the one who has changed the most. In the Odyssey, Odysseus goes through numerous battles, seeing things he should not have. When he returns home after 20 years, the setting is altered and so is he.
PostTraumatic Stress Disorder has multiple symptoms. One small result of PTSD is lack or loss of memory. Odysseus seems to find his homeland distant and unfamiliar when he returns. Of course the environment may have new distinct characteristics, but feeling lost and out of place is definitely distinct. After two decades of his absence now “...Odysseus awoke from sleep in his own fatherland, and he did not know it, having been long away,” (Caroline
Alexander 1). At his awakening, The Son of Laertes groaning says, “what are the people whose land I have come to this time?,” (Alexander 1). In relation, Caroline Alexander claims,
“that sense of dislocation has been shared by veterans returning from the field of war,” since
Odysseus’ return 2,800 years ago.
Two related symptoms of PTSD would be negative moods and distrust, or avoidance.
When going through a challenging and complex life episode, the troubling, detrimental memories create negative moods, or cause eluding of reminiscence. Along with this, mistrusting potential enemies is also an outcome of a traumatic event. According to Ms.
Alexander, Odysseus needed guidance to advance on his journey from those whom he killed, so he descended to Hades confronting “Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroclus, Antilochus, and
Ajax robust heroes of epic tales now reduced to unhappy shades who haunt his
PostTraumatic Stress Disorder can be like that. It develops over a traumatic event or period in your life you were forced to experience. An excellent example would be a surviving soldier, a warrior who has returned from combat to his awaiting family. Aside from the changes in character each member may have due to time apart, the veteran is the one who has changed the most. In the Odyssey, Odysseus goes through numerous battles, seeing things he should not have. When he returns home after 20 years, the setting is altered and so is he.
PostTraumatic Stress Disorder has multiple symptoms. One small result of PTSD is lack or loss of memory. Odysseus seems to find his homeland distant and unfamiliar when he returns. Of course the environment may have new distinct characteristics, but feeling lost and out of place is definitely distinct. After two decades of his absence now “...Odysseus awoke from sleep in his own fatherland, and he did not know it, having been long away,” (Caroline
Alexander 1). At his awakening, The Son of Laertes groaning says, “what are the people whose land I have come to this time?,” (Alexander 1). In relation, Caroline Alexander claims,
“that sense of dislocation has been shared by veterans returning from the field of war,” since
Odysseus’ return 2,800 years ago.
Two related symptoms of PTSD would be negative moods and distrust, or avoidance.
When going through a challenging and complex life episode, the troubling, detrimental memories create negative moods, or cause eluding of reminiscence. Along with this, mistrusting potential enemies is also an outcome of a traumatic event. According to Ms.
Alexander, Odysseus needed guidance to advance on his journey from those whom he killed, so he descended to Hades confronting “Agamemnon, Achilles, Patroclus, Antilochus, and
Ajax robust heroes of epic tales now reduced to unhappy shades who haunt his