Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Saving Private Ryan

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disease that affects the lives of countless people daily. Each case is different and yet significantly important regarding ultimately finding the most effective treatment and cures for the survivors of these life changing ordeals. The movie Saving Private Ryan depicts this PTSD and its causes in a very graphically detailing way. Through this explicit portrayal, the audience was given a glimpse of what goes on in the minds of survivors, as well as why some people experience PTSD with such severity and intensity.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth editions (DSM V) criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is very specific but is composed of many sections, A-H. Sections (criterion) A, describes the cause of the actual trauma itself. Requiring the person to be exposed to or threatened by death, injury or sexual assault. This criterion also states that the exposure can be “directly or indirectly witnessed”, meaning that it happens to a relative or friend who experienced the trauma. Criterion B is labeled “Intrusion Symptoms”, the reexperiencing of the traumatic
During the movie, the main character Ryan, who is now and old man, has a flashback to World War II, where he is rescued by fellow soldiers who lose their lives in the process. We see Private Ryan repeatedly witness soldiers getting shot, blown up, stabbed and he also watches the light go out of many of their eyes. Certain aspects of PTSD, like its immediate negative after effects and the treatment needed, were not directly depicted. Ryan’s PTSD was not portrayed as a disease towards the end of the movie. Ryan was dealing with his PTSD for decades and even as a senior citizen, those thoughts and memories still plagued his mind, however, the writers made it seem more like a man who was merely coping with