A bit of weekend meta

[rachelindeed]

Hi everyone.  Well, if anyone's in the mood for thinky thoughts this weekend, I thought I would pose a nice cheerful question about trauma for us to discuss.

I am no specialist at all, but I have read that some psychologists who work with and write about post-traumatic stress among combat veterans make the point that, while most people understand

Comments

[damao2010]

Interesting questions

[rachelindeed]

Everything you say makes a lot of sense to me -- I think you're right that it was conflicts with other humans that would be the hardest to face for both of them. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this! I also agree that both Lee and Kara seem to be okay with more immediate forms of conflict, not just Viper fights, though I think Kara started out more comfortable with it than Lee. Now that I think about it, the series said early on -- Bastille Day, I think -- that she was a great shot outside the cockpit as well as in it, with sniper training and everything. Lee seemed to me a bit more unprepared and shaken when he had to face the Centurions in "Valley of Darkness" outside of his Viper. I just remember him saying to the nervous crewman that he didn't think he was cut out for this kind of thing, either, and then chanting to himself "headshot, reload, headshot" in a way that showed he was terrified of losing control of himself and doing it wrong. But I think that probably had less to do with being afraid of up-close-and-

Longwinded thoughts on trauma (including discussion of child abuse and suicide)

[scifishipper]

I think you raise a lot of interesting points about the effects of trauma on soldiers. In general, military training goes very far to buffer soldiers against the traumatic experiences of killing the enemy. That said, it really often comes down to specific experiences and individual personalities and ways of dealing with stressors that predicts (in some cases) how a person will react to traumatic materials. No one can be assured to survive a traumatic situation without a psychological impact. Most people will have some reaction to traumatic stimuli, the question is how much does that stimuli effect the witness/participant? One of the factors in identifying PTSD involves the real belief that one's life is in danger - that impending death or physical harm is imminent. Without that factor, it is unclear how much inflicting emotional/physical harm to someone else would contribute to PTSD. While I am no expert for soldiers, it can often be the accumulation of severe stressors that decreases a soldier's ability to cope with particularly

Re: Longwinded thoughts on trauma (including discussion of child abuse and suicide)

[scifishipper]

I would also add that much of what Kara and Lee experienced would be classified as acute traumatic stress instead of PTSD (which takes place well after the traumatic situation has passed - technically six months after). Kara, however, undoubtedly suffered PTSD from her childhood and that very much came into play when the stressors became too great to master.

I agree with Claudia that the human-related actions, such as the OC and the mutiny would have weighed heavily on their minds, but I am not sure they'd rise to the level of PTSD. Lee's panic attacks were short-lived and a reasonable outcome for that difficult event. I don't see that it led him, in particular, to have PTSD.

In the end, if the humans were evaluated, they would all have had PTSD from the initial attacks to some varying degree. Once the war ended, PTSD was an assured thing for many, although the shared sense of victory and survival would have helped in the healing process.

Anyway, I hope this makes some sense. I guess I was feeling chatty! :D

Re: Longwinded thoughts on trauma (including discussion of child abuse and suicide)

[rachelindeed]

Wow, thank you so much for sharing your analysis and insights, I really feel like I understand some of Kara's overall emotional arc better now, and I certainly see more in the "dollhouse" storyline than I did before (it didn't really work for me up until now, but I think this will make it seem more realistic the next time I watch it). I'm really glad you felt chatty, that was fascinating! Thank you!

Re: Longwinded thoughts on trauma (including discussion of child abuse and suicide)

[scifishipper]

You're welcome! I think the dollhouse story as it stands alone is a little high on drama and low on explanations/content (standard RDM), but I'm glad my comment might have shed some light on some of what I think he was portraying and why the dollhouse, in particular, might have worked so well on Kara. There are other perspectives on the dollhouse, certainly, but that's mine in a psychological nutshell. :)