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May 20, 2013, 11:54 PM
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Member Since: Aug 2012
Location: Michigan
Posts: 9,645
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ultramar
But when thinking of labels, something comes to mind with my experience living in Colombia. I knew people there who witnessed and/or were the victims of violence countless times in their lives. [I myself was witness to and victim of violence there]. But when I think about it, so many people I knew there, here, would be diagnosed off the bat with PTSD, be labeled as such, perhaps as broken, as victims, as destined to a lifetime of pain because of this, put on meds, etc. I never saw these labels there. I saw people cope how they could, seek out support, suffer, move on. No labels. No treatment either, but maybe that wouldn't have been helpful to some people either. I saw people live very full and healthy lives without it.
Not only did people not get caught in such things, I don't think it would ever even occur to them to label their experiences or their emotions in this way (and I'm referring mostly to middle-class, educated people, not people who perhaps wouldn't know about 'mental illness' due to lack of education, etc.). I think also, people had a sense that there were always people who had it worse, watching the news and seeing the massacres, etc. What would be called 'trauma' here was part of life, a part of their lives like so many other things, but not who they were, not by a long shot.
Some rambling thoughts...
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An interesting perspective, Ultramar. Thanks for this.
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