[Nammu]

It's interesting, in other threads people there is talk about stigma and perception. I'm watching( trying to watch anyway) a 1963 movie. In it one of the characters is suffering battle fatigue ( read; PTSD) and no one is out rightly afraid of him even though he is behaving irrationally and his wife is setting him up to look crazed. Most just think he is weird. I keep thinking if this movie was written now the other characters would be talking about his behavior and whether or not he is capable of violence.

That is interesting. When my (much older) brother in law came back from the war in Vietnam he'd dive under the nearest car at loud noises. My sister in law's brother came back from Vietnam as a basket case, pretty much zoned out on Thorazine. My mother told me stories of relatives who came back from WWII who were the same way as my BIL. Nobody was afraid they'd "go off" and start killing people. And they didn't.

[Nammu]

Kind of makes ya think about the comment this makes on our times and our fears. I can remember doing the duck & cover at school and Burt the turtle on TV, yet there didn't seem to be this ambiguous fear that is around today. No one was shouting in the streets that you had to have a gun to be safe. Yet McCarthyism was part of the 50's too. Even the police are viewed differently in the old movies. Maybe it was just blind optimism since there really were less civil rights back then? But wait, now with the terrorism rules anyone can be held without representation.

I don't know where I saw a film of a atomic bomb, but I remember arguing with the teacher that duck and cover was stupid. My desk wasn't going to protect me. I don't know maybe I was just a really slow study but the sirens and air raid stuff never made me fearful. There was the same level of stupidity when Bush was president with the color coded threat levels and advice on wrapping your house in Plastic wrap.

Yes and we know now that we would have died under our desks. At least those of us who grew up in cities or strategic target areas.
I don't have any answers. My speculations would be academic and maybe even seen as unsupportive. I see some people who appear to be using PTSD as a crutch... an excuse. That isn't to say PTSD doesn't exist and isn't a real problem for some. There was a time when PTSD and battle fatigue or shellshock was considered malingering. It's kind of an "illness of the month" now though.
I'm not sure if I'm even grasping the theme here

[Nammu]

I get what you are saying. Yes I too think some people use their illness as a crutch, I think that happens with any kind of illness or condition My ex husband was also Deaf, he could talk and talk quite well, but he refused to, he wanted everyone else to learn sign language. It's not quite the same thing but broadly I see it as people who want sympathy instead of healing. After a certain point you need to take responsibility for your own actions no matter what the illness or condition.