Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

[Desert Amazon]

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

I don't know - although the article mentioned he went through the killing fields at age 10, it makes no real mention of the effects that may have had on him. It also made no mention of whether he was using that as a defense.

I have known some survivors of situations that could cause PTSD, including one guy I went to college with that came across the killing fields of Cambodia and immigrated to the US, and it it seems to me (I am no Psych expert) that it is just highly variable.

One lady I know was raped and sexually molested by her father at a young age, and is now a total basket case, but not violent (except maybe to herself).

Her daughter who was sexually molested at age 5 and emotionally tortured by the same man (her grandfather), while suffering substantial trauma, has been a lot stronger and has not fallen apart like her mother. She does have a more forceful personality, and can be violent when necessary (such as when defending her loved ones), but is not a controller as it sounds like Som is.

Human nature just varies, and I dislike using life experiences as excuses, or even as mitigation, when traumatized people in turn traumatize innocents. IMO, a major part of the justice system is protecting the innocents, and even if PTSD sufferer presents a valid mitigation defense, that sufferer needs to be put someplace where he/she cannot harm innocents again.

STG

 

[KillerMuffin]

The Stud has PTSD and it takes specific kinds of things to trigger a flashback inhim to the point where he would honestly think he was back in the desert killing the enemy or whomever. It doesn't take much of anything to trigger the anger, that can be just because the wind didn't shift. Anger does not equal flashback. Even at his fully angriest when he isn't just dangerous, but deadly, he knows what is going on around him, where he is, and what he is doing.

The Stud's case is slightly different. He has difficulty with the concept that killing someone is wrong. However, that does not make him legally insane if he kills someone in a fit of anger because he is in full possession of his faculties. Now if he were in the desert and killed someone, he would have a valid insanity plea.

Yes, the guy may have PTSD. Probably does. However, just because you have PTSD doesn't mean that you are not capable of understand right from wrong in the heat of anger. I say he wasn't legall insane at the time, I say he's trying to get out of the full weight of the law. See, I hear it at the VA all the time "I can kill someone and legally get away with it..." Well, no, you can't.

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

The Stud's case is slightly different. He has difficulty with the concept that killing someone is wrong. However, that does not make him legally insane if he kills someone in a fit of anger because he is in full possession of his faculties. Now if he were in the desert and killed someone, he would have a valid insanity plea.

A decent book on the general topic of such issues is "On Killing, The psychological cost of learning to kill in war and society" by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman. I have'nt read all of it yet, but a lot of it clicks.

STG

 

[KillerMuffin]

Thanks Shy, I'll look into it.

 

[tmuyo]

i'm surprised la sirenita hasn't graced this page yet. she's a lawyer, and not to assume, but i guessed criminal law since i've never seen it mentioned. btw, siren, when you see this, what law school did you go to? i'm looking into ucla's law school. would it be a wise choice? i know it's in the top 10 natrion wide, but i don't have any friends that have gone to ucla's law school, maybe you do?

thanks siren i appreciate it. i won't be competition later on. i'm using a law degree for political gains only ^_~

come on state dept and ambassadorship!

i thank myself for being smart and making connections so early. having friends in the state dept, an ambassador, former ambassador, and a few diplomat friends means, HOOK UPS!

 

[tmuyo]

oh, abnout this case....i have to agree with km, the article mentions nothing about what he went through or any form of trigger. i do believe him to be an honorable man that feels guilt for his actions. definitely more respectable than some people out their who have murdered. and the fact that he doesn't want to further traumatize her daughters and sign any chance he would have had in getting a lighter sentence, shows him to understand his actions were ba and is willing to pay for them.

i don't agree with killing her, but i do believe he deserves some credit for trying to not be a scum bag like a certain ex football player from a famous case earlier in the 90's who will go unnamed. eventhough eveidence showed the mother fucker should have been guilty and he kept saying "i'm innocent"....>_<"....ok, i won't go there.

 

[Siren]

Tim Mooo here I am, and here is my take

 

[fgarvb1]

i've had suffers of PSTD ask me what unit was i in in nam. they were suprised when i said i was never in the armed forces. i just acted a lot like them. We had an interesting discussion about why this was so. It seems that if you take a young child or a young adult and subject them to years of terror, attack with intent to kill a few times and threaten them on and off on a irregular bacis along with sudden and uncalled for beatings and verbal abuse while subjecting them to insane and irrational behavior daily...why yes a person can me mistaken for having PSTD . Me i just was an extreme case of being an adult child.

I was not waking up in the middle of the night screaming.

i never had any flashbacks.

i never had to kill anybody.

i never had to watch dozens of people die.

but this was only discovered after hours of talking about it, on the surface i could see how they might make the mistake of thinking i was a fellow PTSD'er

 

[Guest]

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

but this was only discovered after hours of talking about it, on the surface i could see how they might make the mistake of thinking i was a fellow PTSD'er

This is because you *possibly* do suffer from PTSD to one degree or another. You don't have to have been involved in a life and death situation to suffer from PTSD later; PTSD is defined as "a reaction to a psychologically traumatic event outside the range of normal experience".

As such your experiences as a child certainly qualify as psychologically traumatic and outside the range of normal experience.

Whether you suffer from PTSD, and if you do, how much you suffer, I am not qualified to say, and I don't think any qualified person could say without spending some time in one on one conversation with you.

STG

 

[Desert Amazon]

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

( Tall Shy Guy)

That's Shy Tall Guy - I am probably more shy than tall, but how do you compare the two?

Just saw a good dark comedy movie where the main character was suffering from PTSD. "Gun Shy" with Liam Neesom.

For those more twisted in the audience - there is a scene where Sandra Bullock gives Liam an enema.

STG

 

[Desert Amazon]

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Ummm, I'm dyslexic??

I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention and I even see the way you use STG to end your posts...

Don't be sorry, relax - I was just kidding around a little trying to lighten it up.

Tall Shy Guy is probably better grammar anyway, you just naturally corrected it. I'll change my monicker if I can; my profile got all screwed up when I registered on the board.

I saw previews to the movie "Gun Shy" and it looked pretty good. I heard that the support cast is better than the main two characters.

I liked the two main characters best - Liam as the cop and Oliver Platt as the mobster. Sandra is okay - the rest were not bad. I liked it - the movie was comedic yet suspenseful with a good plot. The acting, the casting and the directing and editing was very good.

TSG - was STG

 

[Shy Tall Guy]

Tall Shy Guy is probably better grammar anyway, you just naturally corrected it. I'll change my monicker if I can; my profile got all screwed up when I registered on the board.


TSG - was STG

Darn! Can't change it without starting all over again

 

[Desert Amazon]