Sebastian Junger's Ted Talk

The first thing we did in class today was watch a Ted Talk about PTSD from Sebastian Junger. Junger himself served a little in the military before 9/11 and experienced some PTSD himself. PTSD stands for post traumatic stress disorder and it is very common in veterans. Junger pointed out that a lot of the people that live in modern society today are more predisposed to be depressed and have a higher rate of killing themselves than someone who lives in a poor society. He also explained that after 9/11 occurred, crime rates lowered in New York, there was less violence, lower rates of suicide and veterans claimed that their PTSD symptoms lowered. Junger explained that the reason for this is that when something traumatizes a whole nation, they can heal together as a group of people that experienced the same kind of trauma. Junger concluded the Ted Talk with explaining that the reason that most veterans come home from war with PTSD is because it is easier to cope in groups and since America is such a broken society, veterans come home from the war to find that the country that the have been protecting and fighting for, isn't united. 10% of the military experience violent experiences in shooting, watching their friends get shot or getting seriously injured, but 50% of the military people experience PTSD.  It is hard for vets to come home and have to see what is happening in America, Junger believes this to be one of the main reasons for PTSD rates to be so high.