Posttraumatic stress disorder is "only" psychological
would you say a soldier suffering from it was just over-reacting to loud noises? I've known a couple of guys who basically can't stop repeting the same phrases and performing the same little actions and it drove them spare. Do ypou understand the "cumpulsion" part of OCD? Its not something people do by choice.
(Spleep Shit, or get off the internet., Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:31, 1 reply)

I hardly think the two are comparable.
Locking the back door 17 times and then washing one's hands twice with water and twice to rinse for obsessive fear of catching a cold is significantly different from spending a whole year in an environment where being shelled and sniped at by anyone in the vicinity and seeing men, women and children be quite literally blown limb from limb.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:41, closed)

In a similar vein,
thinking you're 'fat' and 'revolting' and starving yourself because of it, just because you want to be skinny, is trivial in comparison to the actual suffering experienced by someone who was abused as a child. They're the ones with something real to worry about, while the anorexic should just shut up and eat more.

Don't belittle anyone's suffering. Not understanding it is one thing; making it out to be trivial because there's worse things is quite another.
(Falstaff's Spiritual Successor, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 12:57, closed)

Fair enough
But I do kind of feel that way about anorexia too - likewise I believe fatness can be cured through cake eating-avoidance.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:09, closed)

It seems you're forgetting two things about the mind:
1. Our minds notice (or even make up) patterns very easily.
2. The mind is generally quite lazy.

When some people experience fear/anxiety for no real reason, they want to return to feeling comfortable as quickly as possible (so they won't think logically like you have, because it takes too much time).
So their mind will identify patterns of behaviour that it believes 'led' them to this fear/anxiety, no matter how arbitrary.
(tarbin tarbis, tarbit, tarbamus, tarbimus, tarbant, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:42, closed)

This
would appear to be the most acceptable answer I've been given so far.

Thank you.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:45, closed)

No probs fella
Glad I could shed some light!
(tarbin tarbis, tarbit, tarbamus, tarbimus, tarbant, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 19:24, closed)

Post traumaticv stress disorder isn't
spending a year being shelled.

It's the time after afterwards, where you still think you're being shelled when someone pops a crisp packet.

They're both reactions to what are really non existant stimuli.

You're comparing apples and oranges.
( Not Pineapple anymore, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:55, closed)

Yes, OK - I accept that.
But I still think they're not really comparable - while I accept that OCD may be brought on by stressful situations, it's the irrationality of continuing with it when it becomes annoying or debilitating that I don't understand.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 2 Jul 2010, 13:58, closed)