My cousin married a guy who has PTSD. He is former special reserves/ops (not sure the exact terminology) in the Canadian armed forces and was deployed in Afghanistan a while back. Without going into too much detail, he was kidnapped by the Taliban and held for a couple months. He came back in horrible shape. I dare not ask him what happened, but I've heard from other family members details and it's not pretty. He won't take his shirt off in front of anybody and for good reason.
He's the nicest guy in the world. Would give you the time of day without you asking twice. He's also an EMT. At first I thought EMT might not be good for a guy suffering from PTSD. But he says the satisfaction he gets from helping people helps immensely. Nothing really fazes him out on the job he says, compared to what he's been through.
They got a service dog and apparently it really helped him. Then about a year ago the dog was hit by a car. He told me he mentally went completely down the drain. Got a new service dog and slowly but surely he's getting back to his feet.
I've witnessed first hand how it affects someone. I had no idea before. I find it troubling/fascinating how the human body implements PTSD. Our body envokes various responses and actions to protect itself. What benefits does PTSD have that the human body would feel the need to ''kick in''? Honestly I don't know much about PTSD as a whole, but it's something that I've wanted to learn ever since I've met my cousin-in-law.
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