Side-Effects of a Haunting Past
It’s 11:10 at Columbine High School. Two senior boys get out of their cars, each carrying a bulky, black duffel bag over his shoulder. One of the boys with spiky hair innocently waves to a cluster of pretty blonde girls. Nine minutes later gunshot fire pierces the air. A young girl, eating lunch with her friend, dies instantly when one of the killers’ bullets enters her skull. A teacher, after having saved as many students as possible, is reunited with his family and friends. With tears streaming down their faces, they ask him how he could have possibly survived, but it is as if the questions just bounce right off him. He cannot respond and he feels numb to the world around him. He is a victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
This scene in Denver, Colorado occurred on April 20th, 1999, the day Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris shot 12 students and one teacher at Columbine High School. PTSD claimed hundreds of students and even some parents’ lives after that tragic day. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is unlike an ordinary trauma, and it can have a tremendous impact on the health of the victim and his or her family and friends. Unfortunately, adults and teenagers are not its only victims. “PTSD affects about 7.7 million American adults, but it can occur at any age, including childhood” (NIMH).
The children who survived the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary exhibited the results of PTSD at a very young age. Thankfully, those kids should heal and return to their normal lives with the support of their families. However, if a child repeatedly experiences symptoms of PTSD, then they are highly likely to carry these emotions and feelings through adulthood. In the future, that could potentially affect th...
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...epressant medications are used to treat their symptoms. Family members and friends of a victim diagnosed with PTSD should be cautious that the victim may behave irrationally at times. “Family can either positively or negatively impact on a loved one's PTSD symptoms” (Coping with PTSD in Family Members). A PTSD victim can sometimes come close to tearing the family apart emotionally, due to the family’s lack of understanding for the victim’s unusual symptoms. Therapy can help ease a victim’s stress and pain. “Several types of psychotherapy, also called talk therapy, may be used to treat children and adults with PTSD” (Mayo Clinic). Support groups not only provide a way for the PTSD victim to heal physically and emotionally, but they also provide a way to educate the victim’s family. PTSD is not permanent, and can be resolved with help and the support of loved ones.
This book was written by Dave Cullen published on April 6th, 2009. This story is a stated form of literature due to Dave Cullen directly stating in this story his reason for writing this book. Cullen was one of the first reporters to arrive to the site of this crime committed by Dylan and Eric, and since the day of this massacre Cullen had then spent ten years to publicize this very informative and crucial information for those who wanted the truth and nothing but the truth. I chose to read this book due to wanting to learn more information, and learn the hard facts and truth of this horrid massacre. I myself was in a similar situation, a school I had gone to had threats of being bombed and shot at, as well as students including myself being threatened to be harmed if they did specific actions or did nothing at all, and I was extremely adamant on learning more about what happened when things, such as the Columbine Highschool Massacre, do
PTSD is a battle for everyone who is diagnosed and for the people close to them. The only way to fight and win a battle is to understand what one is fighting. One must understand PTSD if he or she hopes to be cured of it. According to the help guide, “A positive way to cope with PTSD is to learn about trauma and PTSD”(Smith and Segal). When a person knows what is going on in his or her body, it could give them better control over their condition. One the many symptoms of PTSD is the feeling of helplessness, yet, knowing the symptoms might give someone a better sense of understanding. Being in the driver’s seat of the disorder, can help recognize and avoid triggers. Triggers could be a smell, an image, a sound, or anything that could cause an individual to have a flashback of the intimidating event. Furthermore, knowing symptoms of PTSD could, as well, help one in recovering from the syndrome. For instance, a person could be getting wor...
Boone, Katherine. "The Paradox of PTSD." Wilson Quarterly. 35.4 (2011): 18-22. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
April 20th, 1999, Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, experienced a mass shooting. Thirteen people were injured and more than twenty were injured. Twelve were students and one was a teacher. Two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire on their high school for forty one minutes before turning their guns on themselves and committing suicide. School shootings are notorious for making headline news but in 1999, school shooting were not as prevalent as they are in the present day. The media blew up on the catastrophe that was Columbine and many questions were raised, who were these kids and why did they do this? Speculation arose about why they did it. Maybe they were bullied for being goth and social outcasts or maybe they
“Studies show that PTSD occurs in 1%-14% of the population. It can be diagnosed at any age, and can occ...
At 11:19 in the morning of April 19, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stood at the west entrance of Columbine High School preparing for the deadliest shooting in American school history. One of them yelled, "Go! Go!," and then the two pulled out their shotguns and began firing, killing two students almost immediately (Jefferson County 3). Harris and Klebold began moving through the school randomly shooting students, detonating pipe bombs, and yelling about how much fun they were having. While this was happening, Coach Dave Sanders and other heroes were frantically trying to get students out of harm's way. At 11:26, while running past the library warning students of the killers, Sanders was shot by one of the shooters. He made it into a science room where first aid was administered by students. He died several hours later in that same room. The worst killing took place in the library during a span of about eight minutes starting at 11:29. Ten students were killed and twelve others were wounded. After leaving the library, Harris and Klebold wandered around the school in movements that appeared to be "extremely random" (Jefferson County 18). They eventually returned to the library at about 12:08 and killed themselves. In 49 minutes, 14 students were left dead, one teacher was left dying, 23 people were injured, and an entire community's sense of safety and security was shattered.
The columbine massacre the day where no one is safe in school or out of school. The columbine massacre is about two students named Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris both seniors 17 years old both two weeks before graduating they killed 12 students, one teacher, and 21 injured to their shooting on April 20, 1999. Both Dylan and Eric were some believe they were bullied by the sport teams in their school so they planned to kill the people who bullied them and other mostly anyone who gets in their way but that wasn’t really why the FBI he said that there target was everyone no one in pacify we will not get in to more details now. Dylan and Eric were both intelligent boys with solid parents and a good home and both had brothers younger than them. They played soccer, baseball, and both enjoyed to work on computers. Both boys were thinking on commit suicide on 1997 but instead started to plan a massacre in 1998 a year before it happened. Then the two boys had got into some trouble for breaking into a van on January 30, 1998 trying to steal some fuses and wires for bombs for them to make, but they got caught in trouble. So the court put them in a program called the juvenile diversion program, but even if they were there they were still planning the massacre and the court also put Eric in some angry management classes and people believe it worked but it didn’t he just did it to look like it work and both boys made it look like they were really sorry but they weren’t. Dylan and Eric both really hated everyone in their school and the court as well after they got caught breaking in to that van that’s when they really started to plan the massacre more and that’s when Harris started he’s journals no one really knows way but they didn’t hate a hand...
Columbine provides a detailed account of the massacre, from premeditation by the killers to the memorial constructed in honor of the victims. It is evident that Dave Cullen, the author, put forth incalculable effort when constructing the novel. According to the article “Biography”, “Cullen spent ten years writing and researching Columbine. He was driven by two questions: why did they kill, and what became of the survivors?” (Biography). Cullen has written for The Ne...
The article under review is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the DSM-5: Controversy, Change, and Conceptual Considerations by Anushka Pai, Alina M. Suris, and Carol S. North in Behavioral Sciences. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault (U.S. Department VA, 2007). PTSD can happen to anyone and many factors can increase the possibility of developing PTSD that are not under the person’s own control. Symptoms of PTSD usually will start soon after the traumatic event but may not appear for months or years later. There are four types of symptoms of PTSD but may show in different
Craig Scott was just 16 years old when he crowded underneath a desk with his two friends while classmates, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, acted out a real-life version of a Hollywood scene of ruthless murder, shouting lines from their favorite movie while gunning down kids and teachers in the corridors of Columbine High. Craig remembers the shouting and laughter of the shooters as they burst into the library armed with sawed-off shotguns, a handgun and a 9mm semi-automatic carbine. Craig recalls how his friends were both shot, one slumped dead on either side of him, their blood soaking into his clothes. Inexplicably, Craig was uninjured, physically at least. “I was experiencing so much fear I thought my heart was going to stop beating,” he recalls (Day, 2009). Later, Craig would learn how his sister was gunned down while eating lunch on the lawn. Rachel, 17, died instantly, the first of 13 victims of mass violence who lost their lives that day in the, now infamous, massacre known simply as “Columbine.” Speaking at an event marking the tenth anniversary of that terrorizing violence, Craig says he is still reliving the horror, “…going through it…over and over again” (Day, 2009). Craig echoes the reality faced by all victims of violent trauma, and particularly those of mass violence; “My life changed that day” (Day, 2009). Victims of violent trauma face many challenges, both immediately following the initial event and long-term. Though the extent of recovery varies for individuals and may include physical, emotional, and financial trauma, victims of violence often struggle with management of the psychological impact of their experience. Like Craig, many victims of mass violence find coping with the impact of trauma chall...
The morning of April 20, 1999, the majority of the population in Littleton, Colorado, believed the day would be like any other day; the normal commute to school or work, being at said school or work, then coming home to finish work, eat, and then sleep. For two teenage boys, this was not the case. These two boys, Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, both had a plan to commit mass murder. But where did it come from, and why? Perhaps it is best to delve into their lives before the massacre.
There are many different causes of PTSD such as sexual abuse, sudden death of a loved one, and war. Trauma affects people in different ways, some can develop it from watching a fellow soldier being killed, and some can develop it from losing their jobs or a divorce. Being diagnosed with PTSD is a difficult process because there are many other psychological disorders whose symptoms can overlap and are very similar. An important fact to remember is that PTSD doesn’t just affect the person suffering; it can also have secondhand effects on their spouses, children, parents, friends, co-workers, and other loved ones. Although there is no direct cure, there are many treatment and alternative treatment options to assist them in moving forward after a trauma.
and Dylan Klebold were two teenagers that walked into their high school and killed students while the students were in school. In all, thirteen people were killed by the murderers. The two boys were part of the Trench Coat Mafia that killed a dozen students and a teacher before turning the guns on themselves. Cassie Bernall and other students hid in the library of Co...
On the day of the Columbine High School Massacre, previously to the attack both Erick D. Harris and Dylan B. Klebold placed a decoy bomb in a field; they had set the bombs to explode at 11:14 to distract police officials. The two boys then headed to the school and entered the commons shortly after 11:14 a.m. and went unnoticed carrying the big duffel bags with propane bombs inside of them. They placed the two twenty pound duffel bags in the cafeteria with the bombs set to explode at 11:17 a.m. They went back outside and armed themselves, they each strapped on an arsenal covered with a trench coat, a semiautomatic, a shotgun, and a backpack full of different types of bombs. The boys then set the timers on the bombs set inside each of their cars outside the school. The boys sat outside armed waiting outside for the bombs to explode and shoot any
Life is a series of frequent changes. At some point in life one will be tossed into circumstances that urges one to make decisive life choices and adjust particular behavior for the aim of becoming a better form of oneself. Despite one’s recognition that modifications have to be done, the process of changing is difficult. Thus, some individuals are scared to change and refuse to do so. In “ A Rose for Emily”, William Faulkner uses literary tools such as the setting, symbolisms and the conflicts to develop his theme that fixation of the past will wound one’s present. Falkner exemplified that changes are inevitable and refusal to accept the progression will only result in decadence that eventually will induce negative effects in one’s life.