What Does Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Truly Means?

610 Words2 Pages

To better analyze this story, it is firstly important to understand what PTSD, short for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder truly means. The exact definition is, “an anxiety disorder that may develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which severe physical harm occurred or was threatened” (Psychologytoday). Embedded in this short story are clear-cut symptoms that Seymour, the main character experiences. He endures lack of interest, difficulty in concentration, eating disorder, hopelessness, episodes of detachment, altered perception, and most importantly a sense of having no future. A Perfect Day for Bananafish is based off of this man Seymour Glass who is a returning veteran from WWII. He comes home to a wife who has little understanding or even a lack of interest in his wellbeing. He finds himself alone, and oddly different from the man he used to be. The reasoning behind this is that he now suffers from what today is commonly known as PTSD. Yet, around the end of WWII this disorder was not well known, maybe not even quite discovered yet. However, I am a strong ...

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