Forums » RP Discussion » PTSD in an OC

Ok so I recently made a group of OCS I'm calling That Squad, for lack of a better name, the oldest member of the group is a dragon war vet who'd have PTSD issues.

I want to be sure I'm not portraying the disorder distastefully so before I put him on the profile I'd like to read up on it some. Do any of y'all have suggestions for where I should start? Or a few good sites to find some of the info on?.

The big thing about PTSD is that it's often highly varied. There are some with the 'movie flashback' type, others who are simply depressed and jumpy, still others who avoid things out of force of habit, or dive for cover whenever a helicopter flies overhead or they hear a balloon pop. Some might be disoriented and confused, some might know exactly when and where they are. Some might appear to have OCD or other mental illnesses.

I advise going to a local college, library, or even to Amazon and purchasing/loaning a few textbooks on psychology if you want to accurately portray mental illness.

I also suggest you remain relatively consistent. If your character has flashbacks, what usually triggers them? How do they act? They don't need to act exactly the same every time, of course!

For my character with PTSD, I have several distinct memories that he recalls. For one of them, I start writing it the same way each time, so the reader has a familiarity with the words and imagery. Also, modern psychology doesn't exist in my setting, so what he has is usually described as "waking nightmares." Non-flashback symptoms of PTSD may be present, but are attributed to something else.

Ultimately your best bet is to read firsthand reports of people with PTSD.

Hey, professionally diagnosed PTSD person here.

Copying from google; There are five main types of post-traumatic stress disorder: normal stress response, acute stress disorder, uncomplicated PTSD, comorbid PTSD and complex PTSD. Narrow down which one your character has, and do your research, look at what people with that have to say and their experiences. Its different for everyone but there are similarities. Please avoid the cinema/mainstream views.

Flashbacks are not movie flashbacks, they can be very vivid- you don't get a movie scene, you may not even realise a person is experiencing a flashback- as in my experience, you do your damn best to act like your fine, even though your heart is pumping, and your brain feels like it just got vomited on with memories- specifically shards.

There's a lot more but I think you'll find google more educational. As I said, I'm just one person- and I only speak for myself, take it with a grain of salt and look for others experiences to form your stuff. If you have questions lmk

Here's a good vid on PTSD

In hindsight, this might be tmi so i'm gonna remove it and just wish you luck in your research.