PTSD

Recently in school I have been learning a lot about war.  In history, we learned about World War I and now we are learning about World War II.  In English we are learning about the effect war has on the people that are involved with it.  Our weekly letter for this past week was about a woman named Margret.  Margret fought in World War II but when she came back, she wasn't the same.  Her family took care of her for a while but eventually they had to place her in a local residential care facility.  They visited Margret often but she never again was the person she was before the war.

We were asked a few questions after reading this story so I would like to answer them here.


What would you have done if you were Margret's parents?

I think I probably would have done the same thing that they did.  I would have done my best to take care of her but if it got to a point where I could barely take care of myself, I would feel better knowing she was somewhere where she could receive the adequate help she deserved and needed.

What would you have done if you were her doctor?

If I was Margret's doctor, I would have made sure that she got the type of help she needed.  If she needed therapy or medication I would have recommended it.  I'm not quite sure the extent of help a normal doctor can give so this question is a little difficult to answer.

What would you have done if you were her sister/brother?

If I was Margret's sister I would have made sure she was in a situation that was best for her.  I would have probably been happy knowing she was with our parents.  But later when she had to go the institution, I would have been happy knowing she was being well-taken care of there too.  I would have gone to visit her often if I didn't live where she was staying.

How do you think Margret felt with her parent's choice of putting her in an institution?

I don't really know Margret well enough to know how she would have felt.  If she was the type of person that liked to be independent, I'm sure every situation was uncomfortable for her since she needed someone's help.  But if she was someone who knew she needed help, but just didn't want to be a burden, she was probably glad she was giving her parents a little more room.

Would you rather live in an institution and be taken care of or live at home and have to take care of yourself?

I think I would probably rather live in an institution and be taken care of.  As much as I would like to say I would like to be independent and take care of myself, I know I would get very frustrated not being able to do certain things on my own.  I would try to have some level independence, however, if I did live in an institution.  And then hopefully I would only need the help at the institution if it was absolutely necessary.  Also, living in an institution could provide certain facilities of help that would be harder to access elsewhere.



Thank for reading!  If you know anyone with PTSD that you think needs some aid, talk to someone about it.  You never know the internal battles someone could be facing.