Ishmael Beah PTSD

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How PTSD can twist one’s mind The human mind is so vulnerable that an aftermath of a traumatic event can alter our personality and morality and especially its impact on adolescent is crucial. PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder also known as acute stress disorder is pattern that arises in reaction to a psychologically traumatic event. A traumatic event can cause a person to become highly anxious and depressed, and more over the anxiety and depression persist well after the situation is over. Death of others can easily trigger PTSD and soldiers often experience this particular kind of stress disorder. The author of the book “A long way gone”, Ishmael Beah is an unfortunate victim of PTSD, who was nakedly exposed to the touch of war. As a…show more content…
PTSD impacts one’s life tremendously, especially so for someone who is in his adolescence. In the book Beah experienced a confusion of his identity. Having his family and peers killed, he finds himself lost and struggling to find a role in shaping his sense of personal identify. Adolescence is a critical stage of human development, the impact of negative events in this stage is often destructive to the individual's mental health. Frankly, if a teenager is exposed to certain levels of deceiving concepts his moral value, belief and sense of being can deviate just as easily as extinguishing a candle. In “A long way gone” as Beah joined the government troops in Yele, the boys were brainwashed by the lieutenant; telling them to take revenge on the rebel soldiers by doing what the rebels had done to their families and friends. The lieutenant also manipulated them by telling them that they should revenge in order to prevent other children from losing their families. A mixture of anger and sympathy idea, which stimulates the poor boys into believing that it is their obligation to fight the war. With the routine brainwashing, the boys ultimately feel a sense of unity toward the troops and become order taking puppets capable of doing

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