Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

It is a mental health condition caused by an extremely distressing event. The victim has been a part of it or he has witnessed it. Later in his life he becomes traumatized whenever he remembers it. 3.9% of the world have experienced PTSD. Mostly women have developed it than men worldwide. In Pakistan, PTSD is understudied however through various studies it was found that 41% Pakistanis have PTSD. So, I wanted to highlight it in my film. Trauma can impair the hippocampus’s function.

Causes: Serious events like a terror attack, war victims, physical or psychological abuse, seeing a loved one getting killed or an accident or a disaster.

Symptoms: Reliving those events through flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, feelings, images, sounds and smells. Avoidance, changes in thinking and mood. Being angry sometimes leading to violence, memory loss, detached from others, being bored always, fear, horror or guilt or shame. Not having positive emotions,trust issues, irritability, recklessness, easily startled, problem in concentrating and sleeping and many more.

Example from real life:

Christa Pike was a victim of PTSD who suffered from physical and sexual abuse, violence, and neglection she endured by members of her family, their friends, and colleagues. She developed psychological disorders like bipolar disorder and depression. Moreover, she never received any treatments which worsened her condition. She did suicide two times but was saved. At the age of 18, she killed a woman named Colleen Slemmer when they got into a heated argument at a hangout. The victim was with her at Job Corps program. She was sentenced to death. But till now she isn’t executed due to some reason and she’s 48 years.