Oh, and another thing… to Rabbi of Crawly…
PTSD is actually a clear and rather significant mental disorder in today’s world The sheer amount of trauma that law enforcement officers, fire service officers, emergency medical services, doctors and nurses, as well as military veterans, especially those that have seen combat, takes its toll on the brain.
The human brain is not designed to take a life without some form of consequence. There is a reason why the homicide, suicide, divorce and addiction rates among police officers especially, are so high. And it’s not because some doctor or some psychiatrist somewhere told these individuals that there was something wrong with them. Quite the contrary. Individual counselors and medical doctors who are fully aware of the lifestyle of people who lose lives or take lives will tell you that it causes irreparable damage to the human psyche. But those that have never had any experience or exposure to what first responders deal with, would be happy to say some of the same ignorant and irresponsible things that you have stated. And ANY of us that experience mild, moderate or even severe Post Traumatic Stress, will tell you that it is very VERY real.
And, for the record, stress (as a simple definition) is merely the body’s reaction to change. Stress by itself is neutral, the cause of that stress is what determines whether the stress is good or bad, and how the body will respond to it. For example, having a baby causes stress on both the mother and the father, but it is a positive source of stress. Having a four year old die in your arms also causes stress, but it is a very negative stress. Both examples will cause a change in lifestyle, but one is going to be positive (hopefully) and one will always be negative, though both will cause years of change to that person.