The DSM-5 thinks of every disorder as a set of symptoms, but that doesn't answer the question of what PTSD actually is - or what it's trying to do to help us become whole again. Is there a redemptive drive behind our trauma symptoms? How do we rewrite the ending of the worst moments we've ever been through? What does that look like in the therapy room and the Gospel of John? Bonus: how to convert a potentially traumatizing bank robbery into a meme.

(Content notice: brief mentions of many different kinds of traumatic experiences. One mention of the word "suicide" as a maladaptive avoidance strategy, with no scenario or details of any kind.)

References:

Judith Herman's "Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror" - https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/trauma-and-recovery-judith-lewis-herman-md/1100923391

Study which concludes the DSM is "a disingenuous categorical system" - https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2019/07/08/study-finds-psychiatric-diagnosis-to-be-scientifically-meaningless

DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD, with symptom clusters - https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/essentials/dsm5_ptsd.asp

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