Continuing on my mini-series topic about a possible correlation between alcohol and PTSD; a pertinent TED Talk (see below) connected with the issue has recently been released. It doesn’t cover the specifics of this series but it does provide some background into reasons why so many veterans are apparently suffering with PTSD and consequently (historically), often choose to ‘self-medicate’ with alcohol.
The content of the talk explores the suggestion that perhaps, military personnel aren’t necessarily ‘traumatized’ by their active service per se, more that their resulting mental health problems stem from issues surrounding their homecoming.
Sebastian Junger (born January 17, 1962) is an American journalist, most famous for the best-selling book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (1997), his award-winning chronicle of the war in Afghanistan in the documentary films Restrepo (2010), Korengal (2014), War (2010) and his latest Tribe (On homecoming and belonging).
His latest book is about why tribal sentiment is such a rare and precious thing in modern society, and how the lack of it has affected us all. It’s about what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty and belonging and the eternal human quest for meaning. It’s about why—for many people—war feels better than peace and hardship can turn out to be a great blessing and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. Humans don’t mind duress, in fact they thrive on it. What they mind is not feeling necessary.
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