The BBC’s Panorama had an excellent program on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PSTD).
The presenter, Alan Little, started by recounting his career as a war correspondent, which he found exciting. Later, he discovered that he had all the symptoms of PSTD, lived with its nightmares, allowed it to wear off, and then went back to his career, even back to covering wars.
Mr. Little then tells of people, encouraged by lawyers, who claimed financial compensation for stress suffered: a teacher in a ‘stressful’ school situation; a sailor on a fishing trawler forced to abandon ship during a storm – the other members of the crew ridiculed his claim; a fireman who injured his knee when he took the full force of the water hose during a fire; etc.
Mr. Little wondered whether the above experiences could be put in the same category as those suffered by combatants and non-combatants in a war situation.
Trauma in itself is difficult to detect, and even more, to measure. When lawyers, not the most reputable of people, get involved in drawing up agreements on compensation sharing, claims become suspect.
Mr. Little interviewed a number of medical experts. Naturally, those working with the lawyers differed in opinion from those who felt that compensation claims accentuated, exaggerated and prolonged any feelings of ‘trauma’. When claims are contested, as they usually are, lawyers for the defence subject ‘victims’ to accusations of cheating, malingering, etc. Then, in order not to compromise their legal positions ‘victims’ are forced to ‘wallow’ in emotional or mental situations that are best put behind them.
Interestingly, some of the claimants even suggested that they had made a mistake in seeking compensation.
Some experts believe that PSTD could be the effect of accumulated negative experiences in the past that are triggered off by a ‘traumatic’ experience. Mr. Little asked a very pertinent question. He wanted to know if he caused somebody to have an accident, was he guilty for all the accumulated negative experiences in that person’s past?
I have often wondered when victims of abuse are awarded large compensation, if their trauma disappears once the money is deposited into their accounts.
For example, Catholic priests guilty of sexual abuse should be punished. But penal payback for penile transgressions is fairer than awarding large sums of money in compensation. This cash comes from donations that were made for some better cause and not for the personal use of the priest. This would also preclude the possibility of false accusations.
March 2009
© Percy Aaron
Wow Laos 