Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is most commonly associated with war – it affects both the soldiers fighting it and the civilians that get wrapped up in its horrors. We know about the anxiety disorders that ensue: the flashbacks; the dreams; the uncontrollable fear. The horrors that wars produce are more than enough to traumatise someone for the rest of his life
But what about closer to home? Places that have not seen war for centuries. Can PTSD still occur?
Well, there are many devastating and terrifying events that can happen to people outside of a war zone that can trigger PTSD anxiety – assault, car crash, death of a loved one, rape, just to name a few. Each of these events can cause long lasting anxiety in the victim, some more severe than others.
And this is the interesting point. Although we tend to associate PTSD with the mind-numbingly horrific events of war, there is a sliding scale of horror that can cause varying amounts of PTSD and anxiety. In other words, even a mildly disturbing event can cause mild anxiety – especially in an impressionable mind.
It is this idea that brings me to children, the most impressionable minds of them all. If a mildly disturbing event can cause mild cases of PTSD and anxiety, then are we filling our kids with anxiety simply by letting them watch TV?
Let me explain.
TV itself is not to blame, and I am certainly not one to claim that TV and video games produce violent children or even anxious children, but I would say that a child that watches a lot of news is being subjected to continually negative and disturbing content, day after day after day.
The news these days is created for ratings, nothing more. It is a case of which network can scare the viewers the most so they have to keep watching. It is shock and awe at its finest – a daily, non-stop wave of negativity, violence, fear, and terror, a combination that is enough to make even the hardiest adult feel anxious. Imagine what it is doing to our children.
Is it no wonder anxiety in children is shooting through the roof? Just look at the world through their eyes – the World that the TV networks have laid before them. It is a world doomed to terror, hatred, violence and death.
Who wouldn’t be anxious to grow up in a world like that?