Disorders Paper II
Johnia Sharp
Psy/410
March 16, 2013
Rosalyn Davis

Pg. 2
Photographic memories stick in people’s minds. Emotions and reactions that cannot be erased and are burned into the memory in one’s mind can have detrimental effects as well as saving someone’s sanity. A simple song or sunset can trigger a person into a rage or to completely withdrawal from society. Post-traumatic stress disorder can break up families that have had the strongest bond and foundation. Post-traumatic stress disorder can affect any age of person ranging from the youngest victims of 9-11 or Hurricane Katrina to soldiers coming home from war.
The case of Paul is a heart-wrenching story of a little boy whose world was turned upside-down within the matter of minutes. September 11, 2001 will forever be etched in his mind even if he never speaks on the memory again. In the 3,000 people the United States lost that tragic day, two of those people were Paul’s parents. Before September 11th, Paul’s family had just been another normal family by society’s description. His mother worked in the south tower, which fell first and his father was an assistant chief for the New York City Fire Department (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Paul was five and his brother, Tom, was in second grade. Three out of five days Paul would go to kindergarten at his school in lower Manhattan, just a block away from the Twin Towers (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). The other two days Paul would go to his grandparent’s house instead.
Paul had a normal upbringing. His parents were happily married for a decade and had upstanding careers. Dave had served his country for 15 years in the United States Air Force (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Both boys, Paul and Tom, were healthy and had strong morals. They were real liked among their friends. Paul wanted to be like his father and had been interested in the Air Force. In the family’s backyard was a tree house and Dave and Paul would
Pg. 3 shoot down enemies together. Other times, Paul would help his mother in the kitchen. His brother and he had a great sibling relationship and Tom was very protective over him (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009).
That September day was the day that his life was changed forever. This day was one of the three that he attended school. Authorities, perhaps, thought that the children would be safer in the school until the towers fell. Paul was found under a filing cabinet and is possibly what saved his fragile life (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). He escaped with burns on his legs and a few broken ribs. His parents were not that lucky. Out of the 3,000 people lost that day, 200 of them were firefighters, including his father. His mother’s remains were never found throughout the debris (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009).
From that day forward, Paul became a different little boy. His life was saved but he lost his heart the day that his parents did not return home. Children and adults react differently to trauma. His grandparents eventually returned back to normal reality. Even Tom’s behavior was different; more protective as in holding a degree of guilt (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). No one was more damaged than Paul. Paul was different. He no longer found joy in the things that he had once enjoyed with his family. Activities that would entertain most youth his age, he found no interest in. He lost his appetite and never returned to the activities that he had once enjoyed with his dad in the tree house (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Not only did he lose his parents from this horrendous tragedy, but also he had to adapt to a new way of life, now living with his grandparents in their home. Paul began to seem detached from his reality and had extreme nightmares at night. He would reenact the chaos from that day when he would play with Legos (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). One of the most heart breaking details of Paul’s
Pg. 4 story was his loss of emotion toward Tom even as supportive and protective as he was. A faulty message it seems that Paul learned at an early age was not to get attached to people. The people that he loved and was attached to the most were gone.
In the DSM-IV, criterion B shows that repetitive play may occur and that children may have dreams without knowing the content. Paul exhibits both of these examples. He also avoided conversation about the day or about his parents and would “space out” when the topic was mentioned (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Paul’s whole life changed after September 11, 2001. He withdrew from almost everything that had once been enjoyable. His relationships with what family remained were strained.
One can only imagine the emotional turmoil that Paul lives through as triggers come up. For any person dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, life can be harsh. The trauma can be a never-ending nightmare that repeats itself at the most random times. A simple song or the slamming of a door are possible triggers to throw a victim back into a spiral of horror as the memories replay themselves in their mind.

Pg. 5
References
Meyer, R., Chapman, L. K., & Weaver, C. M. (2009). Case studies in abnormal behavior. (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn & Bacon.