Dissonance, discord and the discourses of military trauma: Listening differently to “disorder”

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a pressing concern among members and veterans of the Canadian Forces, and the issue attracts chronic conflict. Diagnosis and treatment is dominated by the psychiatric definition; however, that model is not a pure distillation of biomedical epidemiology, but also the product of specific sociocultural and political discourses. Although the phenomenon of prolonged mental suffering in response to adversity is universal, the experience is narrated differently across different cultures. I investigated the discourse of military PTSD among (predominately Canadian) military members and veterans on social media. Participants spoke from a collectivist worldview, narrated PTSD as a disorder of progressive alienation and isolation, and prioritized loss of identity and connection over symptom checklists. They sought to claim a collective identity in which PTSD was congruent with their military role, rather than a disease of the individual brain, and they prioritized interconnectedness as the route to healing.