Anxiety, suicidal thoughts, alienation, cynicism, distrust of authority, isolation, hypersensitivity to injustice, tendency to fits of rage, all-or-nothing thinking, fear of trauma returning these are only a few of the symptoms of PTSD as defined by Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Complete Treatment Guide (Matsakis, Tilley 19). In Suzanne Collins's Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen displays each of these and more. She has suffered so much anguish throughout the Hunger Games series that by the end of the trilogy, the effects of the trauma culminate in the form of a complete mental breakdown. She has suffered through two Hunger Games, a bloody revolution, and probably most significantly, the death of her beloved sister, Prim. When placed in solitary confinement after shooting the new president of Panem, she is practically incapacitated by the fragility of her sanity. At her breaking point, she goes through stages of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) similar to those of veterans who returned home from the Vietnam War. By looking at Katniss' psychological state after shooting President Coin, we can see that the accumulation of her trauma left her with significant neurological damage, similar to the PTSD experienced by Vietnam Veterans. This is important because the similarities shared in their feelings of depression, alienation, and anger result from betrayal by their respective governments.
	
Suicide is the first thing on Katniss' mind after she is imprisoned. She is depressed and convinced that things will only continue to get worse. She's exhausted and the one person that always kept her going, Prim, is gone. After listing potential ways to actively kill herself, she resolves on just giving up completely. At her darkest hour, Katniss thinks to herself, "What I can do is give up. I resolve to lie on the bed without eating, drinking, or taking my medications. I could do it, too. Just die" (Collins 375-376). Despite her complete lack of desire to carry on, Katniss manages to survive her imprisonment. Unfortunately, many who suffer from PTSD have not been so lucky and the outcomes have been tragic. Vietnam Veterans underwent the same feelings of hopelessness, dejection, isolation, vulnerability, and emotional constriction upon their return from service (Ochberg 235). In the midst of the former soldiers' search for meaning after the war, they lost their identities within their depression. Many succeeded in their attempts to escape their grief and distorted reality. Based on Katniss' behavior in Mockingjay, she would have done the same had she not had so many people working to keep her alive. 
	
During her imprisonment, Katniss thinks she is completely isolated and alone despite the fact that there are so many people continuously supporting her. She feels abandoned by all of her loved ones and alienated by the government she had once placed her trust in. When she realizes her captors aren't going to let her die, she fears they are planning to continue to use her when she eventually is released. She mulls over this potential punishment: "And then a terrible thought hits me: What if they're not going to kill me? What if they have more plans for me? A new way to remake, train, and use me?" (Collins 377). To Katniss, this is a punishment worse than death. She is blinded by her paranoia and believes they would rather continue torturing her than execute her. She assumes that the government will continue to exploit her for their own agenda even though she has already been completely humiliated. Frank Ochberg talks about the feelings of victimization in Vietnam Veterans in a similar way. He writes: 
The victim often feels diminished, pushed down in a hierarchy of dominance, exploited and invaded  Victimization should suggest a transient state of personal disequilibrium, beginning with unanticipated trauma and ending with survivor status or reequilibration (Ochberg 227).
 
Draftees could not have anticipated the horrors that awaited them in Vietnam and were greeted upon their return with hatred from their society and rejection by their government (Ochberg 228). There is no greater betrayal than complete abandonment by those you were loyally fighting to protect. This, in conjunction with the emotional scarring brought on by the trauma itself, contributes to the severity of PTSD. It is important to note the similarities in the situations of the men drafted to serve in Vietnam and the tributes of the Hunger Games. The Districts have no choice but to turn over two tributes to compete. Katniss had already experienced the rejection of being a tribute twice before being prodded into the war in Mockingjay. The monstrosities she had to endure in all these situations parallel any war zone. It is one thing to volunteer. But as any soldier knows, including Katniss, there is nothing worse than being forced into that position against your will.
 
Katniss has been taken advantage of throughout the Hunger Games trilogy. It always upset her, but there was no way of foreseeing the extent of Katniss' anger by the end. She is not only furious at the authority figures that blatantly abused her, but also the people who she felt she could trust. Her hatred doesn't stop at the people she knows. She expresses disgust for the whole human race. In the midst of an internal rant, she declares, "I no longer feel any allegiance to these monsters called human beings, despise being one myself" (Collins 377).  Her frustration is undeniable and fuels her thoughts and actions. After returning home from their service in Vietnam, soldiers were infuriated by the similar sense that they had been used as a pawn (Ochberg 235). This rage is considered a symptom of PTSD that places blame on not only those who were involved, but those who stood idly by and chose not to act.
 
Denying the countless injustices in both the Hunger Games and Vietnam War is an impossible feat. The effects of the trauma on those involved caused unimaginable pain. The effects linger in ways that destroy the victims from the inside out. In many cases, the damage to the minds of the young who endure the incredible suffering of war and death cannot be undone. However, PTSD does not always leave its victims incapacitated. There is always hope for recovery. At the very end of Mockingjay, Katniss speaks of the flashbacks and nightmares that she and Peeta still endure: "There are still moments when he clutches the back of a chair and hangs on until the flashbacks are over. I wake screaming from nightmares of mutts and lost children" (Collins 388). In many PTSD cases, these are both lasting problems that persist through the remainder of the sufferer's lives (Matsakis 32-33). Even though the memories still remain, with the support of each other, they can move forward with their lives. In the end, Peeta gives Katniss "the promise that life can go on" (Collins 388) and it does.

