
In the story The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, the condition of PTSD is constantly shown through the characters actions as well as the symptoms they show. With additional research, many of the character’s actions and characteristics can be linked to the disorder, as each of the characters shown are real world examples from the author, a veteran of the Vietnam War. Tim O'Brien accurately portrays PTSD in a way that makes a large impact on many of the soldiers due to their experiences in the war as well as allowing him to tell his side of the story in order focus on the effects of the disorder.

Firstly, the main cause of PTSD is trauma, which presents a story that the brain cannot understand and attempts to comprehend the experience. This results in the brain retelling the story with missing information and jumbled chronology, all in an effort to avoid the pain and forget the traumatic experience. This is evident in The Things They Carried, as throughout the story O'Brien jumps back and forth in time, showing differing experiences with different people. While the trauma is the cause of the disorder, the effects can be described as “the development of characteristic and persistent symptoms along with difficulty functioning after exposure to a life-threatening experience or to an event that either involves a threat to life or serious injury.” 

(Reisman, 3). The trauma described in each of the stories can be linked to the description of PTSD as well as cause symptoms that can have harmful effects in the long run. What makes this so important is the fact that all of the characters experience these events and portray the symptoms throughout the story either through their actions or the change in their personality described by other characters. Using the knowledge of the cause and effects of PTSD, we can show correlations between the characters and the disorder itself.

Two character that display certain symptoms of the disorder are Mary Ann Bell and Azar, as both of them experienced large amounts of stress and ultimately changed their actions and perspective on life. A good example of this would be with Mary Anne Bell, as near the beginning the war she was described as having “terrific legs, a bubbly personality, a happy smile” (O'Brien, 70). Although as time passed she began to change, seeing the realism of war and atrocities of others started to warp her mentality as well as her actions. Slowly adapting to her surroundings, she had abandoned her post and was described as if “She had crossed to the other side. She was part of the land. She was wearing her culottes, her pink sweater, and a necklace of human tongues. She was dangerous. She was ready for the kill.”(O'Brien, 84)  This correlates to the effects of trauma as well as the disorder PTSD, as the extreme change in personality is due in part to her experiences in the war and time in Vietnam. Along with Mary, another character named Azar showed signs of war taking its toll. Throughout the book, he constantly had little regard for his comrades and even going so far as to strap an explosive mine to a puppy and detonating it. The reader's first introductions to the character is by O'Brien describing him “Like when Azar blew away Ted Lavender's puppy. ‘What's everybody so upset about?’”. This is a clear example of PTSD in a character, as he repeatedly has little to no care for anything in time of war. There was only one exception to his behavior, showing regret after joking about a fallen soldier’s body resting lifeless in a sewage field. This could be a result of the common and repeated atrocities of war, creating an emotional numbness and detachment from his humanity. These two characters show some of the many effects trauma and PTSD can have on the human mind as well as insight to what war might do to a normal person.

While some have more extreme changes in attitude, there was one character in particular who displayed the most common symptom of PTSD, depression. In the story, Norman Bowker comes home from the war but stricken with isolation and memories from the war. O'Brien writes about the letters from him after going home and how he had lost the meaning in his life, saying “Bowker described the problem of finding a meaningful use for his life after the war …. ‘there's no place to go. Not just in this lousy little town. In general. My life, I mean.’” (O'brien, 109). After eight months of O'Brien receiving the letters, Norman committed suicide without telling anyone or even leaving a note. These events are the most common among veterans, as according to Miriam Reisman, “major depressive disorder is nearly three to five times more likely to emerge in those with PTSD than those without PTSD” (Reisman, 2)  and resulted in nearly 56% of veterans with PTSD having these symptoms. Even beyond depression, “Veterans now account for 20% of all suicides in the U.S,” (Reisman, 2). This can be related to the actions later taken by Norman, as after coming home he described the town, “the place looked as if it had been hit by nerve gas, everything still and lifeless, even the people. The town could not talk, and would not listen.”(O’Brien, 100-101) This quote can be seen from two perspectives. On one hand, he describes the town as if it had been hit by nerve gas, referencing the memories from the war and how they carried over into his daily life. On the other hand, he sees the world around him as motionless and deaf, realizing the fact that no one would be able to relate to his experiences and understand the pain he went through in the war. These two factor are what led him to end his life in the end, as the feeling of isolation and sadness are what many veterans feel with depression after coming home. 

With the symptoms of PTSD, many people tend to find ways that help them recover from their experiences and ease their way back into normality. One such example would be the character Ted Lavender, as in the story he had become addicted to tranquilizers as well as marijuana in order to cope with the experiences of war. In the first description of him, “Ted Lavender had a habit of popping four or five tranquilizers every morning. It was his way of coping, just dealing with the realities, and the drugs helped to ease him through the days.”(O’Brien, 157) It is very common for soldiers in war or coming home from war to turn to when seeking escape from the trauma of war. According to the research, “74% of Vietnam veterans with PTSD had a comorbid substance use disorder”(Reiman, 2) and is even present among many of the soldiers throughout the story, as they all described smoking marijuana on stressful occasions. While this may be a temporary solution, the effects of the trauma come back and cause more of a problem than in the first place, “veterans with comorbid PTSD and SUD have higher rates of suicide attempts, worse treatment adherence, and less improvement during treatment than those without comorbid PTSD.” (Reisman, 2). Finally, one of the treatments that many veterans use in order to cope with the experiences of war would be to write about it. The Things They Carried was written by O’Brien, a veteran from the Vietnam War and claimed “the act of writing had led me through a swirl of memories that might otherwise have ended in paralysis or worse. By telling stories, you objectify your own experience.”(O’Brien, 110-111) Writing about experiences is a form of the “talking cure”, as many memories of trauma can be better understood by simply talking about them, and writing is no different. This does relate to the research of writing therapy for veterans, as it “has tended to individualize the experience of particular soldier-writers and to conceive of their fiction as a substitute for psychoanalytic therapy.”(Rísquez, 1) The act of writing about painful memories or traumatic experiences helps the brain understand them as well as subdue to emotions coming with them, therefore allowing the person to move on from them and return to society. Overall, there are many ways that veterans choose to cope with their disorder although  these are the most common techniques by the characters in the story. 

In conclusion, The Things They Carried helps portray the causes and effects of PTSD in the characters of the story as well as show how writing the story helped O’Brien cope with the symptoms. What makes this research important is that in educates people in the disorder and its conditions as well as connects the descriptions of the characters to real life symptoms. Describing these symptoms allows veterans such as O'brien reach out to the reader and help them understand the pain they went through. Along with the characters, the outside research allows the reader to make connections with the characters and disorder that normally would not be possible. O’Brien helps the audience better understand the disorder by showing the differing symptoms in his comrades. 
