Wing Biddlebaum and PTSD

            Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, as the name suggests, affects individuals who have been traumatized. It is often discussed in the context of war or sexual assault, but any number of terrible things can trigger PTSD in a person. The disorder manifests itself in intrusive thoughts and memories, negative emotional states, avoidance mechanisms, and even physical reactions, such as jumpiness or self-destructive behavior. All of these symptoms interfere with the affected individual’s daily life and mental wellness. Treatment can often help to dampen the effects PTSD, but the disorder is not necessarily curable. Some evidence suggests that PTSD can alter the genes of the traumatized, leading to increased risk in future generations.

            Being beaten and chased out of town by the angry parents of his students certainly traumatized Wing Biddlebaum sufficiently for him to qualify as a potential victim of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. His anxiety, detachment from society, and angry outburst could all be symptomatic of the disorder, as could the distress his hands cause him, as his hands (and what they were accused of doing, or possibly even did) are strongly linked to his memories of that horrific event. Wing is clearly very affected by his mental unwellness. It is undeniable that he is sick. The question of social construction, then, does not concern whether or not he is only considered “unwell” because he is different, but instead concerns the event that triggered the disorder. It was his perceived social deviance that led the townspeople to traumatize him as they did. Not only did they think he may have molested children, something that most societies would deem unacceptable, but they also harbored beliefs that he was secretly homosexual before those accusations were made, which is what led them to believe their kids’ stories.