“Secondary traumatic stress has been documented in the spouses of veterans with PTSD from Vietnam.”

• This is a factual claim as the word “documented” brings forth the presence of research and that this was not a claim just pulled from thin air

“In one study, the incidence of secondary trauma in wives of Croatian war vets with PTSD was 30 percent.”

• Another factual claim about secondary PTSD. The mention of a study and the 30% make this claim set in stone and that it isn’t really arguable. 
• The first portion of this paragraph are statistics of how many spouses of war veterans come to develop secondary PTSD. This makes a connecting line of PTSD and war, basically showing how it is not surprising how many veterans come back home with PTSD from what they have endured. 
• These factual claims also bring forth the idea of how PTSD can be “spread” from one person to another, more so in partners as they have that close proximity to where one person can in fact begin to have those same symptoms.

“Trauma is really not something that happens to an individual.”

• This is an evaluative claim made by a clinical psychologist and psychology professor. Her claim is supported by her credibility as many would feel she has the knowledge of the brain and how mental illnesses like this work. 
• However, this can still be argued by those who suffer from PTSD, someone could argue that it does feel as though it just happens. There have been instances where someone may not even be able to pinpoint a certain time or experience that may have led to them having PTSD. 

“Trauma is a contagious disease; it affects everyone that has close contact with a traumatized person”

• An evaluative claim that can be argued. There can be people that have family members or friends who suffer from PTSD and are not once affected by that person’s own mental illness. 
• Some sufferers of PTSD may be good at hiding how they feel, how they act, or how they think about certain situations, so not everyone who may be close to someone who has PTSD gets affected by that person.