Section 4.
“The result of a malfunctioning nervous system that fails to normalize after trauma and instead perpetrates memories and misfires life-or-death stress for no practical reason, it comes in a couple of varieties, various complexities”
- Definitional Claim – Clarifications are made about how PTSD can occur with or without a trigger, and the repercussions of a PTSD attack.
- Casual Claim – In the passage it’s mentioned that the nervous system “misfires life-or-death stress for no practical reason,” implying that in the usual case, there is an outside trigger usually necessary. So NO trigger is necessary for an attack to occur.
“Has causes ranging from one lightning-fast event to drawn-out terrors or patterns of abuse —in soldiers, the incidence of PTSD goes up with the number of tours and amount of combat experienced.“
- Casual Claim – Incidence or occurrence of PTSD is said to increase with the cause of higher tours or total combat experienced.
- Quantitative Claim – We are evaluating that this this likelihood of PTSD is to increase with a numerical value of hours/time experienced on tour.
“As with most psychiatric diagnoses, there are no measurable objective biological characteristics to identify it. Doctors have to go on hunches and symptomology rather than definitive evidence.”
- Factual Claim – A lack of biological measurements to read what causes PTSD, verified through research is a undeniable statement made from the author to the audience.
- Evaluative Claim – Diagnoses are made, and of course are subject to personal judgement since there are no biological measurements to rely on.
- Categorical Claim – PTSD is put into the category of psychiatric diagnoses, the fact that biological measurements existence for this illness was checked at all puts it into that category.
“And the fact that the science hasn’t fully caught up with the suffering, that Caleb can’t point to something provably, biologically ruining his life, just makes him feel worse. It’s invalidating.“
- Evaluative Claim – “Invalidating” is a judgement that put onto Caleb, albeit it seems clear how that would feel, the author makes it clear how without measurements to detect it, it feels less legitimate or recognizable.
- Casual Claim – Its casually mentioned how with the lack of measurements, Caleb will feel invalidated and hence increase his emotional distress.
“In one of them, when a mortar or grenade hit just behind him, he was thrown headfirst through a metal gate and into a courtyard. His buddies dragged him into a corner, where he was in and out of consciousness while the firefight continued“
- Illustrative claim – This part vividly describes the scene of events. The strong visual scene that’s portrayed to the audience helps them grasp the severity of these explosions.
“When Caleb was finally screened for the severity of his TBI, Brannan says he got the second-worst score in the whole 18-county Gulf Coast VA system, which serves more than 50,000 veterans.”
- Ethical/Moral Claim – “Finally Screened” – This small snippet shows an insight into how the author feels about the negligence of the VA to take this long to get tested.
- Factual Claim – ” The severity of his TBI” – Its asserted that Caleb has TBI to a certain level, whether or not the screening occurred, it still existed and was factual.
- Interpretative/Quantitative Claim – “which serves more than 50,000 veterans” – What we don’t know about all 50,000 veterans is what they did on tour, or if they were in combat. Caleb’s screening us still used in reference to 50,000 other veterans which is a measurement to help the audience to understand his level of severity.
“If sympathy for Caleb is a little lacking, you can imagine what little understanding exists for Brannan.”
- Comparative Claim – We can quantify which is “worse or better” for the level empathy given for Brannan and Caleb.
Counterintuitive Fall 2024 
“The result of a malfunctioning nervous system that fails to normalize after trauma and instead perpetrates memories and misfires life-or-death stress for no practical reason, it comes in a couple of varieties, various complexities”
—It’s also Causal, isn’t it, ChefRat? Not in the usual way (X causes Y), but in the negation of causality. A functioning nervous system fires “life-or-death stress” FOR PRACTICAL REASONS. In other words, outside stimuli CAUSE stress. But PTSD CAUSES stress FOR NO REASON, making this description a negative Causal Claim.
“As with most psychiatric diagnoses, there are no measurable objective biological characteristics to identify it. Doctors have to go on hunches and symptomology rather than definitive evidence.”
—Agreed again, in part, again. It’s also categorical, right? PTSD lacks measurable biological characteristics LIKE MOST PSYCHIATRIC DIAGNOSES. In other words, PTSD belongs to the category: Psychiatric Diagnoses.
“In one of them, when a mortar or grenade hit just behind him, he was thrown headfirst through a metal gate and into a courtyard. His buddies dragged him into a corner, where he was in and out of consciousness while the firefight continued“
—I was ready to agree with you, but then you contradicted yourself by saying that the section describes HOW the explosions AFFECTED Caleb, which makes it a Causal Claim.
“When Caleb was finally screened for the severity of his TBI, Brannan says he got the second-worst score in the whole 18-county Gulf Coast VA system, which serves more than 50,000 veterans.”
—This little sentence is SO MUCH MORE than it appears to be, as we learned in class on the Agenda for MON OCT 07.
—Here is that analysis:
— “finally screened” means that according to Brannan or the author or both, Caleb should have been screened long before. It suggests that the VA was negligent in delaying his testing.
— “the severity of his TBI” clearly contains the claim that he in fact has some degree of TBI. The fact that he hadn’t until then been screened for it means nobody knew for sure that he did, but the author makes that claim.
— “Brannan says” means that the author has not independently verified Caleb’s score or where it ranked against all other screenings.
— “the second-worst score in the whole 18-county Gulf Coast VA system” is offered as Brannan’s claim that her husband is suffering more than almost anyone. Considering her vested interest in promoting this perspective, we have to be at least a little suspicious of the ranking.
— “which serves more than 50,000 veterans” gives the impression that Caleb was hurt worse than 50,000 other veterans. But let’s be clear. Many of these 50,000 will not have served in combat at all. Many will not have had active engagement with enemy troops on the battlefield. Many of those who did see active fighting will not have been near explosive devices. So we’re not comparing him to 50,000 TBI sufferers.
This is good work overall, ChefRat and will grade well enough, but I encourage you always to revise for grade improvement in this course that emphasizes the value of revision. (Of course, you’ll have to make your own improvements for an upgrade.)
Put this post into Grade Please or back into Feedback Please following any significant improvements.
You made big improvements. Regraded.