Victoryvalor PTSD research

Instructions

Note: Victoryvalor's PTSD will develop AFTER the current exploration she's on. Certain parts of this (mainly what triggers her) may change depending on what ends up happening with the other deaths, but it will mainly stay the same -Causation- Victoryvalor will unfortunately be the only cat to return home from the most recent exploration (curse you, 20% death chance TwT). Because of that she will witness the deaths of every other cat on the exploration and due to the nature of the deaths they fall under various causes of PTSD (seeing others hurt/killed, experiencing violence in some form, and losing someone close to you). Although only 5.6% of people who experience a trauma will develop PTSD from it, because Victoryvalor will be alone for a vast majority of the journey she is more likely to develop it since lack of support from others after a traumatic event increases the chances of PTSD developing. Having chromosynthesis also puts her at a higher risk of developing PTSD. PTSD often (but not always) begins as ASD (Acute Stress Disorder) and later develops into PTSD as the symptoms last longer (about a month or so from the event), which is the timeline of how Victoryvalor’s PTSD will develop. -Symptoms & Effects- - Alertness/Feeling on edge: Victoryvalor will experience a higher sense of danger than cats without PTSD, even when there isn’t any threat nearby. So she will end up feeling the need to be very vigilant, constantly scanning her surroundings for threats. This concentration on threats that don’t exist will lead to her struggling to focus on everyday tasks such as hunting and patrolling. Victoryvalor will also easily startle from sudden noises/movements. - Overprotectiveness: This goes hand in hand with the previous bulletpoint, but Victoryvalor will become overly protective of those closest to her, especially her kits. She will watch them like a hawk and explicitly warn them against explorations should any of them choose to go on one. - “Reliving” The Events: Through both nightmares and flashbacks, Victoryvalor will “relive” the events of the exploration. These memories of the events are accompanied by feelings of intense fear and horror and can be experienced in ways such as mental images (flashes of the events), scents (blood mainly, but also likely the scent of wolves), sounds (screams, barking, etc.). The most severe this “reliving” of the events will get is Victoryvalor believing she is actually back in the moment of the others’ deaths. All of these and the nightmares will result in a lack of sleep for Victoryvalor and issues staying asleep when she does get to sleep. During these moments will be when she is most vulnerable and most prone to lashing out at others if disturbed. - Avoidance: Victoryvalor will prefer to avoid discussing the events of the exploration, potentially leading to a slight air of mystery surrounding what truly happened, and will even avoid thinking about it whenever possible. This avoidance will extend into affecting her social life as she will become more withdrawn from her clanmates, possibly ruining her relationships with her clanmates. - Mental state: Victoryvalor, especially after moments of great stress, will be highly likely to have “explosions” of anger towards others. She will also hold heavy feelings of guilt for what happened and will blame herself for “not being enough to save them”. Fear will also be a strong emotion present in her nearly constantly, resulting in the alertness mentioned earlier. Being who she is with her personality, she will try to hold most of these emotions in, becoming emotionally withdrawn from others (apart from angry outbursts, which from personal experience are more likely to happen when you bottle up emotions). She will believe the camp to be unsafe, even when it is. - Physical effects: PTSD also has effects on people physically! For Victoryvalor, this will look like headaches, exhaustion, tension in her muscles, shaky breathing, and a rapid heartbeat (during moments like flashbacks, recalling the exploration, etc. for the last two). Most of these physical effects will stem from her lack of sleep and constantly being on edge. - PTSD leaves Victoryvalor at a higher risk to develop other things such as anxiety, depression and dissociative disorders Research cont. in notes and credits