impact on soldier mental health and PTSD rates once the combat zone element was removed.
Trauma is not a new topic in the Black community. The University of Pennsylvania recently conducted a study that analyzed the effects of police brutality. Social media footage of police shootings and excessive force alone is having a population-level impact on the mental health of the African-Americans in the US as a whole.
With an increase in depression, psychological distress, anxiety disorders, and a 9.1% prevalence rate for PTSD (compared to 6.8% in Whites), it’s unsurprising that pain seems to be one of the things most Black people have in common. An increase in PTSD is usually correlated with people utilizing unhealthy strategies to cope with it.
Emotional numbness or the avoidance of emotional experiences is usually what we see most among emotionally traumatized Black people, and is the most logical response to repeated trauma. This is illustrated by our desensitization to see horrible police murder videos without an outward show of emotion.
But as Black people become number to external stimuli, it takes more for them to gain real attachment and authentic interactions with others. This explains why some children exposed to