A recent study has concluded that post-traumatic stress disorder can contribute to crime and recidivism.
The study by the National Center for PTSD reported that symptoms include flashbacks, anger and irritability, exaggerated startle response, as well as heightening and numbing of the emotions. They often lead PTSD sufferers to engage in socially unacceptable behaviors, the study said.
According to the Traumatic Stress Treatment Center, as much as 48 percent of incarcerated women, and 30 percent of incarcerated men, four to six times those of the general population, currently suffer from PTSD. These statistics do not account for cases that remain undiagnosed.
Flashbacks cause PTSD sufferers to relive their pasts, to the extent that some believe they are re-experiencing traumatic events, the study noted. When flashbacks occur, “persons with PTSD [may] commit … criminal acts believing that they are in danger again.”
Symptoms such as anger, irritability and exaggerated startle responses are mental and physical anxiety symptoms, which the report said can cause violent altercations. For example, anger and irritability symptoms stem from the survival response called “fight or flight.” When this response is triggered, “someone with PTSD is more likely to respond aggressively” and may even shoot someone in a fit of uncontrollable rage.
Moreover, the exaggerated startle response symptom may cause people with PTSD to react to perceived threats with extreme aggression. The study cites the example of a person with PTSD instinctively pushing back “aggressively when accidentally jostled in a crowd.”
In addition, heightening and numbing of the emotions are typical reactions to traumatic experiences. As noted by the study, people with PTSD often have higher levels of negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, guilt, shame, and depression.
“Negative emotions may lead those with PTSD to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol” which “clouds judgment and causes disinhibition.” Also, feelings of guilt “may lead [trauma] survivors to commit acts that will likely result in punishment, serious injury, or death.”
Numbing is the extreme opposite. Emotional numbing increases the likelihood that a survivor will commit acts of violence because they lack compassion, empathy, and concern for the rights of others. According to the study, numbing can “also lead some survivors to engage in sensation-seeking [socially condemned] behavior in an effort to experience some sense of emotion.”
One explanation for the higher rates of PTSD among inmates is that inmates are much more likely to have experienced one or more traumatic events. Experiences such as child abuse, neglect, rape, assault, being shot, and car crashes, or even witnessing such events, are common among prison populations. Absent adequate care, inmates with PTSD will return to their communities and likely engage in the same behaviors that led to their initial incarceration, the report said.
