Take our Depression Test

Find a therapist to heal from trauma

Posttraumatic stress disorder is not a new phenomenon.

Sudden exposure to existential evil is a key cause of PTSD.

Consciously facing and coming to terms with rather than avoiding one's inner demons is the key to recovery.

In Part 2 of this series on myths, I proposed that the protagonist Odysseus, portrayed by actor Matt Damon in their new film "The Odyssey" (2026), directed by Christopher Nolan, intentionally or not, appears to suffer from what we would today diagnose as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here in Part 3, we dive a little deeper into the psychology of PTSD and how psychotherapy can help in the process of healing it.

Confronting the Existential Reality of Evil

The phenomenon of what we today call PTSD is not new. It has likely existed throughout human history. What causes it? Sudden or unexpected exposure to the existential reality of evil. (See my prior post.) By "evil," I am referring here to "man's inhumanity to man," (i.e., human evil such as violence, hatred, cruelty, sadism, misogyny, antisemitism, genocide, racism, etc.) as well as to terrifying catastrophic natural events or so-called "acts of god" like earthquakes, floods, famine, and tornadoes, as well as the inescapable facts of disease, and death (i.e., natural evil). Unanticipated exposure to evil or destructiveness in others or in nature—and, sometimes, in ourselves, as for instance, when we act out our "shadow"—traumatizes human beings, both on an individual and collective level.

Because we tend to deny its reality, most of us are not psychologically, emotionally, philosophically, or spiritually prepared for the experience of evil and, therefore, find it difficult to accept, process, and make sense of. It often does not comport with or contradicts our view of the world, others, or ourselves. It challenges, undermines, and sometimes shatters or destroys our sense of safety and security and erodes........

© Psychology Today