Intro [0:00]
Hello my dears! My name is Johanna, and I welcome you to the Johanna Draconis - The Deconstruction Of C-PTSD podcast.
In this episode we will talk about how a military mission can cause PTSD and what are the reasons why it could be. It is a bit of an experiment and so your feedback is especially appreciated. It is of course once again generally speaking, but an important topic.
So let us talk about it.

Prelude [0:31]
Now of course we will paint with broad strokes and it is more about getting a house number. As the precise calculation would have to take in so many more factors that I don’t know, but you do. These are just the limits, but I always go into more detail if wanted.
But for now I will give you the categories and what goes into them and you can add more details. Now these categories cover all the elements that are relevant in regards to PTSD. So for example what vehicles was used does not fall under that.  
This is supposed to be a tool for you to use. Be it for better knowing where to look for triggers and the like, to estimate coming missions or to just better understand what is happening in your brain. Also these factors are all about how you personally perceived them.
We start with the factors, then the 2 left out factors and then how to calculate it.

The Factors: [1:32]
1. Stress - How stressful was it? Now this isn’t just referring to how much time you had, but how emotional stressful it was for you. Saving a friend I would personally consider the highest stress. Another word one could use would be internal pressure.
2. Length - How long did it all last? Now I am not talking about what the papers say, but for how long in one stretch was your brain in this mode. If you had a few days chilling in between, then that interrupts the whole thing. Once we truly relax, our brain starts recovering.
3. Risk - How high was the risk level? How dangerous was the tour? How much where you confronted with potential death? Were you on edge all the time? Or were there stretches of times where you were a lot on edge and other times barely?
4. Suffering - How much suffering did you witness? Be it others or your own - this includes death. The closer you were to the person who is suffering, the stronger it counts. Sometimes the suffering you just find hints for is the worst, because it gets your imagination going.
5. Distance - How far away was it? That is in reference to your point of safety or where you feel at least mostly safe. Now that doesn’t necessarily refer to kilometers, but more how long it will take you to get back there. 5km per* helicopter beats 1km on foot. (*Note: per (German) = by)
6. Support - How much support did you have? Could you rely on others? Could you speak to others? Could you call on support? Did someone have your back or was it all on you? Support also includes how the support was mentally for you and the mission.

The 2 left out factors: Secrecy + Death [3:50]
There are 2 factors I left out for this calculation: Secrecy and Death. Now the second - you might have noticed - I added to the risk and suffering categories. Because how we deal with death belongs to the person half and not the mission half.
The 4 factors of the person are Brain capacity, preconditions, protection and stability (see “Ep95 - When does a Trauma (not) become PTSD?” for more details) where death is basically covered. And then there is secrecy:
Secrecy - How much did you need to keep it a secret and lie to others - especially loved ones? This increases greatly the stress level and has a strong effect on the person experiencing it. The more it becomes a separate reality the worse it is.
It is slightly covered in stress, but otherwise it belongs to the person side of things as it affects all the 4 other factors and is rather unique to missions. As the secret keeping on the civilian abuse side of things is usually very different in nature.

How to calculate it [5:01]
How to calculate it is rather simple. Let us say you can answer for each factor from 0-100%. Then you average it out - the more detailed the better and more precise the answer you get. Feel free to separate the mission in several segments if there were significant breaks.
This way you see which segments and sections where at the highest risk and most likely to contain trigger or the like.Though in my experience just asking yourself these questions helps you identify the potential sources for trauma really quickly.
Finding and identifying these sources quickly can both help in preventing a trauma to really take form or to take it apart for healing. Basically, it is always the same basic logic and calculation, it just is in some cases rather short and other times very very long.
But it is still the same basic thing. Dealing with the size of the results? That is where the trouble starts and the work begins. As once it set root in the system each experience varies significantly - especially the more in the past the experience is.
The earlier we deal with it - the better.

Outro [6:16]
That was it for todays episode, I hope you found it helpful. Hope you are safe and well. And as always, if you have any questions or feedback and the like, please let me know at contactme@johannadraconis.com.
More information and transcript you can find as usually under johannadraconis.com and links are in the description.
I hope to see you next time. Watch yourselves and have a wonderful time.