This sounds stupid, but it's not really brought up. Typically characters in Star Wars that have PTSD are soldiers, like Rex in Rebels.

 

I have symptoms of PTSD (though it isn't as bad as say, a combat veteran)

 

I know just about everything there is to know about the Sith, and so I have decided to ask about them specifically because they typically draw on negative emotions (though love is permitted, just not compassion)

 

I figure Jedi can probably get it, but heal it over time using the Force.

It is probably worse for Sith. Depending on the individual, I could see them exacerbating their symptoms in some misguided attempt to use their symptoms as DS fuel or whatever. Again, individual approaches to PTSD will be different, but I doubt they'd use healing techniques as we understand them.

The closest thing we've seen to it is Lord Hargrev's breakdown on Oricon, and that was from direct exposure to the Dread Masters. I suppose it would be possible, but I think that part of the Sith trials are meant to weed out those who would be susceptible to such things.

It would depend on the person, but I'm inclined to think it might be something to plague the Jedi more than the Sith.

It would depend on the person, but I'm inclined to think it might be something to plague the Jedi more than the Sith.

 

I'd have to agree as the Jedi are almost constantly resisting the "pull of the Dark Side." It's probably worse when they have to engage in battles against the Sith because while they preach, "There is no emotion. There is peace," I'm almost positive that they'd have some conflicts after fighting they'd have to cope with. These conflicts could very well cause PTSD.

It is probably worse for Sith. Depending on the individual, I could see them exacerbating their symptoms in some misguided attempt to use their symptoms as DS fuel or whatever. Again, individual approaches to PTSD will be different, but I doubt they'd use healing techniques as we understand them.

I agree.

I suppose it would be possible, but I think that part of the Sith trials are meant to weed out those who would be susceptible to such things.

That's not a Thing. PTSD can happen to anybody. In fact, Sith upbringing and daily life in the Sith Empire includes a lot of the most common risk factors that increase the likelihood of PTSD. Surviving the experience of, say, the Academy doesn't mean that someone is less likely to develop PTSD later in life. It just means that they survived the Academy.

I'd have to agree as the Jedi are almost constantly resisting the "pull of the Dark Side." It's probably worse when they have to engage in battles against the Sith because while they preach, "There is no emotion. There is peace," I'm almost positive that they'd have some conflicts after fighting they'd have to cope with. These conflicts could very well cause PTSD.

PTSD isn't the result of a moral conflict. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. It's affected veterans of the SS and the Interahamwe as much as it has anyone else.

That's not a Thing. PTSD can happen to anybody. In fact, Sith upbringing and daily life in the Sith Empire includes a lot of the most common risk factors that increase the likelihood of PTSD. Surviving the experience of, say, the Academy doesn't mean that someone is less likely to develop PTSD later in life. It just means that they survived the Academy

"Susceptible" was probably the wrong word. Not able to squelch it with their emotional control, maybe? Like, I understand why it would seem to be a problem, but it also seems to me that PTSD should have been referenced somewhere in some EU material on Force users, and the fact that it isn't makes me think that it doesn't tend to be a problem for them, for whatever reason.

"Susceptible" was probably the wrong word. Not able to squelch it with their emotional control, maybe? Like, I understand why it would seem to be a problem, but it also seems to me that PTSD should have been referenced somewhere in some EU material on Force users, and the fact that it isn't makes me think that it doesn't tend to be a problem for them, for whatever reason.

 

Or it was a simple oversight/lazy writing because this particular disorder either wasn't relevant to the stories those authors were writing or they had very little personal experience with or understanding of it.

I'd say yes, but it would for sure manifest differently for sith, than for real life humans. Take Bane, for example. Constant beatings and verbal abuse from his old man, till Bane unwittingly killed him with the force. He would have flashes of his beatings, and they just fueled his rage. Even before he was trained in the force, he used that anger to build himself up.

 

I'd wager he had ptsd, but instead of interpreting it as something being wrong with him, he embraced it. That's the crux of the argument, isn't it? How a person interprets their trauma? A sith would probably view it as a good thing.

This sounds stupid, but it's not really brought up. Typically characters in Star Wars that have PTSD are soldiers, like Rex in Rebels.

 

I have symptoms of PTSD (though it isn't as bad as say, a combat veteran)

 

I know just about everything there is to know about the Sith, and so I have decided to ask about them specifically because they typically draw on negative emotions (though love is permitted, just not compassion)

 

I figure Jedi can probably get it, but heal it over time using the Force.

 

Yes. You meet a jedi known as Bengel Morr who has ptsd from the war.

Edited February 15, 2018 by cool-dude

Pretty sure force user can have PTSD. Hell, most Sith probably do have some form of it but it just gets drowned out by the multitude of way worse psychological issues like sociopathy, psychopathy, serious lack of empathy, anger issues, sadism, constant paranoia, megalomania, constant homicidal urges and overall just pitiably ****ed up minds that the average dark side Sith has to deal with.