I know Harry Potter is just a character in a book / movie, but I just saw Order of the Phoenix in theatre and man what a depressing movie. It was the first time I really related to Harry Potter as a person, and that scared me! :p Harry is sullen and withdrawn, constantly having these horrible nightmares about death, hallucinations and flashbacks, looks drawn and tired, anxious, angry to the point of becoming violent, nasty to his friends and avoiding them... sounds like PTSD to me!

I guess though he has had a pretty traumatic life, seeing his parents murdered and almost being murdered himself, being an orphan and growing up with relatives who abused him, then seeing another friend murdered recently and being blamed for it... honestly I really think he has PTSD.

I don't think so. When all of those things happen it's because he's mentally linked to an evil, evil person. He's taking on this person's characteristics...they're not his. His nightmares are not nightmares but seeing through another's eyes. Still, in these stories, it really sucks to be him.

BTW-yes, I'm fully aware that these are fictional characters. It's very easy to lose yourself in this story. IMO, it's a very well written series of books.

Lisa

Thanks Lisa yeah that's a good point, a lot of the symptoms were Voldemort's possession of Harry; I overlooked that. But that got me to thinking further. Harry has seen a lot of death, had to fight for his life so many times and so on... so maybe he still could have PTSD from all the death experiences? And being possessed in and of itself, having someone else control your body and so on... I know that is not real life but it sounds pretty traumatic to me.

This sort of is off topic now and again fictional, but what about that girl in The Exorcist, who was possessed? I read the book as well, and they said afterwards she didn't remember it, but possession seems like it would be pretty traumatic. Or that little boy in The Sixth Sense, seeing ghosts all the time. I wonder about mediums and clairvoyants, who claim to see the dead, see horrible things happen, or even channel spirits through their own bodies at seances. If one assumes that stuff is real (I'm not sure one way or the other) wouldn't those people be really screwed up?? All that stuff seems really frightening to me. Though part of the PTSD diagnosis is tthreat of death, so not sure if that part qualifies. Anyhow, sorry if I sound weird, it's something I've thought about quite a bit though.

I haven't read or seen the latest installment yet, but I read the first few books in the series earlier this year and also saw some of the earlier films. I came away with the impression that Harry Potter showed symptoms of PTSD and given what the character had gone through, I thought it was completely understandable. I also agree that a possession kind of experience would be traumatic enough as well. Isn't one of the diagnostic criteria a threat to one's personal integrity (not just physical life)?

Anyway, interesting thread, Evie. I've thought about people who have paranormal experiences, too, in this way. People do have very weird experiences that can be traumatic. I see them as falling under the category of stuff science can't explain yet, or rather, stuff that scientists are afraid of studying seriously for a lot of reasons; the few who do still end up pretty ostracized. I used to be more scared of things like that. It's funny, though, since I've come to understand why I have PTSD, I am a bit less scared by that stuff.

I understand the feeling of seeing a fictional character as a person... I think the good authors and movie directors do this on purpose to get a message across and just to make there stuff more desirable. For most of my life I have been addicted to reading science fiction books (Dragon Lance) and then playing the online games Everquest and WoW. For me... I think sometimes I wish the real world was more like the stories... that real people where more like some fiction characters sometimes. Living life just to work and make money just to survive seems so pointless and depressing... growing up always looking for a glimpse of a unicorn running through the forest was much more enjoyable then believing nothing magical was truly out there.

But think about it... Only a percentage of people who face trauma have PTSD too. They do a great deal of portraying characters how they want, and he is a very well adjusted booger even if he should have it by all rights. So I vote no, not by any means on this one. He was just not written with it.

I did not see the movie nor read the book however I do agree with you Veiled, there is only a small percentage of people who face trauma and develop full blown PTSD. That includes children; children in war zones are a good example. Many studies have been done on these children and in spite of the atrocities they experience only a small percentage of them end up with PTSD. That being said however, I believe from discussing the movie with Evie, her original thoughts were based on Harry's behaviour in the movie, which seemed very PTSD like to her. Interesting discussion!

I think in the book/movie of Order of the Phoenix, Harry is at the very least traumatized. There are nightmares described in the initial scenes on Privet Drive (not possession visions, as later, but terrfiying memories of Cedric's death that wake him up screaming). Throughout the book Harry is uncharacteristically isolated and angry. He refuses to rely on his friends and instead internalizes his emotions about being disbelieved. By the next book he is much more able to manage himself and to rely on his friends, so I guess my unprofessional diagnosis is Acute Stress!

It is a good thread Evie. I saw the movie on the plane recently and I thought the same as you. A lot of his symptoms seemed similar but I'm not sure its PTSD. He's certainly tramatised though.

Thanks everyone for participating, your discussion has given me a lot to think about. Personally I've come to the conclusion that Harry is definitely traumatized, though maybe doesn't have full blown PTSD.