Opinion: I Have A Form Of PTSD That’s Rarely Talked About [witnessla.com]

^{Funeral at Dolores Mission Church, Boyle Heights, CA, by Celeste Fremon, Photoshop alterations also via CF}

By Samuel Karim, Witness LA, August 23, 2023

My time spent in unsafe neighborhoods and unsafe prisons has taught me a secret: Most people in urban America and locked up suffer from what I consider to be a serious mental health affliction.

That problem is what I call “Hood PTSD,” a type of post-traumatic stress disorder. People raised in poorer areas with more violence across the U.S. are facing historical harms, anxieties and mental disorders similar to people who fight in war or live in war-torn areas.

The statistics are eye-opening. According to a report from The National Child Traumatic Stress Network, between 3.3 million and 10 million children witness domestic violence annually. More than 80% of inner-city youth report experiencing one or more traumatic events. And 1 out of 10 children under the age of 6 living in a major U.S. city report witnessing a shooting or stabbing.

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