Understanding Ariana Grande And PTSD

Ariana Grande might appear fine and bubbly when doing her concerts, but that does not mean she’s not fighting her own battles in secret. Last month, the singer shared her struggles with PTSD by posting images of her brain scan result on social media, but the reactions she got were varied; some expressed support, but others ridiculed the singer for her action.

PTSD stands for posttraumatic stress disorder, a mental health issue resulting from either experiencing or simply witnessing a terrifying event, such as mass shooting, war or bombing. Some of the symptoms include uncontrollable thought about the event, nightmares, severe anxiety and flashbacks.

Grande’s PSTD started after a suicide bomber blew himself up during her May 22, 2017, concert at the Manchester Arena. The attack was so horrifying that it left 22 people dead and more injured.

In April, Grande posted images of her brain scan probably taken as part of diagnosing her PTSD. While there were a lot of people who expressed their support, others instead took it as an opportunity to “invalidate her trauma” or attack her music and intelligence.

“To be fair, her music gives many people trauma too,” one commenter ridiculed, attacking her music. “I’m surprised the scan showed a brain,” another one attacked her intelligence.

In a gist, those who commented negatively seem to have felt that she had no business complaining about her PTSD because there are others whose conditions are worse than her. In addition, she has all the good things in life that others can only dream of — wealth, successful music career and global popularity.

But there are a couple of serious flaws with this line of thinking. First, wealth has nothing to do with the condition, PTSD strikes those unfortunate souls who happen to experience things too horrible for their brains to process regardless of financial resources, social privilege, gender or race. In short, Grande has as much right to seek support and talk about her struggles as any other PTSD sufferer.

Second, it’s erroneous to think that anyone can judge the severity of Grande’s ordeal with PTSD. While the singer was not physically hurt during the bombing, not even doctors can say that she suffered a lesser degree of the mental condition compared to those who were actually wounded. PTSD is about the imbalance, whether it’s chemical, neurological or emotional, that was caused by the trauma, and its severity can’t be judged other than by the patient herself.

The point here is that only she knows the kind of hell she has been through. People should not forget the fact that Grande is just as human as everyone else. Considering that everyone is going through some kind of battle that the world at large knows nothing about, a better reaction for those who want to comment to the singer’s ordeal is to sympathize and support her instead of ridiculing whatever it is she is going through.