Running Head: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and the Affect on Students: Genre Analysis of
a Manuscript and a Video
Vicente Salazar
University of Texas at El Paso

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Introduction
In a video titled Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on the show Healthline by Films
for the Humanities and Sciences, the director of the show intends to explain how the symptoms
of PTSD affects ones life. There is an illness that makes every day life activities seem like a
challenge. This illness is known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and can be developed
in many ways. It is most common in members of the military who experience traumatic events
overseas or during their enlistment. Yet even the simple teenager can develop signs and
symptoms of PTSD. Events such as a severe car accident, witnessing a death, rape, or a near
death experience can cause the victim to develop PTSD. The hardest part of this illness is the
symptoms the person goes through. Flash backs of the incident, not being able to sleep, going
into depression, and normal activities becoming a nightmare to attempt are just some of the
symptoms. In the video the host Kevin Soden interviews David Powell, a Vietnam veteran, about
the struggles he had with the symptoms of PTSD. The video also attempts to expand the viewers
awareness and knowledge of PTSD.
Francis J. Reyes conducted a study to prove that there is a relationship with
students developing PTSD symptoms and the violence that is happening across the border to
Mexico. The symptoms of PTSD can make life activities such as walking in town, enjoying 4th of
July, family parties, and even school difficult. Francis J. Reyes wrote a Manuscript titled Coping
as a Mediator between Proximity to Violence in Juarez, and PTSD Symptoms among College
Students Attending a University on the Texas Mexico Border. A study was conducted to
examine if the close distance from violence might lead students to develop symptoms of PTSD.

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The report starts off with stating what PTSD is by definition and listing symptoms in detail. It
also provides results from his findings in graphs and charts. This essay will analyze the two
genres, a manuscript and a video, and compare them to determine which one worked more
effectively. The areas will consist of audience and purpose, rhetorical issues, and structure and
delivery.
Audience and Purpose
This paragraph will examine which audience the video targets and how the
purpose of the video is to share a general knowledge of PTSD. The intended audience for the
video is anyone who wants to know more about the symptoms of PTSD. The discourse
communities are people who have experienced a traumatic event, current or former military
members, or friends and family of someone in the military. They might have a general idea of
PTSD is and a grasp of the more common symptoms, but they want to know what may trigger
these symptoms. They could also be interested in learning the rest of the symptoms and how each
one may affect them or someone they know. The host, Kevin Soden, MD, of the video explains
some of the symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety, and depression (2007, 1:121:25). An audience or viewer would need twenty-four minutes to watch the whole video and
possibly a few extra minutes to review certain parts of interest in the video. The purpose of the
video is to inform the viewer of the symptoms of PTSD and to show how those symptoms
affected one veterans life. It also aims to raise awareness of the PTSD and the treatment
methods. The language being used in the video is formal due to in being an informational show,
and also having a doctor and employees of Veteran Affairs as guests. There is some specialized
vocabulary in sense that is semi-casual and also some medical terms being used. Examples

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consists of the acronym TIR, which stands for Traumatic Incident Reduction, which is a type of
therapy (2007, 6:50-7:00). Some medical terms to describe the groups of PTSD symptoms are
Haunting Intrusive Memories, Anxiety Disorder, and Numbing Emotions (2007, 10:22-11:15)
As for the manuscript, it targets a different audience and has a similar purpose but
is more narrowed to students. The intended audience is primarily the El Paso community and
discourse communities would be students, faculty, or people that are close to the area in which
the study was conducted. The El Paso audience already knows or is aware of the violence that is
taking place across the border. They would read this manuscript to learn the relationship of the
violence in Juarez and students attending border schools. Also to see how the symptoms of PTSD
is affecting these students in school. This manuscript is roughly about thirty-five pages and may
take the audience an hour to read and fully understand all the information that is being presented.
The purpose of this manuscript is to inform the reader of PTSD (2012, pg. 2-3), its symptoms
(2012, pg. 3-5) , and how the violence across the border is causing students to develop symptoms
of PTSD. The language is formal and there is usage of abbreviations throughout the manuscript.
Some examples are NIHM (National Institutes of Mental Health), ADDA (Anxiety Disorders
Association of America), and APA (American Psychiatric Association) (2012, pg. 2).
The purpose to inform and raise a general awareness of PTSD and its symptoms is
common in both genres. The video does go more in depth when it comes to the symptoms and
how they can make someone's life more difficult compared to the manuscript. However, the
manuscript also focuses on the correlation of violence in Juarez and PTSD symptoms in students
attending neighboring schools. The video favors more of the community that deals directly with
PTSD while the manuscript is more towards the community of the schools being affected.

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Rhetorical Issues

The following information pertains to how the video incorporates the following
aspects, ethos, logos, and pathos. The video does give a lot of information but at the same time it
is all easy for the viewer to grasp. The credibility of the information being given is accounted for
by the show and program that is relaying the information. Also interviewing David Powell, a
veteran from Vietnam, and having him explain his experience adds credibility to the information.
Being able to have a Dr. Glenn Schiraldi, a professor from the University of Maryland (2007,
8:38-8:45), and Terry Luper, a re-adjustment counselor with Veteran Affairs (2007, 14:20-14:24),
boasts the credibility of the video since they both have studied PTSD and have first hand
experience with that subject. Each of these interviews helped the purpose in showing the effects
of the symptoms and how it can make normal life difficult. The evidence used to support the
claims being made is interviewing a person who has gone through PTSD and people who work
with patients dealing with PTSD. The emotions that the video tries to evoke is compassion,
sympathy, pain, and concern for the individuals that are dealing with PTSD. This is effective due
to it makes the viewer want to learn how to see the signs of PTSD and help with the treatments.
Just as the previous paragraph analyzed ethos, logos, and pathos for the video, this
paragraph will do the same but for the manuscript. The manuscript also gives an abundance of
information pertaining to the topic of symptoms in students. The credibility of the author, Francis
J. Reyes, comes from his education background. Reyes graduated from UTEP in 2010 with a
degree in Health Promotion and proceeded straight into the Masters of Public Health program
(2012, pg. 42). His report is also approved by four members all with Ph. Ds showing his report is
both valid and credible. They are Joe Tomaka, Ph.D., Sharon Davis, Ph.D., Barbara Schoen,

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Ph.D., Guillermina Solis, Ph.D., and Benjamin C. Flores, Ph.D., who is the Interim Dean of
Graduate School (2012, Cover Page). The evidence that was used to support the claims were
tables (2012, pg. 20-21) and figures (2012, pgs. 18, 22-24) which showed his results in the study
reports. Due to the nature of the report and it having no images, there was only one emotion that
could be taken away. This was concern for the students that were located so close to the violence
that was happening across the border.
In a compare and contrast analysis the video is more effective when applying
ethos, logos, and pathos. The video was able to portray more pathos in being able to use video
and images to its advantage. The video clip of soldiers firing their weapons and the veteran being
interviewed talking about his experience of killing is first person is one example (2007, 1:451:55). The video also might have had a slight edge over the ethos aspect, with bringing in many
different guests to the show. Each guest had a level of credibility and knowledge about the topic
that was being discussed in the show. Both the video and manuscript had an adequate amount of
logos, with the video having guests who were very knowledgeable of PTSD and the manuscript
taking part in multiple studies.
Structure and Delivery
A video has a structural freedom that allows the producer to be as creative as
possible with very few limitations. For the video the organization is very fluent in the way the
information is presented. It starts off with a brief description of PTSD and some of the
symptoms, followed by the interview with the veteran, followed by the doctor and employee of
the Veteran Affairs. This was a very well shaped form since the information on each segment
easily transitioned to the next guest. The only limitations for a video would be the information

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that is chosen to be presented and the audience that it is targeting. Since a video has more than
enough freedom of space, time, and all the aspect of creativity possible. Visual effects of war
images add to the message of the effect of PTSD to the veteran during his interview (2007, 2:453:32)
A manuscript should have a great structural design to relay the message clearly to
the reader. The manuscript was very organized in the way the information was laid out. The
author started with an abstract, a table of contents, list of tables, and a list of figures. It also has
the main topic at the top and the information about that topic directly below it. The manuscript is
also separated into sub-paragraphs with their own title for each aspect of the report. Each title
and sub-paragraph title is in bold stating what the following information is going to be based on.
There are two of tables (2012, pg. 20-21) and four figures (2012, pgs. 18, 22-24) in the
manuscript that contains data that was found during the studies. This helps the purpose of the
genre by showing the reader the results of the certain parts of the study. The limitations are only
those by which the author puts on himself by focusing on a certain topic. Also since the topic is
based on a certain area, that could also limit the audience that is drawn to this manuscript.
As far as structure and they way the information is relayed, both the video and
manuscript do a very good job. They both have the same limitations when it comes to which
audience would be drawn towards the information being given. Yet the video genre does have
more freedom compared to a manuscript or a study report.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both the video and manuscript were different genres which were
able to convey the same idea but just in different ways. Throughout this essay, both the video and

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manuscript were analyzed in the following three areas: audience and purpose, rhetorical issues,
and structure and delivery. After carefully analyzing both genre types, the video was more
effective in conveying the message. The video had more freedom, used more credible sources,
and was more effective on using ethos, logos, and pathos. Both genres did a superb job in giving
the information on its topic and using plenty of evidence. Every genre type is an effective way to
inform, persuade, and raise awareness about a topic. It just depends on what the topic may be
which determines which genre may be better.

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References

Post-traumatic stress disorder. Films for the Humanities & Sciences, Films Media Group and
Multimedia Group of Canada (Directors). (2005).[Video/DVD] New York, N.Y.: Films
Media Group. Retrieved from http://0-digital.films.com.lib.utep.edu/ PortalPlaylists.aspx?
xtid=29358&aid=12400
Reyes, F. J. (2012). Coping as a mediator between proximity to violence in juarez, and PTSD
symptoms among college students attending a university on the texas-mexico border
Retrieved from http://0-search.proquest.com.lib.utep.edu/pqdtft/docview/1039264408 /
13D5FACE31855B8A8FA/1?accountid=7121