Pretraumatic stress disorder

Pretraumatic stress disorder (PreTSD) is a term for a severe, ongoing and debilitating emotional reaction to imagined or fantasized psychological trauma. PreTSD is linked to excessive consumption of alcohol and lack of mental fortitude. PreTSD is more commonly referred to as "Elliot's Syndrome."

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History of the Disorder

The first case of PreTSD was reported in Fall 2006 involving a 21 year old Andrew "Snake" Elliot, a US Marine Corps Officer Candidate at the University of Virginia. Several months prior to being commissioned and years before he would actually be qualified for combat, Candidate Elliot began displaying signs of severe combat-induced emotional trauma after consuming alcoholic beverages.

Elliot would make claims that those on the outside didn't know what he had been through, sending young boys out on missions to die and come back in pieces. The pain of imagining looking a mother in the eye and telling her that her son was not coming home was simply too much for Elliot to control. In his own words, he had "seen some shit, man." Elliot was clearly suffering from severe emotional trauma that many believed made it hard for him to function as a normal member of society.

Causes of the Disorder

Upon further investigation, it was learned that the extent of Elliot's combat experience involved simulations in the woods of Quantico over a ten-week training period while at Officer Candidate School, where live ammunition is not used. This sparked the central debate around the origins of PreTSD.

Professionals in the medical community are engaged in a debate as to whether this condition occurs because the sufferers actually believe that they have been in combat or if the emotional distress is caused as they anticipate the possibility of being in combat at some point in the very, very distant future. It is however very clear that the condition only strikes those who lack normal social skills and are stricken with debilitating alcoholism.

Stages and Symptoms

Combat Mode

Although it effects each individual differently, several symptoms have been observed in all cases of Elliot's Syndrome. Sufferers commonly revert to combat mode, telling strangers that they are going to kill them and detailing to friends how, in the event of a fight, they would kill and/or neutralize every person in sight.

Stress Mode

Afterwards, sufferers typically enter stress mode as they deal with the horrors and atrocities of the imagined battles that they have waged. This usually involves extreme remorse for young men that were sent into imaginary battles and returned to their families in body bags. The guilt induced by these hallucinations propels the sufferer into a state of extreme hysteria -- most often characterized by extended bouts of weeping -- and leads, in turn, to further inebriation. In rare cases, sufferers in this hysterical state have been known to take inexplicable excursions on foot for distances of up to 15 miles in the early hours of the morning, all without being able to recollect doing so the next day.

Compensation Mode

The final stage of an outburst is known as the compensation mode in which sufferers attempt to forget about the traumas they have experienced. Often this occurs in the form of sexual conquests with below-average looking women and/or attempts at such conquests that are often viewed as "creepy" or "sketch-as-shit" by the targets. Examples of such behavior include, but are not limited to, following a woman around constantly at a bar or party, heavy breathing while near the opposite sex, excessive staring at a woman's exposed cleavage, unwanted physical contact, and smelling a woman's hair when she is distracted.

Known Cures for PreTSD

There is currently no cure for this debilitating affliction, although it has been observed that making senseless, undiversified investments in the stock market can help to alleviate its symptoms.

Final Notes

In Candidate Elliot, the compensation mode was observed quite frequently, many times in the absence of previously being in combat mode and stress mode. It is worth noting that Elliot seems to be the lone case in which such questionable sexual exploits and failed attempts are so frequent.