On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior editor Shannon Palus sits down with writer and political scientist Virginia Eubanks. They talk about Virginia’s New York Times magazine essay , “His PTSD, and My Struggle to Live With It,” and how the condition is more widespread than most people realize, even as terms like “trauma” and “triggered” are tossed around cavalierly. Later in the show, they talk about why you shouldn’t give unsolicited advice to people living with PTSD—and what kind of support caregivers of people with PTSD really need.   

In Slate Plus: Why Virginia wanted to write her New York Times essay, and whether the COVID-19 pandemic is, technically speaking, a traumatic event. 

Further Recommended Reading:

What to Say When Someone Tells You They’re Chronically Ill by Rachel Meeks

Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story by Gabriel Mac

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Shannon Palus, Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.

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