“reckless and self-destructive behavior” has been added as
a symptom of PTSD in the fifth edition of theDiagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the handbook used to diagnose
psychiatric conditions.^7
One study, for example, involved over 200 veterans diag-
nosed with PTSD.^8 The researchers also assessed the amount and
severity of reckless behaviors. Reckless and self-destructive beha-
vior was reported by over 74 percent of the participants with 61 per-
cent engaging in multiple forms. These behaviors included
dangerous drug use, alcohol use, operating a car while impaired,
or engaging in aggressive behavior such as fighting. In fact, the
more symptoms of PTSD a person had, the more of these behaviors
they reported. “These types of high-risk behaviors appear to be
common among veterans who have experienced trauma, and put
veterans in harm’s way by making it more likely that they will
experience stress and adversity in the future,” says Naomi Sadeh
of the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Health Care
system.^9
Because of this, many mental health professionals ask me if
people with high sensation-seeking personalities are suffering
from trauma. It’s easy to link Freud’s idea of Thanatos (the death
instinct) with survivors’ guilt from traumatic experiences. If that’s
what is happening you would assume that people with PTSD symp-
toms would also have greater sensation-seeking tendencies, except
many studies point to the opposite. For example, Scott Orr and his
colleagues found that war veterans with PTSD, although having
greater boredom susceptibility than those in the control group,
actually had lower scores on sensation-seeking.^10
What’s more, most people who are high sensation-seekers
have had that personality trait for as long as they can remember.
They have memories even as kids of doing high sensation-seeking
stunts. If a person is suddenly impulsive and reckless after
a traumatic experience it may be linked with PTSD and might not
be part of a high sensation-seeking personality.Analysis is Paralysis: Acting without Fear
One of the first people I interviewed for this book was a friend of
mine named Andrew. Andrew is an archetypal high sensation-
seeker. You remember him from the early chapters. He was in the
military, went to the police academy, became a deputy sheriff, and164 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:18:43, subject to the Cambridge