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Joshua G. Bratager

Mr. King

English I

25 May 2017

Juliets Relationship with Acute Stress Disorder

Theoretically, everyone has that type of day, the kind that will ruin a life forever.

However, for some people, this is a harsh reality. It is impossible to move on from a traumatic

event when responded with extreme horror. The simple answer from someone would be Well,

why not just handle the situation by thinking it through? However, it is common for someones

psychological reasoning to fly right out the window when they are unsure how to respond to a

stimuli. Therefore, Juliet should be diagnosed with acute stress disorder due to her psychological

circumstances that result from the issues happening in the family and the world around her.

After Romeo committed suicide, Juliet was extremely devastated. Juliet should be

diagnosed with this disorder due to the fact she responded to these circumstances with horror.

According to Criterion A; and individual must have experienced, witnessed, or was confronted

with a situation involving death (Bressert). Juliet was involved with death on two ends of this

occurrence. At first, she saw with her own eyes, Romeos dead body. Shortly after, she killed

herself by sticking a dagger into her own body. As this perfectly describes the criteria of acute

stress disorder, Juliet should be diagnosed with this specific condition.

Tybalts death also took a terrible effect on the health of Juliet. Another reason that Juliet

is a primary example of this disorder is that her mood swings began at the exact time that Tybalt

died. As stated by The National Center for PTSD, acute stress disorder often starts when another
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activity has been emotionally scarring and the cause of a lot of internal pain (Gibson). How she

is feeling happens in accordance with the world around her. This is another position where

Juliets emotional state qualifies her for this syndrome.

Despite the evidence against Juliet not having this disorder, many people believe she fails

to meet the correct requirements in order to be classified as having this disease. However, they

fail to see that the characterization of Juliets character fits the definition perfectly. Those who

agree with this claim think Juliets reaction is not different than that of any normal person. The

line of the reasoning is that any normal person would react similar to this and Juliet should not be

treated any differently. This basic train of thought is why they believe that Juliet should not be

diagnosed with this disorder. Although aspects of this argument are enticing, it ultimately fails to

be a stronger reasoning because of the vagueness to back the statement up. It is unclear of the

problems and unique situations that others face and is impossible to compare Juliets situation to

theirs. For example, the text says She takes Romeos dagger, stabs herself, and dies.

(Shakespeare) It is obvious that Juliet was faced with crazy circumstances which is very

uncommon for others to face. Due to the unclearness of the argument, the warrant is very

fallacious.

Those are the main reasons that Juliet should be diagnosed with acute stress disorder, as

the issues that stem from her family are detrimental to her mental health. There is overwhelming

evidence that proves that she has this syndrome and a significant lack of reasoning to support the

counterclaim. Many different factors come into play and fuse together to diagnose Juliet with a

unique condition that only a small portion of humans have.

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William, and Anne Collins. Romeo and Juliet. Edinburgh, Gate, Harlow ...: Pearson

Education, 2008. Print.

Bressert, Steve, PhD. "Mental Disorders & Conditions - DSM." Psych Central. PyschCentral, 17 July

2016. Web. 31 May 2017.

Gibson, Laura E., PhD. "PTSD: National Center for PTSD." Acute Stress Disorder - PTSD: National

Center for PTSD. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 05 July 2007. Web. 01 June 2017.