Dr. Robin Rosenberg on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Superheroes, and Supervillains

Newsarama has a feature article on a session at the Comics Arts Conference which took place "within" WonderCon this year. Titled "Life After Trauma: To Be A Superhero Or Supervillain," the session featured my good friend Dr. Robin Rosenberg (editor of The Psychology of Superheroes), as well as Dr. Travis Langely and Andrea Letamendi. From the article:

So what kind of trauma do superheroes typically experience? War and large-scale events are among the top says Rosenberg, though they also often experience life threatening illnesses. One example she gave was Superman’s regular exposure to the several types of Kryptonite, another was Iron Man’s heart condition. But one of the prime examples was Bruce Wayne witnessing his parents being gunned down.

“Turns out, intended personal violence is the type of trauma that’s most likely to have a large psychological after effect that leaves a wake,” said Rosenberg. “The other types tend not to lead to PTSD and in fact only a minority of people who experience a trauma develop PTSD.” Rosenberg suggested about 20% of cases lead to the disorder.

Be sure, too, to check out Dr. Rosenberg blogs, Psychablog and The Superheroes (at Psychology Today).