Diagnosis: Donald Duck Suffers from PTSD

Contributed by Chance W.

While watching a Donald Duck cartoon from 1935, The Band Concert and some others, I noticed he did not have quite such an explosive temper as in later cartoons. With a little research on Wikipedia I found out Donald had served as a paratrooper and commando in World War II who saw fairly intense combat.  This made me wonder if perhaps Donald suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) related to his wartime service. Let’s compare the symptoms of PTSD with Donald:

1. Exposure to a traumatic event:  He had several traumatic experiences in training and near death experiences behind enemy lines.
2. Persistent reexperience (e.g. flashbacks, nightmares):  This appears to happen in many cartoons.
3. Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma (e.g. inability to talk about things even related to the experience, avoidance of things and discussions that trigger flashbacks and reexperiencing symptoms fear of losing control):  I’ve never heard him discuss these events in any other cartoon.
4. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (e.g. difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger and hypervigilance):  Yep.
5. Duration of symptoms more than 1 month: 60+ years at this point.
6. Significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (e.g. problems with work and relationships.): That describes Donald to a T.

Of course, it could just be that Disney thinks explosive tempers are funny, but I think I may be onto something here.

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Mini-Analyzations

• I’m surprised no one has mentioned this: the lack of biological parents in cartoon shows. Think of all the characters who live with someone other than their parents: Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby living with Uncle Donald then Uncle Scrooge in DuckTales. Gosalyn and Darkwing Duck in Darkwing Duck, Robin and Nightwing living with Batman. Also, Penny and Uncle Gadget. No explanation is given about their parents’ whereabouts. When I was a kid I wondered where they were. I think if cartoon creators have a handle enough to show orphans, they should go the full monty and explain where mom and dad are.
  – Contributed by Mark P.
• Yet another common device that cartoon manufacturers use is to add a character to a show that is there solely for the purpose of comic relief (usually, it backfires, though). This character is quite frequently of some other species, &c. than the main character(s). Examples are Slimer in The Real Ghostbusters, Snarf in ThunderCats, Alexander in Josie and The Pussycats, Blip in Space Ghost, Orko in He-Man, Chim-Chim in Speed Racer, Godzuki in Godzilla, and Needler in The Pirates of Dark Water.
  – Contributed by The Editor
• What’s the nature of ghosts in The Real Ghostbusters? Are they extra-dimensional critters, traumatic psychic residue, or is the team actually capturing the souls of the deceased with proton lightning and cramming them in a basement nuclear reactor? That seems awfully blasphemous. Perhaps it’s symbolic of people’s willingness to ignore their past, or maybe a commentary on modern urban life being “soulless.”
  – Contributed by Blake