Trigger Avoidance In Najmah's Suicide

(MIP-1) Najmah’s trigger avoidance, a vital symptom of PTSD, stems from her fear of reliving the bombing when her mother and baby brother died, but by running away to save herself, she prevents recovery by isolating herself from those who wish to help her. (SIP-A) Trigger avoidance appears in Najmah after the death of her mother and baby brother as she fears to experience the event once more. (STEWE-1) Studies have shown that when under the effect of PTSD, there are triggers which may cause the individual to live through the event again. As a result, they usually attempt to avoid the triggers which cause them pain (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder”). This is apparent in Najmah through the way many of her actions stem from her motives to avoid

Her love for them and her need to protect them was challenged by their deaths, and her PTSD only further enforces the fact that losing someone who one cherishes and lives for will change them irreversibly. (SIP-B) Najmah 's first instinct is to run away from her triggers in order to save herself from pain, but she simultaneously prevents recovery by building walls which keep people out. (STEWE-1) Najmah, as a war refugee from Afghanistan, had been incredibly susceptive to mental disorders such as PTSD. In the Middle East, refugees are likely to suffer worse from PTSD due to the loss of family. With no one to support them because of the common deaths of those who are close to them, Afghan refugees are often victims of mental conditions such as PTSD. Additionally, it is more difficult for them to recover (Park). By avoiding speaking about her mother and baby brother, she is unable to make new connections which could ultimately help her heal from PTSD, as shown directly after the bombing when “[Khalida] does not try to talk to [her], and [she] is grateful” (Staples 83). Najmah at that point had no real family left, as her brother and father were taken by the Taliban and her mother and baby brother died in the

(STEWE-2) Najmah is again unable to open up to Nusrat because of her trigger avoidance, “I try to smile at her, she is very kind, but I still do not want to be touched and I do not yet want to talk about my family” (Staples 206). Once again, her trigger avoidance acts as a tool for the author to explain that loss affects a person in a way that they will never be the same again. As Najmah does not wish to talk about her family, it shows that by avoiding any and all possible triggers she protects herself from pain. The suffering she experienced during and after the bombing explains her wish to never experience it ever again. But that in itself shows that their deaths control her actions and her feelings. The loss of those she wished to protect are what caused Najmah to avoid her triggers. Her rejection of those who could possibly help her heal from her PTSD shows the effects of pain she experienced. Losing her mother and baby brother not only left her alone, but it also is what kept her alone for much of her emotional journey. (CS) The extent to which Najmah loved her family is revealed in her reactions to anything that concerns them; by avoiding her triggers to protect herself, it demonstrates how immense the effect of losing them