I was tasked with analyzing the claims within Section 5.

“Secondary traumatic stress has been documented in the spouses of veterans with PTSD from Vietnam. And the spouses of Israeli veterans with PTSD, and Dutch veterans with PTSD.”

The beginning of this section uses Factual Claims and Causal Claims to inform the reader of developments in cases of traumatic stress. The phrase “has been documented” tells us this isn’t speculation and has evidence backing it up. In addition, the nature of the claim connecting a cause (PTSD partners) and an effect (spouses with trauma), makes it also a Causal Claim.

“In one study, the incidence of secondary trauma in wives of Croatian war vets with PTSD was 30 percent. In another study there, it was 39 percent.”

This section is a Numerical Claim. It cites a study that was done on Croatian War veterans’ spouses and brings up two different data figures from two iterations of the study.

“‘Trauma is really not something that happens to an individual,’ says Robert Motta, a clinical psychologist and psychology professor at Hofstra University who wrote a few of the many medical-journal articles about secondary trauma in Vietnam vets’ families. ‘Trauma is a contagious disease; it affects everyone that has close contact with a traumatized person”

This segment uses Factual Claims, Credibility Claims, and Definition Claims to enlighten the reader deeper into what trauma really is. The author first tells us why we can trust the quoted information we’re about to receive, in the form of a detailed look into their credentials. Then the author quotes the professor’s definition of what trauma is and how it affects those around it. This claim is a Definition as well as Fact.

“Katie Vines, the first time I meet her, is in trouble. Not that you’d know it to look at her, bounding up to the car, blondish bob flying as she sprints from her kindergarten class, nice round face like her daddy’s. No one’s the wiser until she cheerfully hands her mother a folder from the backseat she’s hopped into. It contains notes about the day from her teacher.

‘It says here,’ Brannan says, her eyes narrowing incredulously, ‘that you spit on somebody today.’

‘Yes ma’am,’ Katie admits, lowering her voice and her eyes guiltily.

‘Katie Vines.’ Brannan was born here in Alabama, so that’s drawled. ‘Wah did you do that?’”

The author uses an Illustrative Claim and Evaluative Claim here to paint us a mental picture of a scene taking place, and evaluate how PTSD and Trauma connect to it. The scene describes a young person’s troublesome actions at school in descriptive language and direct dialogue.