Undoubtedly, The Road presents a myriad of possible catalysts for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in the population of McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic North America. “The Black Hole of Trauma” presents statistics describing possible grounds for the development of PTSD: One out of five of “23% had been…witnesses of violence against others,” (5) and developed PTSD, while “76% of American adults reported having been exposed to extreme stress” (5). Merely considering these two details, we can already see why the man and his son in The Road are, or in the son’s case will be, sufferers of PTSD. The trauma of witnessing such a large scale extinction of the world as you know it would, in my opinion, certainly constitute “extreme stress” in the man, as I’m sure the subsequent “witness[ing] of violence against others” that exists in this horrifying, cannibalistic society will eventually affect the boy in irreparable ways. In some ways I feel like the boy, due to his survival, is going to be more greatly impacted by his PTSD, as the man’s untimely death effectively halted the “flourishing” of his PTSD and all its ensuing affects. Additionally, the man’s PTSD appears to have been in the “early stages” associated with reliving the memories. While his memories are not necessarily “preoccupied with the event,” (5) they do seem “involuntar[ily] obtrusive” (5) recollections of his wife and home. The man does seem to exhibit signs of Avoidance, in it that he removes and leaves his wedding ring, a symbol of the trauma associated with losing his wife; however, he has not yet progressed into the stages Compulsive Reexposure to Trauma and Hyperarousal, as seen by his consistent protecting of his son (rather than revictimizing him or attempting to be self destructive and therefore leaving the boy to fend for himself). Though, it is expected that eventually these stages would be reached, as the general progression of neuroses associated with PTSD, but his death “saves” him from this progression. The boy, however, survives the road, and as such will most likely have to progress through more stages of PTSD (possibly heightened by the traumatic experience of his father’s death) and have to be treated without the knowledge to know how or the assistance of a psychologist who does.