The life of the main character in Alice Walker's The Color Purple (1984) contained many examples of traumatic events that the DSM-V lists as triggers for PTSD. (APA, 2013) Celie began her story by writing a letter to God explaining the dark place she found herself in after her mother's unexpected death. Her father expected Celie to take her place in every way, impregnating her twice and having the resulting children taken away from her. During the first ten minutes of the film, events in Celie's life were the catalyst for the development of PTSD: A. Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence from one (or more ) in the following ways:1. Directly experiencing the traumatic event(s).2. Witness in person events as they occurred to others.3. Learning that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or friend. In the event of the actual or threatened death of a family member or friend, the event(s) must have been violent or accidental. (APA, 2013 p 271) While Celie had already experienced many possible causes of PTSD, her problems only intensified. Her first opportunity to leave this detractive home came when her father agreed to marry her off to a local widower looking for a wife to care for his children. Her situation only got worse when her husband also sexually assaulted her, but with an added physical and emotional dimension. Her husband constantly berated her and told her how useless and ugly she was while her stepchildren were also verbally and physically abusive. All of these abusive behaviors tend to cause internalizing problems in the victim. It would not be surprising to see Celie use the defense mechanism of dissociation to find...... middle of paper ......ntent. Any of these could not only trigger an imbalance, but also provide a holding structure for PTSD to take deeper roots in Celie's life. Fortunately, Celie was able to combat all of these misperceptions and risk factors to hold firmly to her moral core and protective mechanisms. Her story of reconciliation and recovery has given courage and determination to many people seeking not only to leave abusive relationships, but also to those healing from the sexual assault they suffered in their youth. They were able to see that even in the face of negativity and adversity of this magnitude, there is hope… always hope! Unlike Celie who always looks forward and never back, our next case study will show us what happened as Evan constantly struggled to change the past rather than accepting his place in his story while giving life many intrusive symptoms associated with PTSD..