At the ever present risk of being downvoted: should we be able to chemically forgive ourselves for anything/everything?
Aren’t there some things that are so terrible that we should continue to feel guilty?
Aren’t there some things that are so terrible that we should continue to feel guilty?
I'll add that PTSD doesn't only happen to people that have done things - it happens to folks that have been through some sort of trauma. Victims of child abuse or spousal abuse, for example. Sometimes folks that have been in car accidents, fires, and other such things. I know a person that is in inpatient treatment right now because it got so bad... again. She's mostly in treatment because the thought of her children going through a parental suicide made her feel badly.
And I'll add this as well: Soldiers don't always have the real choice to do things differently, especially in draft situations or if someone has been lied to in recruitment (really common). And I'll add that forgiving oneself is not the same as being OK with everything that happened, simply that the overriding guilt doesn't own your life and affect everyone that you know. People change but their past often doesn't (there are some exceptions, such as missed information, but what you thought is still what you thought).
As a philosophical point, I am okay with non-soldier examples.
Does you argument still stand?
Still, if you think the point or goal of the topic here is "chemical forgiveness" then you're way off base in the first place - someone can be so horrified they can't even internalize the shame of what they did. The point isn't to feel good about doing bad things.
Not only that, but such things take a toll on society. Their families suffer - children, spouses, parents, siblings - and it is a drain on medical care. Why would we not make it so folks can lead a better life?
I'm not even a supporter of much of what a military does. They war, and rarely do the rebuilding or giving back to the community outside of a PR stunt. (NASA gets a break here, they don't seem to be a warring segment). But that doesn't mean the little folks on the ground need to suffer for life. I don't think most folks are happy about the thing that gave them PTSD, but that's not what the drug does. (Side note: I've taken this particular drug). It simply makes it so you aren't caught up on it and can get back to living in the present. That thing stops eating your brain and linking that thing to more innocent things in every day life.
In the case of this soldier he is most definitely deserving of help and respect.
I can concoct particular examples but it gets dramatic quickly. I am sure you can come up with some extreme examples.
Are you saying you are okay with the person forgiving themselves in every example you can think of?
Does it matter if the person can forgive themselves "easily" i.e. immediately after the act, and for all time with no consequences?