[nyolfen]

it reminds me of an episode of a podcast i was listening to recently about somebody who grew up in a tough area with other people who experienced violence and difficult circumstances, and while there he had no emotional issues and simply pushed everything down; but once he moved to a 'nice' (american middle class) college and people heard about what he had experienced and felt sorry for him, he suddenly developed symptoms of ptsd. i think our individual response to circumstances can largely be shaped by what is normal around us.