Before coming to Seattle Grace, Dr. Owen Hunt was a solider in Iraq. He was working as an army trauma surgeon, and was honorably discharged after his entire platoon was killed. Dr. Hunt begins to build a relationship with Christina Yang, but this development is made entirely more difficult by the onset of his Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. He displays excessive aggression and violence, refuses to confront the issue, and it is also revealed that he has trouble sleeping. The storyline of Hunt's PTSD reaches its climax when he is lying in bed one night with Christina and suddenly begins strangling her, not realizing that he is at home and not in Iraq. He snaps out of it when Callie Torres enters the room asking if everything is okay. Hunt finally realizes that he has to do something because he is so horrified by what he did to Christina. Hunt occasionally refers to his time in Iraq, but no longer suffers from the symptoms of PTSD that he showed before.
Hunt choking Christina while thinking he is still in Iraq, 5x19, "Elevator Love Letter"
In the season 6 finale, a familiar face comes to Seattle Grace to shake things up and seek revenge. Gary Clark was the husband of a patient that dies on the table while Dr. Webber, Lexie Grey, and Dr. Derek Shepherd were operating on him. He fails to find Webber and Lexie, but finds and shoots Derek Shepherd, along with many other doctors, nurses, attending, patients, and patients' family members. While Yang is operating on Derek, attempting to save his life, the shooter comes into the OR and demands she stop operating and let him die. In a quite complicated series of events Meredith Grey steps in telling him to shoot her and saying she will be his "eye for an eye," Owen takes the bullet for Grey, Christina convinces Clark (and in turn, Meredith) that Derek is dead, Clark leaves, Yang reveals that Derek is alive, Meredith rushes to saves Hunt, and Yang saves Derek. In the next season, we find out that Yang is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The shooting haunts her constantly, and she even quits for a short amount of time before returning to her Seattle Grace family. Yang is usually considered the toughest, strongest person on the show, so this storyline only goes to show how PTSD is a condition that can occur in anyone.
Christina finally talks and tells Hunt about the crash while he helps her bathe, 9x02, "Remember the Time"
In the season 8 finale, Meredith Grey, Christina Yang, Arizona Robbins, Mark Sloan, and Derek Shepherd all get trapped in the woods after their plane was brought down in pieces. When season 9 opens we find Arizona missing a leg, Derek suffering from serious nerve damage in his hand, Mark and Lexie dead, Christina physically healthy but not verbally responsive, and Meredith trying to hold everyone together. Christina is not displaying typical signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder but the fact that she is physically healthy makes it seem as if that should be her diagnosis. It is revealed that she is aware of what is going on when she throws a vase filled with flowers at a window behind which residents were gossiping about Yang. In episode two of season nine we also find out that she does have other symptoms of PTSD when she finally speaks. Hunt is bathing her and telling her how he's going to take off work to help her, and when he asks if she's ready to get out she says "I can't. I can't get out." She then proceeds to list off the haunting details of the crash and the days following, and says that it haunts her every single day.
"I can't. I can't get out. I stayed awake for four days. I remember every minute of those four days... I couldn't get out. I can't get out. Don't you see? I'll never get out."
- Christina Yang
9x02, Remember the Time
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