More On PTSD
By Susan Barrera
We have been fortunate to have had a great support group at the Veterans Hospital in Albuquerque for the partners of veterans suffering from PTSD. I have been a member of that support group almost from the beginning, about 8 years. I will be sharing what I have learned from the perspective of a spouse and not a professional mental health specialist.
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (or Syndrome), is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience of, or witnessing of life-threatening events, such as combat. It is not “craziness”. It is a natural response to experiences which created feelings of intense fear, horror and helplessness. It can, and does, affect anyone who experiences severe trauma of any sort. I am restricting my comments to combat-related trauma.
Trauma memories are not stored in the brain in the same way that other memories are. A traumatic experience stores with sights, sounds and smells and will be re-experienced if triggered by something that will connect one of those sights, sounds or smells. Re-experiences or ‘flashbacks’ can be triggered by helicopters flying overhead, the smells of diesel, urine or barbecueing meat; rain, fireworks, popping corn and any number of other everyday events. That is one of the major differences between regular and trauma memories. A combat trauma will not be remembered, but re-experienced. Therefore, telling a veteran: “that was then, this is now; get over it” is particularly unhelpful. These experiences are now. It is like a “Twilight Zone” episode: they are stuck living a nightmare of terror over and over. And for a lot of these veterans these flashbacks are just as clear today as they were when they happened.
It is a complicated disorder and a number of factors can contribute to its’ severity:
* How much, if any, trauma did the veteran experience in their life prior to entering the service?
* The severity of the traumatic experiences of combat,
* The length of time they were experienced,
* How constant; how many exposures?
* The sensitivity of a particular veteran to these types of experiences
* Real or perceived responsibility; a sense of betrayal
* A social environment that produces shame, guilt, stigmatization, or self-hatred. (particularly for Vietnam vets)
Are there any psychiatric disorders that may have been pre-existing and undiagnosed, or that the vet may have been prone to developing?
All of these situations can affect how a veteran will react to and process their traumatic events. An event which may have a profoundly disturbing effect on one individual may be taken in stride by another. But, in general, the more severe and lengthy the traumatic exposure, the more severe the PTSD.
What are the symptoms of PTSD? There is a long list of symptoms and all veterans suffering from PTSD don’t experience all of them. Some wives have come to our support group and asked “Is this behavior PTSD or is he just a jerk?” A lot of behaviors that some of these vets exhibit seem to be just bizarre. When we learn what their experiences were and how they affected them, it makes sense.
Some of the symptoms of PTSD are: battle dreams, persistent anxiety, hyper-vigilance, irritability, explosive aggressive behavior, exaggerated startle response, depression, rage, impaired concentration, self-blame, hostility, sleep disturbances, panic attacks, emotional numbness, suicidal or homicidal thoughts, lonliness, social withdrawal, fear of losing control, feelings of alienation, anger, decreased intimacy, personality disorders, lowered trust in others, self-medication through drugs or alcohol, phobic-like avoidance behaviors, need for control, insomnia, self-destructive behavior, ‘zoning-out’ for short or long periods of time, isolation, memory and cognitive impairment, job instability, inability to function in social and family life, difficulty in parenting, physical problems, paranoia, intrusive thoughts, and mistrust of authority figures and the ‘system’.
Continued in next month’s issue; why they are experiencing these symptoms.
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