Understanding PTSD: It's Not Just for Veterans

What's the very first thing that comes to your mind when you hear "PTSD"? To all of us, it's the war-torn soldier returning from battle, battling the wounds you can't see. That's tough and extremely true, but just half of a much bigger story. The reality is, PTSD can infiltrate any life. It is the deep response of the mind to any life-altering or frightening experience. To understand it is to start to set ourselves free from judgment and to make sure that all suffering souls that surround us are seen and loved. What is PTSD, Really?

Let's get real here: PTSD is not weakness. It's not something you can just "get over." It's more akin to your alarm system brain being stuck in the ON position. When you've been through something horribly traumatic, your body and brain are still in survival mode after the danger has passed. It's a natural, but agonizing, response to an unnatural stimulus.

The Multiple Faces of Trauma: It Could Happen to Anyone

Trauma is not what occurred, it's being overwhelmed by what did. It's whatever shatters your safety bubble and leaves you utterly powerless.

Consider the folks around you. The reserved office worker, the reserved neighbor, the grumpy friend any one of them could be fighting a war you know nothing about. PTSD is a result of:

• Childhood traumas: The long-term effect of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.

• A turning point in your life: Horrific car accident, vicious fall, or on-the-job accident.

• The fury of nature: Survived fire, flood, or earthquake.

• Premature and unexpected death: Shock of losing a close person.

• Violence and fear: Having weathered rape, robbery, or abuse at the hands of spouse.

• Struggling to stay alive in a hospital bed: Terrible medical prognosis, nasty wound, or a complex surgery.

• What you witnessed, not what happened to you: Pay attention. You don't have to be the glaring victim. A paramedic, a kid who's witnessed violence in his or her home life, or a bystander who's witnessed some sort of gruesome accident can become badly hurt too.

The Signs: It's Not Just Flashbacks

PTSD can manifest in many different forms, normally into four types of symptoms:

• Reliving the Trauma: More than the flashbacks. Nightmares, or getting suddenly hit with intense feeling and fear when an odor, sound, or view triggers a memory.

• Avoidance of Cues: You may go out of your way to avoid the people, situations, or even discussions that trigger you to remember what occurred. It can result in loneliness and isolation.

• Being Numb and Negative: You will be negative, hopeless, and numb towards the people you love. It is like you will never be able to recall some facts of the trauma, or even happy ones such as happiness or love.

• Feeling on Edge: This has been described as "hyperarousal." What that is, is you're in hyperalert mode all the time. You might be startle-prone, always tense, experience explosive anger outbursts, or experience insomnia.

• The Path to Healing: You Are Not Broken, You Are Healing

• If you can see yourself here, hope on: PTSD can be treated and you can recover. You are not broken; you are having a typical response to an atypical experience. The bravest thing you can do is seek some assistance.

Effective treatments include:

• Trauma processing therapy: Those types of therapies such as EMDR and CPT are fair, simply wonderful. They don't eliminate the memory but assist in getting your brain to basically sort it out in a positive sense so that it no longer has that painful, grasping hold.

• Medication: Medication can sometimes level out the overwhelming depression or anxiety, providing you with a stability so that you can then do the therapy.

Reaching out is strength, not weakness. Understanding about PTSD is not a form of trauma, but there are so many more forms, and with that, we can all fit into a kinder world where no one has to survive it alone. Your chapter is not complete; a new healing one can start.