PTSD: Wounded Motherboard

In the past I've tried to find the right way, the right words to explain, as simply as possible, that PTSD is a wound. As such, it should be classified for exactly that and nothing less. The word "trauma" means wound in Greek. Most words come from the Greek language. The Greeks knew a thing or two about trauma because of all the wars they've had throughout their history. If anyone is going to get this word right, it's them. It was not by accident they called it a wound.

This is one of the things I wrote about reclassifying it as a wound.

http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/05/to-deny-purple-heart-for-ptsd-is-wrong.html


It doesn't seem to matter how much I write about this very simple fact because too many people want to either deny the reality of PTSD or minimize the extent of this wound. When warriors survive the traumas of war and make it back home, some cannot find the will or the hope to keep breathing. The wound has cut too deeply. Yet if everyone were aware of what this is and finally accepted it, we would see fewer committing suicide or attempting it. Suicide always comes from hopelessness. There just doesn't seem to be a point in trying anymore. If we all understood it and stopped trying to blame the wounded, then maybe, just maybe, we could save a lot of their lives.

So let's try it this way. Your computer functions because of a motherboard. The capacity of the amount of things you can do with it depends on the size of the memory and the programs installed in it. You can take things out and put things into the memory. Words are stored in certain programs. Pictures are stored in others. Sounds are stored in yet more programs. When they all work right, you can join them together and create videos to be played back with the click of a mouse. The computer can create magic. Yet do something wrong, go into some site you shouldn't and you can damage the motherboard. Since the motherboard runs it all, it can be your worst nightmare. All your data is corrupted. Programs no longer work. In extreme cases, the motherboard has to be replaced and you've lost all of your work unless you were wise enough to backup everything and store it someplace else.

This is what PTSD is like. Instead of a virus, it is more like an infection that has to be treated or it gets worse. The human body, run by the motherboard of the brain, controls it all. The brain has the ability to counter emotions but like the protections on your computer, there are limits to what it is able to do. As it tries desperately to protect the rest of the body and fight off the infection, other parts of the body suffer as enforcement is redirected to the damaged parts. As the defenses are weakened, sooner or later, the motherboard brain is infected as well. We cannot replace this motherboard and we have to either cure the infection stopping it from spreading or we shut down.

This has happened to humans since the beginning of time. Read just about any historical account of warfare and you will see the signs of it. Read any part of the Bible and you'll see the human suffering documented there. Pictures pop up without asking for them. Sounds stored in memory cells come back to life. Words said are repeated. It all comes back but unlike the magic of purposefully bringing them together, they crash together. The motherboard also manages to load the increase heart rate, makes the muscles tense, hyper alerts the senses in a flashback and then the system crashes, drained and unable to function as normal.

There is no power switch to shut the system down at night and let it rest protected from invaders while you cannot monitor what is coming in. It awakens while sleeping in the form of nightmares.

While some argue that PTSD is not a wound worthy of the Purple Heart, it would be great if they could explain how a bullet wound in the arm can shut the entire system down. TBI and PTSD can do this. They can also destroy families. They can and do destroy futures. While we do not award the Purple Heart differently for the loss of a few drops of blood any differently than we do for the loss of a limb or limbs, there are some who think PTSD and TBI are wounds to a lesser degree than all others. The problem with this is that this organ wounded, this part of the body wounded, controls it all. This is the mother load of all wounds because it strikes the motherboard. Time to understand this so that every wounded veteran can be treated with the same respect and dignity the rest of the wounded do.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com
"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington