They want to just delete the traumatic events from the minds of people suffering from PTSD. Sounds like a logical thing to seek but considering everything that happens in our lives becomes a part of us, it would be taking part of "us" away.
You don't want to wipe out memories of friends that died, even though the memory of death is painful, the rest of your memory of him/her, is something you want to cherish. They added to your life while they were alive. You cared about them while receiving care from them. Eliminating any part of them from your memory would not change the outcome but would take away what they added to your life.
In times of crisis, you really don't want to wipe away memories of moments in your life when you had great courage or deep compassion. While painful, these emotions were gaining their strength and developing. You did things you never expected you were capable of.
The goal should not be to remove the traumatic memories. It should be to find peace with them.
When you know what PTSD is, know what your own body-mind and spirit are capable of, you find peace with the pain and then begin to heal instead of trying to escape it.
I would like you to watch the video I did for the National Guards to understand PTSD a little better than you do right now. Then maybe, we can get past all the talk about getting rid of memories.
Posted to Great Americans by NamGuardianAngel on September 11, 2009
Yesterday I was at a Chaplain's conference. While it it informed and fueled my soul, it also left me disheartened. There was a military chaplain there. He has great courage and compassion. What he did not have was knowledge of what PTSD is. This happens all the time. It is my belief it happens because they view PTSD as a "mental illness" and not caused by trauma. They can understand people in crisis but they cannot understand what happens all too often when moments of crisis and great stress are not addressed.
I use this explanation often. If you think of PTSD as an infection, that is easy to understand. We've all had an infection of one kind or another during our lives. We know that when some part of you becomes infected, it needs antibiotics to heal or it gets worse and spreads. It could begin small then spread out. As it does, it causes a lot of pain and suffering. It goes deeper as it spreads out.
PTSD gets worse untreated. It spreads out, claims more of "you" while digging deeper into your soul. It infects every aspect of your life. When you seek treatment with the antibiotic of talking, it stops getting worse. You begin to heal. In the beginning the release of built up pain is much like when an antiseptic is applied to an infected wound. IT HURTS. You feel a rush of pain come out of you as tears flow. This is pain from behind the wall your mind built to protect itself. The antibiotic is therapy with talking and medication as well as seeking spiritual healing. The wound heals. Depending on how much time between the original emotional wound and the time you heal, the depth of your scar is determined by that.
When you have received an "infection" your body and medicine healed, that area is either made stronger so that you don't feel much pain there again or it is a bit more tender in the exact area, but the surrounding area is stronger. That can be you.
You will never go back to the way you were before because life always changes us, goes into who we are, what we think and how we feel. What can happen is that you can be more tender in certain areas of your life while stronger in others. In other words, you can come out better on the other side of this darkness than you are in right now.
Please understand that what is needed with PTSD is healing not deleting what has already become a part of you.
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