We also know that when the whole person is being treated, the best results come. Take care of the mind, body and spirit.
PTSD is much like an infection. You are cut (by events you survived or witnessed) then tissue becomes infected around where you were cut (tissue is replaced by emotions and the chemicals in the brain reacting to the emotional "cut" received by the traumatic event) spreading out, digging deeper and causing more pain. When you have an infection, the body reacts to heal but more often than not, the body needs the help of antibiotics to fight off the infection. As the antibiotics begin to work the tissues heal, pain is eased and the scar remains behind. Depending on how soon the antibiotics are administered, the scar could be superficial or deeply embedded.
There is however no one size fits all "antibiotic" of therapy. Some do well with one but a buddy won't be helped at all by it, just as some will do well with one type of medication but others will not. If you do not feel as if your program is working for you, seek another one just as you would consult your doctor about another type of medication to use to heal the infection. Don't give up.
Former colonel backs new PTSD treatment
Doctor champions Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
By JAKE LOWARY • The Leaf-Chronicle • December 31, 2009
A retired local colonel with more than 30 years of experience in helping soldiers with family and psychological problems is championing a new technique he says can be more than 85 percent effective in the treatment of combat-related stress.
E.C. Hurley, the executive director of the Soldier Center and Marriage and Family Institute on Tiny Town Road, says the level of stress on soldiers today has never been higher, with repeated deployments. But, he said, the treatment of stress-related disorders is also getting much better, particularly in the form of EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.
read more here
Former colonel backs new PTSD treatment
Jeremiah Workman is a certified hero. Marine. Winner of The Navy Cross – the second highest medal of valor.
ReplyDeleteBut, Jeremiah Workman is a hero not because of anything he did in battle – he’ll be the first to tell you that. He’s a hero because he survived Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and has produced a gripping account of the incident that his PTSD and his struggle to overcome the emotional trauma
“It’s a masterful work that gives hope not just to those traumatized by battle but to everyone who’s ever struggled with PTSD,” notes Francis J. Flynn, Psy. D., CAP, director of the Brain Training Centers of Florida, and himself a PTSD survivor.
Workman writes to Iraq and Afghan war vets – and to anyone with PTSD – with an eloquence that would make Shakespeare jealous and is still absolutely down to earth.
Five years after his battlefield experience, he tells them
The campaign continues…I have my good days and bad ones. Sometimes it looks like I’ve made a lot of progress. Other days, I slip and fall. That’s the nature of the game now, and the point is to keep playing to win for yourself and your family.
[PTSD] affects us in different ways, but ultimately some of us develop the worse symptoms of PTSD: rage, overheated emotions, flashbacks, and overwhelming guilt. Our brains have been chemically altered by the trauma the war inflicted.
We’re proud men and women who don’t like to admit we’re hurting. To do so is a sign of weakness that in our warrior profession we normally revile. Your pain is my pain. We share that as a bond, as do our families who have endured so much.
The truth is cold and harsh. Everyone one of us combat veterans who attempts suicide, every one of us who wakes up one day running empty on hope is a casualty of war just as sure as the men who died over there around us. If you are at that point, like I once was, all I can say is this: Don’t give the Muj the satisfaction. You pull that trigger, you swallow those pills, and they win. I can’t think of anything worse after seeing what barbarians they are…
Don’t be afraid to reach out for help. This is a war nobody can wage alone. There is no shame in PTSD, it is a human response to trauma that is a natural part of our composition. The shame lies is submission.
“Jeremiah Workman has produced a dynamic page-turner description of PTSD that is almost too painful to read,” says Flynn. “Anyone, absolutely anyone who works with an Iraq or Afghan vet who’s experiencing symptoms of PTSD has to read it,” said Flynn, who has already recommended Workman’s book to a number of his clients.
Flynn, who traces his PTSD to his experience as a political prisoner in Latin America in the early 1970s, notes that PTSD affects more than war vets. “Parents and children who provide long term care for family members going through chronic death, firefighters – especially EMTs, and intensive care nurses and staff members, even members of the clergy who spend years listening to others’ problems can experience caretakers fatigue that manifests itself as PTSD,” notes Flynn.
“In many cases, it manifests as an abiding sense of physical exhaustion and, no matter how many hours you sleep, there’s a sense of never waking refreshed.”
“Trauma upsets the natural balances of the brain, whether from care-giving or childhood physical/emotional/sexual abuse or from being ‘boots on the ground’ in Afghanistan and Iraq,” notes Flynn. “That imbalance will manifest itself in a thousand ways – from fear and startle responses to depression and alcohol and drug abuse.” The Brain Training Centers of Florida (www.braintrainingcentersfl.com)has specialized in assisting clients to achieve a new balance of brain wave energies and, in many cases, experiencing dramatic or complete relief from their PTSD symptoms.
“No one can erase the memories or trauma, but we can help to take away their life-limiting power,” says Flynn.
Geoff, thank you for your comment on this post.
ReplyDeleteVeterans like this continue to astonish me. I keep saying that after all these years, there isn't much I have not heard when I am sure a veteran is holding back, but stories like this are an honor to post.
You are right when you wrote that he would never call himself a hero. None of them want to be regarded that way even though they surly have earned that title because of their service in the military as well as what they do after it. Because so many over the years have been willing to talk about this wound, countless others have found the strength to admit they need help and the hope of healing.
There was a time not too long ago when no one wanted to talk about this wound. Families of veterans and service members suffering so much they committed suicide, felt they had to be silent to protect the reputation of the warrior. Some veterans were all too willing to be called "drug addict" or "alcoholic" over being thought of as "mentally ill" because the stigma was so great. When others found the courage to talk about this, the stigma began to erode. Now the ones feeling ashamed are the people denying PTSD is a real wound. The more we talk about this, the more will seek help to heal.