Impotent power of words

There are so many reports and articles on PTSD that you'd think it is a well known issue everyone knows about. Unlike the ads for erectile dysfunction (ED) so well searched for the term pops up with just "erec" typed into Google or Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)medication, we don't see ads for medications for PTSD. How did these topics end up with multi-million dollar ad campaigns? Was it out of the goodness of their hearts corporations paid to spread the word? No, they have a product to sell so they spread the word about issues a lot of people suffered with silently. RA is painful but did not come with a stigma attached to it. Erectile dysfunction had a huge "shame" factor, so men didn't talk about it while women complained to their friends about it.

What changed? Ex-Senator Bob Dole along with others said they had ED during commercials to sell medication. The ads were so effective that millions of men went to see their doctor for a "boost" even if they didn't have ED. Women were cutting out advertisements to show their partners while stocking up on K-Y Personal Lubricants. We didn't have to know what was in the tub during a Cialis ad. This disclaimer is on their ads and their website, "CIALIS is not right for everyone. Only your healthcare provider and you can decide if CIALIS is right for you." Gone are the days when a man was too ashamed to admit he had the problem. Now if he says anything about not being able to "get it up" someone tells him to just take a pill.

Words broke the silence.

Dr. Jay Adlersberg of New York's WABC wrote in the release,

Power of Words"One study by researchers at Stanford University highlights what many scholars and politicians have known for a long time. People's thinking towards a particular conclusion can be swayed with the use of the right words or phrases, and shows the influence of words and images."

But words, while very powerful, lack the ability to change the world without money behind them. The impotent power of words being spoken with few ears hearing. The stories you see on this blog all have money behind them, unless they were written exclusively by me. Each news report linked to was written by someone getting a paycheck to research, interview and write them. Every study printed was commissioned by financial backing. It is more a matter of money talks.

Christianity began with 13 poor men homeless men walking around talking about the love of God and salvation. They were given food and shelter from strangers in exchange for what they had to say along with miracles to heal the ill. Christ didn't need a lot of money behind Him, an ad campaign or a public relations department but there were a lot less people in the world.

Some say that had Christ walked the earth today, no one would listen but I believe they are wrong. The power of the Internet changed all of that. A story coming out of a tiny town no one ever heard of can reach around the world if Associated Press picks up on it. From their feed, news stations around the country discover it and bingo, a local story becomes international.

If you are in doubt, then think about this. The number one story a couple of years ago on this blog was about an 11 year old boy from Lynnwood Washington. Brenden Foster was dying of cancer. When he could have only been thinking about himself, he cared more about homeless people he saw coming home from yet another visit to his doctor. 11 year old Brenden Foster's dying wish, feed the homeless News station KOMO reported the story and tiny blogs like mine picked up on it. There were over 3,000 hits and 78 comments, which is highly unusual for Wounded Times Blog. CNN reported on young Brenden and his story reached around the world in a matter of days. One little boy's dying wish touched others, reached their hearts and changed some minds on how they feel about homeless people.

Words can change the world by bringing attention to what someone thought was important enough to tell.

Twenty years ago, reports on veterans committing suicide were kept as a family secret. Homeless veterans were only paid attention to by shelters or reporters when one of them was in trouble with the law. Stories on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, another secret families suffered with in the privacy of their own homes, were happening all over the country but since no one was talking publicly, no one knew.

Now we have the Internet to get PTSD out of the secret world of suffering with millions of people discussing it but what we don't have is the money behind it. Drug companies are making billions without having to spend much money on TV ads. Average people never know about PTSD unless they know someone with it and even some families with member struggling with it remain clueless. Why?

The information is all over the net. That's a good thing but how would they find it if they don't know what "it" is?

We read the reports everyday on this blog, so it is incredibly hard to understand there is anyone left without a clue, but if you begin to talk to someone "out of the loop" you'll understand just how many remain in the dark. Even though there are about 7 million Americans with PTSD few have heard of it. According to the Mayo Clinic "Erectile dysfunction is common, and prevalence increases with age. It affects 5 to 10 percent of men at age 40. By age 70, from 40 to 60 percent of men have the condition." This, like PTSD, crosses all demographics, but PTSD requires someone to have been exposed to at least one traumatic event. ED is caused by a list of causes. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is only common after experiencing trauma.

Think about all the news reports we read everyday on traumatic events right in our own community. Car accidents, fires, rapes and other crimes. We understand these things can happen any second. Read the obituary section and we understand that a family member of ours could die any minute. We know families are changed by these events in their lives. 1 out of 3 (or 1 out of 5 depending on the report) will not walk away from a traumatic event and just be able to "get over it" with time. By the time the expected period of mourning is over, symptoms take over but the event itself is not connected to the changes we see in a person. That is, unless we know what we are seeing and where it came from.

Out of the 7 million Americans with PTSD, millions of them are combat veterans. For them, their traumatic experience is one building on another yet we don't see to be able to understand how they can end up with a much deeper level of PTSD, making it harder to not only treat but to get them to seek treatment in the first place. These are not your average citizen experiencing what we all go through, but a minority among us willing to put themselves into traumatic events. They join the military knowing what comes with combat, ready to take their chances to get a job the country wanted done, done.

When it comes to them, we don't pay attention. We don't even pay attention to what is going on in Iraq or Afghanistan, so the chance of paying attention to them when they come home is greatly diminished. We don't see ads about families trying to help like we see a wife enjoying her husband being "ready" when she is. We don't see ads about the pain a veteran goes through like we see someone talking about the pain of RA and how much their lives changed.

When I tell people what I do, sooner or later they share how someone in their own family was a veteran with PTSD and then they share their pain over the fact they never knew what it was. Wives discovering PTSD was behind their troubled marriage regret how they responded and feel angry no one ever told then what it was before. It is not that no one tried to tell them but without the knowledge somehow getting to the ears of someone needing to hear it, it was as if no one on the planet knew anything.

Seven million people with PTSD joined by families and extended families view the ads we see everyday and wonder when we'll see ads addressing what matters in our own lives. We wonder who will find the sense of urgency to shell out a few million to do advertising on our suffering. We want to see that there are people making miracles happen everyday for others to give us hope and we want to know it is ok to talk about it publicly without being ashamed. With all the money going to PTSD these days for research and treatment, you'd think someone would value the power of awareness enough to kick in a few million for a TV ad.