Defeating PTSD Starts With Understanding It

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 20, 2015

My friend Gunny keeps saying "Improvise, Adapt and Overcome." (adopted mantra in many units) That is part of the "awareness" that has escaped all the good meaning folks running around the country as if brining the problem to the public's attention has done any good at all. Civilians don't understand why so many veterans commit suicide anymore than they understand much else about the military. On the flip side, veterans are well aware of the problems far too many face but what they need to know more is what they can do to change any of it.

Some veterans want the "D" dropped from the term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as if that would change the way folks think.

Ty Carter, Afghanistan veteran and Medal of Honor Recipient is among many believing the term change would change attitudes. It won't. It has been tried far too many times before. As researchers learned more about what trauma does, especially combat trauma, they have adapted terms to include what they learned.

First take the word "Trauma" itself since all of us know "Post" means after something,

trauma (n.) 1690s, "physical wound," medical Latin, from Greek trauma "a wound, a hurt; a defeat," from PIE *trau-, extended form of root *tere- (1) "to rub, turn," with derivatives referring to twisting, piercing, etc. (see throw (v.)). Sense of "psychic wound, unpleasant experience which causes abnormal stress" is from 1894.

And now "stress"

Medical Definition of STRESS
1 a : a force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part; especially : the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch
b : the deformation caused in a body by such a force
2 a : a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation
b : a state of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium
3: the force exerted between teeth of the upper and lower jaws during mastication

And now "disorder"

Definition of DISORDER
1: to disturb the order of
2: to disturb the regular or normal functions of

As you can see, the term fits what it is perfectly. The trouble isn't with the term but with how it has received a negative attitude.

When things are out of place, it means that everything is still there but the pieces are jumbled up.

Think of a puzzle. When my daughter was 2, her Godmother gave her a couple of puzzles for older kids. I put them away for when she was ready for them but somehow she found them. She thought they were pictures. She took off the covering and a piece fell out. She thought she broke the picture and was upset until I explained to her that it wasn't broken and just needed to be put back in again. Long story short, she ended up mastering putting pieces where they needed to go.

American Military History Jigsaw Puzzle 1000pc

It is all together when the pieces are cut and shaped. Then they are put into a box, closed, sealed and shipped off. When you open it, you see a nice box cover then look at the 1,000 pieces wondering how you can make it all fit back together again.

All the pieces are there in the disordered pile just like a veteran with PTSD. It is all still there. The basic reason they decided to serve is still there but they just can't find it in the pile of all they went through. All their memories are covering it.

The good times they shared are still there but again, more pieces are on top that are not so good and not so nice. Somehow the painful ones cover the good memories. Covering the painful ones are the horrific ones.

Once everything is being put into place, a different image emerges. Miss a couple of pieces and it won't look the same as when all the pieces are put back into the proper place.

Veterans are not missing any pieces and there is nothing weak about them. When you consider they managed to survive combat, that is not even a logical one. Another illogical assumption is that they are stuck suffering the way they are right now. While there is no cure for PTSD, there is healing. No one is stuck suffering. PTSD can be defeated.

Debellatio means the act of conquering or subduing. The term indicates end of a war caused by complete destruction of a hostile state.

There can be an end to the internal war fought inside the veteran because of the external battles they fought in our name.

It has to begin by addressing the whole veteran. Their mind, body and their soul/spirit or for those who do not believe in the soul, the emotional part of the mind. Leave one part out and the outcome is not as good as if all the parts were included in the final production.

Anyone paying attention, or thinking they have, has repeated the "22 a day" as the count of veterans surviving combat but taking their own lives back at home. That number is not real. State after state reports that veterans are committing suicide double the civilian population rate. For younger veterans, they commit suicide triple their peer rate. Even with all the "awareness" being raised and all the charities, foundations and this research project followed by that program, the numbers show it is a whole lot of folks feeling good about doing something even though that "something" has done more harm than good.

Veterans are not a "project"

something that is contemplated, devised, or planned; plan; scheme.

They are "protectors" and willing to die in order to save others they serve with.

A hero (masculine or gender-neutral) or heroine (feminine) (Ancient Greek: ἥρως, hḗrōs) is a person or character who, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage or self-sacrifice—that is, heroism—for some greater good. Historically, the first heroes displayed courage or excellence as warriors. The word's meaning was later extended to include moral excellence.

Etymology
The word hero comes from the Greek ἥρως (hērōs), "hero, warrior",[3] literally "protector" or "defender".[4] Before the decipherment of Linear B the original form of the word was assumed to be *ἥρωϝ-, hērōw-; R. S. P. Beekes has proposed a Pre-Greek origin.[5]

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the Indo-European root is *ser meaning "to protect". According to Eric Partridge in Origins, the Greek word Hērōs "is akin to" the Latin seruāre, meaning to safeguard. Partridge concludes, "The basic sense of both Hera and hero would therefore be 'protector'."

PTSD does not have to win at all but as long as we accept what has been going on instead of changing the conversation, changing the way we treat them, they will never see what is really inside of them or discover what is possible. The truth is, as bad as the real numbers are of veterans committing suicide, the majority of them are healing because they stopped doing what didn't work and found what worked for them.

A lot of that has to do with the fact they understand that they will not fit back into the civilian world, since civilians did not understand them when they were in the military any more than they can understand that level of unselfishness. They do fit in perfectly with other veterans and among them, they are understood, supported and find they do in fact belong with them.

There are many other words we can use like this one,

Nikao (pronounced nik-ah'-o) to subdue (literally or figuratively):--conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory.

What is "evil" within them is only a thought they have and that voice can get so loud they actually start to forget that they are not evil. Evil people do not grieve for anyone other than themselves. There is no pain greater than grieving for someone else or as unselfish. If they understand where that pain is coming from, they are part way there to defeating the pain they carry.

1 John 2:14 New International Version (NIV) I write to you, dear children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

No veteran is stuck where they are and the real evidence of walking miracles is what they turn around to do once they begin to heal. They pass it on so that other veterans can live better lives as well.