Wandrea "Shaye" Moss could have been you

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
June 22, 2022

 The January 6th committee has provided this country with a wake-up call to the truth.

The entire series thus far has proven that Donald Trump knew he lost the election. They proved he was told over and over again what he was doing was illegal. As for what legal punishment he and his coconspirators will receive, the question believers in the lie need to be asking themselves is, "Can we be forgiven?"

They didn't just protest in the streets. They marched armed to the homes of election officials. They marched to the homes of average people like Wandrea "Shaye" Moss, an election worker, along with the home of her Mother and Grandmother.

This is from CNN

The single most compelling witness of the January 6 committee hearings so far

Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman, had been working in relative anonymity in Fulton County until, without warning, Giuliani and Trump fixated on the notion that they had somehow committed actions that were proof positive of votes being stolen for Democrats in the 2020 election. Trump called Freeman a "professional vote scammer" and a "hustler." Giuliani said that Moss and Freeman had been passing around USB ports like "vials of cocaine or heroin." (Moss said at Tuesday's hearing that her mother had been handing her a "ginger mint," not a USB drive.) In the wake of those false and racist allegations, Moss detailed how people had tried to barge into her grandmother's home and how Trump supporters had villainized her and her mother. (Her mother, who was known as "Lady Ruby," said she no longer liked being called that.) Moss said of the threats she had received: "A lot of them were racist. A lot of them were just hateful." "I haven't been anywhere at all," she said through tears.

How many of us watched Moss testify, listened to what happened to her, fully aware that it could have been any one of us, standing up for the truth only to end up threatened by liars?

Most of us had friends we cared about and thought they cared about us until they turned against us for simply telling them the truth and refusing to allow their lies to go on unchallenged. I lost more than I can count and most of them, I helped through very difficult times. None of that mattered, because the lies they wanted to share, mattered more.

Arizona Speaker of the House, Russell Bowers had the same thing happen to him.

Within state after state, anger and rage took over as the lie was pushed. People honoring the rule of law, loyalty to the country, and to the truth, were accused of being liars. because they dared to not only speak the truth, they dared to fight for it, despite threats from those trying to force their will onto everyone else.

How many of us watched the videos of the day these people were unleashed to invade the US Capitol ranting and raving about how everyone else was betraying our country when they in fact had been the only ones committing the crimes against what this country stood for?

I don't know about you, but if one of my ex-friends had a "come to Jesus moment" and apologized, I'd forgive them, but the damage is already done to the trust friends are supposed to have. The relationship we had would be over and a new one would have to begin. Trust would have to be earned back and not just handed over to them.

The other thing we all have to acknowledge is the lives of all the people. like Moss and her family, will never be the same again. What does justice look like for them? Who can pay them back for the lost months and endless nightmare caused by those who inflicted it as well as those who incited it?

If you want to see what the cause of PTSD looks like, you have been seeing it unfold during these hearings and the basis of these was brought on by pure evil!

2 Thessalonians 2
2 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Offering Hope, PTSD Suicide Survivor Opens Up on Healing

Suicide survivor has message for those facing depression
CBS 7 News
By Stephanie Bennett
Dec 23, 2016

Although Bray admits she still struggles with depression, it’s her faith, counseling, and spending time with her family and dog, Snappy, that keeps her going.

ANDREWS -- The military and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are often associated, but after an Army career that ended many years ago, an Andrews woman was just recently diagnosed with PTSD, but not for the reason you may think.

Lora Bray remembers her days in the Army as some of the most fun times of her life.

But then, a culmination of losses and tragedies took over her life, and she became very depressed.

Back in August she even attempted suicide but survived.

Now, she has a message for anyone going through depression.

But first, let’s rewind the clock to the day she tried taking her life:

“I didn't want anybody to know where I was at, so I went to a little farm road, took some pills, I just wanted to die,” Bray said.

While several Andrews residents assisted in looking for her, it was ranchers who eventually found Bray unconscious in her car.

She was then hospitalized and later diagnosed with PTSD.
read more here

9-11 Survivor Remembers Some Who Stayed

Oregon City man remembers 9/11: 'Me and this other guy dove through this glass door'
KATU.com
By Bob Heye
Published: Sep 12, 2014

OREGON CITY, Ore. - There's a reason Mike Tremko's memories from 9/11 are fading some.

Now living in Oregon City, Tremko was at the World Trade Center for a stock broker training session in New York when the planes hit 13 years ago.

“Almost everybody in my class made it out,” says Tremko, “I think there was like, two or three people who decided to stay and make sure that everybody else was out.”

They died.
read more here

Bliss of the Old Soul

Bliss of the Old Soul
Wounded Times Blog
Kathie Costos
June 30, 2013

Today is the end of PTSD Awareness Month. On Thursday Kathleen Sebelius wrote about it with this on the end of her piece.

During PTSD Awareness Month, PTSD Awareness Day on June 27, and all year long, we are determined to help our fellow Americans and their families and friends dealing with this debilitating condition. Through continued support for research, education, and treatment, we can help provide the hope and reality of recovery for all for those living with PTSD.

Millions of Americans suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder but with all the raising awareness happening year after year, we have arrived in a place and time when 40 years of research has produced more suicides and attempted suicides, families falling apart and homelessness.

My focus has always been on veterans and their families but for today, we should talk about all people suffering after traumatic events. After all, we are all still just only human. There are events in our lives that change us. Sometimes people think events make us stronger but they avoid acknowledging the inner strength was already there and was merely given the opportunity shine. The power of the human soul/spirit is something we are all born with. The trick is getting all parts of us connected.

There are some people with everything inside of them working together and they are able to retain bliss in any circumstance. They grieve but are not destroyed. They are saddened but do not lose hope. They are the people walking away after traumatic events believing they were there for a reason, no matter how great or small. They do not think God did it to them or punished them but they survived by the Grace of God.

For others, especially when they hear the stupidly delivered fix it fast slogan "God only gives us what we can handle" they walk away believing they were just punished for something. No one was watching over them. They had been judged. What do you think they will think after hearing those words? God sent His angels to spare them or God sent the angels to harm them?

There is another group closely connected to the first group that needs to be explored so that we can actually do something meaningful on healing PTSD. First we need to understand people like me. I am nothing special. I have an expression that pretty much sums up what life is like for me. "I have finally arrived at a point in my life where I have succeeded at failing."

It sounds bad but in reality it isn't. Everything I have tried to do with my life has failed when you consider that we all equate success with financial gain. I can't pay my bills, find financial support or even begin to pay back my student loans. Everything I do people expect me to do for free and the two books I wrote so far have cost me money instead of making money. Some veterans and family members I helped over the years simply moved on and some of them started their own groups but forget all about me. All of this does tend to cause some depression but I get over it. Why? Because I know I am doing what I was intended to do no matter how great, no matter how small.

When I was working as Administrator of Christian Education for a local church, I asked the youth pastor how she came up with sermons so far in advance. She told me that most of the time she just went by the calendar but when she was inspired to write a sermon, she just went with what was inside of her. It didn't matter how well it went over or not because she was writing it for who was intended to hear it. She just trusted the guidance of her soul. I have heard some of those sermons and frankly there was some kind of divine map questing going on. There were usually several people reacting to the message.

While others may have thought it was not a good sermon, the people needing to hear it got the message because they had connected to it because she connected to her soul and listened.

We all have that capacity. All my life I knew I was supposed to be a writer. My English teacher, Mr. Aucone said I had talent and should be a writer.  He also told me that if he just graded me on spelling, there is no way I would have gotten an A.  Back then we didn't have spell check.

There was no guarantee I would be a good writer and my goals were pretty uncomplicated. In my high school year book my only goal was to graduate.

After having TBI as a four year old, things in my head didn't work the same. For the way my brain takes in information it is easy to lose it fast. I had to come up with tricks to fix what didn't work. One of them is spelling so I thank God for spell check. Considering I am from the Boston area with a full accent and they taught phoenix in school very little has the same spelling as it sounds. The other is the rule of grammar especially when I am writing something that raises my passion level to boiling. Then there is another. Important things I need to hang onto have to find room in my long term memory so I have kick somethings out to fit them in. When I read something I can remember when I had read something else. That is how I come up with old news reports to prove something is not new or prove the new report false. Still it is not the TBI that almost cut me off from listening to my soul. It was everything else that happened.

From 4 to 40 it was one traumatic event after another starting with my Dad. He was a violent alcoholic until I was 13. I lived in fear that he would lash out at my Mom and brothers but even though he never went after me, I feared he would. One day he did on accident. He was pulling apart the living room and didn't see me on the couch. He threw a chair and it hit me. He was devastated. Long story short it was around then that he decided to stop drinking and got help. There was a car accident I should not have walked away from. My ex-husband tried to kill me, then he stalked me for a year. A miscarriage caused me to hemorrhage when I lost twins. Another health crisis after our daughter was born and a massive infection took over. You get the point. Then the biggest reason was living all these years with my husband and what PTSD was doing to him after Vietnam. It was not until years later when all the investigation I had been doing on PTSD that I finally got the clue I had been looking for. What made me different from him?

For my husband his trauma came in Phu Bia Vietnam 7 years before I graduated high school. When we met I didn't have a clue what happened in Vietnam and even less about what war did to those we sent. When it came to PTSD, he had a much different experience than even I could understand. My traumatic events changed me but in a different way than his did. I spent the rest of my life trying to understand why I didn't have it as much as I wanted to understand why he did.

The difference was the way everything in me was connected. Not just my mind, body and spirit connected together but connected back to God and where my soul came from. When you can find bliss in any condition, that is what is happening. After traumatic events caused by natural events, there is not just the event but the threat of it happening again. That only happens when the weather report warns you. Like the hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004, only months after we moved here. We went through three of them. The only other time we worry is when something is in the Gulf. There is a huge difference between the type of PTSD survivors of a natural disaster can end up with compared to one done by other humans.

Accidents, crimes including abuse, death of a loved on and health issues can cause PTSD. I went through all of them and some hit me pretty hard but I recovered. These events did change me and the way I think but my strength was not something that developed. It was already there. It is one of the biggest reasons why I find the military's efforts on teaching "resilience" so repulsive. They are trying to teach something to people who already have it without telling them how to find it and get it working with the rest of everything else within them.

My strength was living within my soul and my soul is older than my body since my soul was created long before my body was born. My body is not perfect. It is getting older but will never catch up to the age of my soul. It is from my soul that I was able to make peace with what was done to me in every part of living. To know that God did not do it to me, but in fact, He spared me for whatever reason from the time I was 4, helped me have peace with my faith in Him. To know that I did the best I could with whatever I tried to do helped me find peace with myself. I am not haunted by the past but I am not strengthened by it either. I am only stronger because every part of me works together. When my body is weak, my head tells me to rest and do what I can until strength comes back. When my mind is weak, my spirit takes over. It all works together.

Whatever living does to us can be so much better if we make peace with what has been as much as we find peace living with whatever it is in this moment. When I say I have finally succeeded at failing, I am telling you that no matter what, I am at peace with all that came before, all that is and have faith that whatever comes next, it will turn out however it was meant to be. I no longer seek permission of the world to do what I do. I do not expect anyone to understand what I have to say as much as I expect the people hearing it need to hear it.

The best example I can give on this is often overlooked. When we talk about Christ it is easy to think of the 12 walking with Him but we forget there were many more.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

We do not know their names but they are not less important than the others they were with on the same mission. Maybe they may have wanted to be as famous as the others but I am sure they found peace with what was required of them instead of what was required of the others. I wonder if they fully understood the impact they really had because had it not been for that multitude, Christianity may not have spread as much as it did because they reached more people and the people they reached, reached even more.

In the end the thing we all have to understand is that we make a difference in lives, no matter how great or small. When we follow where our old souls lead us, we find bliss on this journey. It is not how others view the outcome of our lives but it is how we view it. The sooner we make peace with what happened, the sooner were are ready for what comes next and that, that we can face with all that comes within this old soul.

Researchers looking at wrong connection between TBI and suicides

Last year I did something that was really hard for me. I wrote about having TBI. My life with TBI tells the story so you won't have to read it all here. It was a traumatic event that caused my brain injury. My scull was cracked and I had a concussion. The event caused the damage to my brain as well as how I lived the rest of my life.

TBI does not cause suicides but events do. How you view your life and your future change by events and if you are not able to talk about it, work through it, it eats away at you.

In my case I was only 4 when it happened. There was a lot going on in my young life including a violent alcoholic Dad who found sobriety when I was 13. Even with all of that going on and my sense of self worth eroded, my extended family members were always talking and ready to listen. With only common sense, they were able to be surrogate psychologists and helped me work through all of it.

They gave some bad advice at times yet even when they did they made me understand that I was worthy of them even caring. I knew I was loved no matter what.

PTSD is caused by trauma. I would have ended up with PTSD after many near death experiences and none of them connected to military service because I never served. All were just part of being human. The only reason I didn't was because of talking and a whole lot of faith knowing He didn't do it to me. He helped me forgive what was done to me so other people's actions were not able to ruin me.

PTSD and TBI research overlook the obvious. They are both caused by traumatic events. They do not cause the other. When we talk about suicides trying to connect them to TBI is pretty stupid. People commit suicide because they run out of hope. Treat the PTSD properly and they gain hope that their lives can be better. Treat TBI properly and again, hope they will live better lives has therapeutic treasures.

People can live through almost anything as long as they have hope the next day can be better than the one they are suffering in right now.

They die when there is nothing to hope for.

Research examines link between traumatic brain injuries, soldier suicides
FOX 13 News
by Mark Green
June 1, 2013

SALT LAKE CITY – A new study indicates people in the military who suffer more than one traumatic brain injury have a higher risk of suicide.

Assistant psychology professor Craig Bryan, University of Utah, was the lead author of the research performed by the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.

They studied 161 military personnel stationed in Iraq who had a possible traumatic brain injury and found their risk for suicidal thoughts increased significantly over the short-term as well as throughout the individual’s lifetime.

Bryan said the problem is complicated by the fact some soldiers are unwilling to face up to the full danger of the situation.

“Most will minimize the problems and the symptoms they’re having because they don’t want to be removed from duty,” he said. “They want to stay and continue their mission.”

Bryan said soldiers who do report symptoms after an injury usually see improvement within 24 to 72 hours of the incident.
read more here

After trauma, you can win

It is very important to point out that resilience is part of you or it is not. You cannot train or learn to become resilient.

"But how resilient people are can help determine how quickly they bounce back.

What's resilience? It's when people aren't afraid to share their emotions so they don't become overwhelmed — and when they try to look for a silver lining, like focusing on how many bystanders helped the wounded, rather than dwelling on gruesome memories."

There is a huge difference between having that ability and not having it. I am an example of having it only because of my life and getting help to heal after each time I faced death. I am not a veteran, as I point out all the time. I have just had my life on the line many times from early childhood. The difference, the only one I can see, is that my family was always there and talked everything to death.

I come from a large "Greek" family. Much like the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" the whole extended family was involved in everything and there were no secrets. Sometimes they gave the wrong advice, but they were always there to listen until I was done talking. Every dangerous experience was subdued surrounded by loving family members. Being resilient is not being perfect. There are times when I actually got to the breaking point and once I prayed very hard to die. I get depressed. I have to fight off thinking negatively. I have to remind myself of all the times something happened and I am still standing. In other words, when "it" didn't win.

It does not have to win now for you either.

Talk about what you went through, how you felt and what you were thinking at the time. When you start to be able to talk about it without feeling your insides change when you do, then you are healing from it. Every part of you experienced the event. Your muscles. Your heart rate. It all goes with it so it is important to do this and get it all out in the open in a safe place.

These videos are a few years old but while time has changed the nature of PTSD has not.

Psychological aftershocks are invisible wounds of disaster but most people recover with time
Published April 18, 2013
Associated Press

BOSTON – Anger. Crying jags. Nightmares. They're all normal reactions for survivors of the bombings at the Boston Marathon, and witnesses to the mayhem.

Kaitlyn Greeley burst into tears when a car backfired the other day. She's afraid to take her usual train to work at a Boston hospital.

"I know this is how people live every day in other countries. But I'm not used to it here," said Greeley, 27, a technician at Tufts Medical Center who was on duty Monday when part of the hospital was briefly evacuated even as victims of the blast were being treated.

Those psychological aftershocks are the often invisible wounds of disaster. Most affected are the injured and those closest to the blasts. But even people with no physical injuries and those like Greeley who weren't nearby can feel the emotional impact for weeks as they struggle to regain a sense of security. What's not clear is who will go on to suffer lingering anxiety or depression, even post-traumatic stress disorder.

Seek help if those reactions are bad enough to impair function, or if they're not getting better in about a month, said Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, a psychologist at Georgetown University Medical Center, who served on disaster mental health teams that counseled survivors of 9/11 in New York and Hurricane Katrina. read more here

Hero After War is about combat and PTSD but there are many things that can help others.

This can help you understand too.



Get help before your mind changes. The best time to begin to heal is now. If you have been suffering for a long time, there are things that you can do that can make your life better and what cannot be healed, you can find peace to live with.

When the news breaks the journalist: PTSD

When the news breaks the journalist: PTSD
By Frederik Joelving
NEW YORK | Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:08pm EST
(Reuters Health) - Chris Cramer, 62, was a fledgling war correspondent when one spring day 30 years ago he got much closer to the battle than he'd ever intended.

Just back from Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, his boss at the BBC had asked him to fly to Tehran, where militants were holding dozens of Americans hostage at the U.S. embassy.

But as he went to pick up his visa in London on April 30, 1980, he jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire: Six gunmen stormed the Iranian embassy, taking Cramer and 25 other people hostage.

"I lasted two days before I became sick -- well, I actually feigned a heart attack to get out," said Cramer, now global editor of multimedia at Reuters in New York.

While the experience left his body unscathed, his mental health was in tatters.

"I went through real anguish for a couple of years," he said. "I had flashbacks, I had extraordinary claustrophobia, which I'd never had before. For several years, I did not go to a cinema, I did not go into an elevator. If I ever went into a restaurant, I positioned myself near the door for a fast exit. For many, many months after the incident I checked under my car every morning before driving it. I was a basket case, I was a mess."

It is becoming increasingly clear that there is nothing unique about Cramer's case. In fact, a 2003 survey found, more than a quarter of war correspondents struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

That's just shy of the 30 percent of Vietnam veterans who have suffered the mental breakdown, and nearly four times higher than in the general population, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. And there are signs that journalists may be facing more dangers now than ever, putting both their physical and mental health at risk.

"There are a lot of undetected emotional problems in the profession," said Dr. Anthony Feinstein, a psychiatrist at the University of Toronto, Canada, and one of the first to explore the psychological toll of war reporting. "Some of the big organizations are very aware of it, but many are not."
read more here
When the news breaks the journalist: PTSD

Veterans pen poems to cope with trauma

Veterans pen poems to cope with trauma

By Courtney Vaughn
Hi-Desert Star
Published: Wednesday, December 1, 2010 2:09 AM CST
LAUGHLIN, Nev. — When rival motorcycle gangs opened fire in a Laughlin casino in 2002 during an annual River Run event, Landers resident Mike Bower took cover under a black jack table. Suddenly, he was no longer in Nevada. He was at Firebase Spear in Vietnam. Bower is one of nearly 5.2 million Americans living with post-traumatic stress disorder, an anxiety disorder that is brought on by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic or life-threatening event.

According to the National Center for PTSD, experiences such as combat or military action, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, sexual assaults or serious accidents qualify as traumatic events.

The agency estimates that 6.8 percent of Americans will experience post-traumatic stress disorder at some point in their lives, with women being 2 1/2 times more likely than men to develop the disorder.

Those who suffer from chronic PTSD can experience symptoms that cause them to relive their trauma.

During the brawl at Harrah’s Casino, members of the Hell’s Angels and Mongols biker gangs exchanged gunfire in an open casino area, killing several people and injuring many more, including bystanders. Bower nearly suffered a heart attack as he trembled and sat catatonic under a gambling table.

Bower’s condition caused him to relive the terror of fighting in Vietnam when shots broke out in the casino. He remembers frantically searching for his weapon, a terrifying scenario he experienced in combat.
read more here
Veterans pen poems to cope with trauma

Katrina Five Years After: Hurricane Left a Legacy of Health Concerns

Katrina Five Years After: Hurricane Left a Legacy of Health Concerns
Friday, August 27, 2010
By Brian Donnelly


Five years ago, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf region, killing nearly 2,000 and displacing more than 250,000 others from Louisiana to Florida. This week, in a series titled "Hurricane Katrina: Five Years After," FoxNews.com looks back on the costliest natural disaster ever to strike the United States.

When Hurricane Katrina ripped through New Orleans, leaving a legacy of death and destruction in its wake, the storm's immediate effects were evident. But now, five years later, the long-term effects on the devastated population’s mental and physical health still linger.

A study released this week linked the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history with a high incidence of anxiety in Gulf Coast-area children displaced by the hurricane, while another found increased sensitivity to mold in children with asthma whose homes were flooded.

“Being exposed to transient home situations, not being able to get access to care and the adversity of just the recovery process fraught with so many difficulties added and compounded the stress and trauma of being exposed to the devastation and personal loss of life and property during the event of the hurricane and the flooding itself,” said Anthony Speier, psychologist and deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Behavioral Health for the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals. “So that kind of set the stage for increased vulnerability of the population.”
read more here
Hurricane Left a Legacy of Health Concerns




Katrina's toll includes rise in suicide, mental illness

By Pam Firmin McClatchy Newspapers
BILOXI, Miss. — The last five years have been a mental health roller coaster for many among the Mississippi Gulf Coast's post-Hurricane Katrina population.

Suicides are up since Katrina hit on Aug. 29, 2005. More people are seeking treatment for substance abuse, therapists say, and post-traumatic stress disorder is on the rebound.

Though suicide numbers were higher in 2004 than in the years immediately after the storm, they have climbed in the years that followed. In Harrison County, the largest county on the Mississippi Coast, the number of people who committed suicide has increased since the storm from 30 in 2005 to 32 in 2006, 36 in 2007 and 44 in 2008.

Read more: Katrina and toll on mental health

Tornado survivors PTSD needs to be studied by military

While I refuse to call anyone a victim of a traumatic event instead of survivor, this study needs to be read over and over again by the military.

The rate for developing PTSD is “well over 50 percent for the victims,” Casey said. “For the workers, it will be somewhere between 10 and 30 percent.”

A tornado may only hit a town once but after that, the fear of another one coming can cause them to live in fear for the rest of their lives. For responders, they were not in there when the tornado hit but came after the damage was already done. Yet for them, the damage penetrates their minds as well.

Responders are trained to help survivors and other responders. Chaplains (like me) go through all kinds of different programs to be able to train ourselves to think beyond "self" so that we can take are of other people. It's just what we do. The problem comes when we've just seen too much to be able to just move onto the next crisis. While I believe our training helps us to recover a bit better than others, this does not stop us from experiencing what every other human does.

Two things stand out in this report. One traumatic event like a tornado can change lives forever, yet with the military, more often than not, they face one traumatic event after another and another. That fear of death, wounding or losing someone else they care about hangs on them. The other factor is that civilians have someone showing up after one event to help them put their lives back together but for the military, there is little done to help them recover from all they experience.

You'd think with all the exposures to combat situations, they would have developed a way to have someone there to debrief them all the time, but due to a shortage of mental health professionals and Chaplains, this isn't happening enough to get ahead of any of what we're seeing coming out of repeated deployments into Iraq and Afghansitan.

More than half of tornado victims may have PTSD
Two groups of people are likely to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from the June 17 tornado: directly affected Wadena area residents and the indirectly affected volunteers and workers helping them, according to Jim Kraemer of the Neighborhood Counseling Center and Dr. Dan Casey of Green Cross Academy of Traumatology.
By: Rachelle Klemme , Wadena (Minn.) Pioneer Journal
WADENA, Minn. — Two groups of people are likely to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder from the June 17 tornado: directly affected Wadena area residents and the indirectly affected volunteers and workers helping them, according to Jim Kraemer of the Neighborhood Counseling Center and Dr. Dan Casey of Green Cross Academy of Traumatology.

“(PTSD) can be caused by anything that would be traumatic in a person’s life,” said Kraemer.

Casey and Kraemer said symptoms of PTSD include difficulty sleeping, changes in appetite (hardly eating, not eating at all or overeating), anxiety and flashbacks replaying the traumatic event in one’s mind.

The multiple July storms have not helped.

Casey also said people living with or without PTSD may overreact to severe weather — for example, taking shelter in the basement without an actual tornado warning.

Acute Distress Response occurs immediately after an event. After 30 days, it can be diagnosed as PTSD, Casey said.

read more here

More than half of tornado victims may have PTSD

You understand more than you think when it comes to PTSD

You understand more than you think when it comes to PTSD
by
Chaplain Kathie

These are just a few recent headlines

2 wounded in 3 Fort Worth shootingsFort Worth Star Telegram

Seven hours, seven victims in north MinneapolisMinneapolis Star Tribune

Gunfire pelts City Hall, enters officeEl Paso Times

Jersey City man is slain and another wounded as assailant opens fire at Duncan ...The Jersey Journal - NJ.com

Alachua County teen found fatally shot inside homeGainesville Sun

We can read these stories and think only of the people directly involved, yet so many others are changed by these events. The families of the people killed or wounded by violent acts. The witnesses having to cope with the fact one minute they were living in a normal day and the next it all went to hell. They feared for their own lives even if they were out of range. We may think it would have been an unrealistic fear but then when we understand bullets flying through the air were far from normal as it was. Trauma is lives changed in a second.

Here in Florida two Tampa police officers stopped a car and ended up shot. Both of them died.

Wounded Times: Two Tampa Police Officers killed after traffic stop
By Namguardianangel@aol.com (Kathie Costos)

The police department is in shock. The widow of Officer Jeffrey Kocab went into labor after this shooting. Witnesses were also affected by this and so were police officers around the country. One of the most dangerous jobs officers have are traffic stops. They know they can be hit by other cars, shot at, run over and they never know what to expect. When something like this happens, they are all wondering if it will happen to them as well.

Trauma removes our sense of safety as we live our lives. Think of when you lost someone you loved. A family member died suddenly. The shock you felt when you heard of their death was felt deeply. We are also affected when we hear tragic news even if we are far away from the event itself.

People across the world can tell you where they were on the morning of September 11th. They can usually even tell you second by second accounts of how they were reacting to the news. While they are talking about it, there is a deep sadness awakened within them. They are remembering trauma.

We can all understand PTSD when we think of our own lives.

When I do presentations on PTSD, my approach is simple. I make it personal to them, get them thinking about how their own lives are changed by events. Then while they are remembering how they felt, I ask them what it would be like for them if they had that shock over and over and over again.

There is the type of PTSD caused by one event in a person's life. One moment in time when they are forever changed. Natural disasters and crimes along with accidents or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, can in fact cause PTSD. If we as simple humans can be so deeply affected by one event, then it should be easy to understand the men and women serving in combat and what our veterans went through. After all, they are just humans like the rest of us.

The next time you hear someone say PTSD is not real or that they can't understand it, remind them of what happened in their own lives and then tell them to multiply it as if they lived it over and over again. Then ask them if they could just "get over it" or "stuff it" into the back of their minds. With help, PTSD veterans can recover and heal. Without help, it gets worse. We can keep making the same mistakes over and over again or we can make it real to the people refusing to understand.

If you can understand this, you can understand them.

One third of 7/7 survivors had post traumatic stress

One third of 7/7 survivors had post traumatic stress: research
One third of people who were caught up in the 7/7 London bombings suffered post-traumatic stress disorder, researchers have said.

By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Published: 7:25AM GMT 09 Mar 2010

However, only four per cent of them were referred by their GP for specialist treatment, it has been found.

A study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, conducted in the aftermath of the 2005 bombings traced survivors of the attacks, which killed 52 and injured 700.


They found that many more people required treatment than had been offered it and the researchers from University College London recommended that in future disasters those exposed to atrocities are proactively traced.

Professor Chris Brewin, lead author of the study at UCL Department of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology, said: "If this programme hadn't existed then there would be hundreds of people still suffering from post-traumatic stress or other psychological problems as a result of the 2005 terrorist attack. This intervention is really a new way of identifying traumatised people."

Survivors were identified from police statements and witness reports, hospital records and treatment notes taken at the scenes.
read more here
One third of 7 7 survivors had post traumatic stress

PTSD therapies fail to be effective

Therapies fail to be effective for one simple reason. They don't understand it as well as they should by now. The truth is that they can read as many books as the industry can print but unless they live with it, they will never learn what they need to know.

The best therapists either have PTSD or have lived with someone with it. They understand it better than anyone else ever could. Even if therapists with no personal connections treat PTSD patients on a regular basis, they will still fall short of understanding exactly how far reaching PTSD is. It is not just the survivor of traumatic events suffering, but the parents, siblings, spouse, children and often grandchildren.

Too many therapists ignore the families when it is the families on the front line of getting the survivor into therapy in the first place. They are living with it 24-7 making PTSD worse, or helping them heal depending on their own understanding of it. With the laws the way they are, therapists are reluctant to talk to the families even with permission to speak to them.

The other factor is that if the therapist favors one approach over all others, they will push for that one, ignoring the other therapies that could work for the individual. They make a mistake assuming all PTSD cases are the same without understanding the differences between natural and human caused trauma as well as if the survivor was responsible for the death of someone else in the line of duty. Big difference.

If they do not incorporate the spiritual aspect of this emotional wound, then they will not be successful either. Some therapists will take a denial of God as the flat answer instead of asking if the patient believed in God before the trauma or not. Most of the time, it is a loss of faith they are dealing with when they deny having faith after. How are therapists supposed to successfully treat PTSD, an emotional/spiritual wound, without treating the spirit?

PTSD threatens healthcare system overload
Published: Feb. 15, 2010 at 1:56 AM


SAN DIEGO, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Post-traumatic stress disorder threatens to overload healthcare systems worldwide as cases increase and therapies fail to be effective U.S. researchers say.

Dr. Brenda K. Wiederhold, editor in chief of Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, and of the Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, says new approaches to treatment are relying on technology, such as virtual reality, to alleviate the psychologically damaging effects of PTSD.
read more here
PTSD threatens healthcare system overload

Four People Dead, More Than A Dozen Injured In Shooting at Fitness Center

Think about being one of the people going to the gym for a workout and having this happen. How would you feel the next time you went? Would the memories of this act of violence return? Would you ever be able to feel as if there was nothing else to think about than getting a good workout for your health? Would you ever really feel safe just doing simple things again?

After traumatic events caused by others you are never really the same again.

Suspect Identified In Fatal Collier Twp. Fitness Club Shooting
Four People Dead, More Than A Dozen Injured In Shooting
POSTED: 8:21 pm EDT August 4, 2009
UPDATED: 8:39 am EDT August 5, 2009
COLLIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Authorities have identified a possible suspect in a Collier Township fitness club shooting that killed four people and wounded as many 15.

"I've never seen (anybody) shot before. I feel like it's a dream. I don't know what to think of it," said Mike Hentosz, a witness who was near the room where the shooting took place.

ABC News reported the suspect is George Sodini, of Pittsburgh.

5 Women Taken To UPMC-Mercy In Critical Condition

A representative from UPMC-Mercy in Pittsburgh told WTAE Channel 4's Marcie Cipriani that the hospital was treating five women who were shot multiple times. All five women were admitted in critical condition. Within an hour, three were upgraded to serious condition, and two others remained in critical condition by 11 p.m.

read more here

http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/20283352/detail.html

Sometimes it just takes time to regain the sense of security as days go by without anything else happening. You watch people more closely. You may jump when you hear a car backfire or any other sudden loud noise. You may get edgy when you hear a loud, angry voice. If time takes away your discomfort level, talking about it helps ease your horrific memories and it gets easier to cope as the days pass, then you shouldn't need more help to "get over it" by a professional. The key is, is it getting easier or harder or staying the same within you?

If the emotions and memories get stronger, if it does not seem that you are "getting over it" as days pass, or you find yourself still jumping out of your skin a month later, seek help. It usually means the event took a greater hold on you than you thought it did. Do no deny what is happening inside of you. A professional will be able to diagnose if you need more help or not to overcome it.

If you are a family member of any of the people there yesterday, watch for signs of change in them. Here is a list of changes that happen when people have been exposed to traumatic events and in need of help. You know them better than anyone else and they need you to pay attention to them so they get help as soon as possible.

The following is from the Mayo Clinic

Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder typically begin within three months of a traumatic event. In a small number of cases, though, PTSD symptoms may not occur until years after the event.

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms are commonly grouped into three types: intrusive memories, avoidance and numbing, and increased anxiety or emotional arousal (hyperarousal).

Symptoms of intrusive memories may include:

Flashbacks, or reliving the traumatic event for minutes or even days at a time
Upsetting dreams about the traumatic event
Symptoms of avoidance and emotional numbing may include:

Trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event
Feeling emotionally numb
Avoiding activities you once enjoyed
Hopelessness about the future
Memory problems
Trouble concentrating
Difficulty maintaining close relationships
Symptoms of anxiety and increased emotional arousal may include:

Irritability or anger
Overwhelming guilt or shame
Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much
Trouble sleeping
Being easily startled or frightened
Hearing or seeing things that aren't there

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms can come and go. You may have more post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms during times of higher stress or when you experience reminders of what you went through. You may hear a car backfire and relive combat experiences, for instance. Or you may see a report on the news about a rape, and feel again the horror and fear of your own assault.

When to see a doctor
It's normal to have a wide range of feelings and emotions after a traumatic event. The feelings you experience may include fear and anxiety, a lack of focus, sadness, changes in sleeping or eating patterns, or bouts of crying that come easily. You may have recurrent nightmares or thoughts about the event. This doesn't mean you have post-traumatic stress disorder.

But if you have these disturbing feelings for more than a month, if they're severe, or if you feel you're having trouble getting your life back under control, consider talking to your health care professional. Getting treatment as soon as possible can help prevent PTSD symptoms from getting worse.

In some cases, post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may be so severe that you need emergency help, especially if you're thinking about harming yourself or someone else. If possible, call 911 or other emergency services, or ask a supportive family member or friend for help.

UPDATE
Police: Gym shooter 'had a lot of hatred'
A Pennsylvania man who walked into a gym aerobics class and opened fire, killing three women and wounding nine others before turning the gun on himself, "just had a lot of hatred in him," police said Wednesday. George Sodini, 48, brought four handguns into the LA Fitness gym outside Pittsburgh and used three of them, firing at least 36 times, police said.
developing story

PTSD and misdiagnosed?

by
Chaplain Kathie

Schizophrenia, bipolar, personality disorder, drug and alcohol addictions, depression, look up any of these mental illnesses and see how easy it would be to have PTSD misdiagnosed. The key to getting the right diagnosis is PTSD come after a traumatic event.

What are the symptoms of schizophrenia


The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three broad categories:

Positive symptomsare unusual thoughts or perceptions, including hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, and disorders of movement.
Negative symptomsrepresent a loss or a decrease in the ability to initiate plans, speak, express emotion, or find pleasure in everyday life. These symptoms are harder to recognize as part of the disorder and can be mistaken for laziness or depression.
Cognitive symptoms(or cognitive deficits) are problems with attention, certain types of memory, and the executive functions that allow us to plan and organize. Cognitive deficits can also be difficult to recognize as part of the disorder but are the most disabling in terms of leading a normal life.

Depression: A Treatable Illness (Fact Sheet)
Depression is a serious medical condition that involves the body, mood, and thoughts. It affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things.Date: 2004

Borderline Personality Disorder
What is Borderline Personality Disorder?
Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. More about borderline personality disorder >>

Last year I was asked to explain what PTSD was to hospital chaplains in training. They asked what they needed to look for to know if it was PTSD or something else. I told them the simple answer is, to listen. Listen to the families, listen to the patient. Hear what they say. The clue is found usually in the words, "suddenly changed."

If you hear those words, the next question is, "when" did they change. Most of the time it's after an accident, death, crime, natural disaster, fire, or any other life threatening event where they were either a victim or witness.

When it comes to the veterans or National Guards, police, firefighters or emergency responders, that answer is no as easy to track down. It's more of an occupational hazard. Anyone treating people in this category needs to actually read their chart or ask what they do for a living, ask if they were in the military or a veteran of any of these occupations.

I am on the NAMI Veterans Council and taking Family to Family training for people living with mental illness. The Veteran's family to family was not available in my area. In the process of reviewing the training I became more aware than ever before how easy it is to have PTSD misdiagnosed as something else.

In the case of a flashback, they can hear voices, along with see the event repeated so vividly they have the same physical responses as when the event happened. They have increased heart rates, sweat, muscles tense up and they are hyper-aroused. This can be confused with hallucinations or hearing voices.



Mood swings, short term memory loss, decreased level of personal hygiene, detachment, paranoia, rage, obsessive compulsion constantly checking doors and windows or patrolling the "perimeter" of the home, constant worry, easy to confuse, inability to focus, easily distracted, diminished ability to think rationally and process information. All of this is a part of PTSD. Usually there are also physical signs like twitches, talking to themselves, inappropriate outbursts and lashing out.

Nightmares are common and waking them up the wrong way can produce a physical response with a fist, often confused with battery and has resulted in the arrest of many sleeping veterans with no clue what happened or why they did it. Stunned wives trying to figure out why their loving husband of years suddenly became a "wife beater" just because she woke him up from a nightmare.

Decreased sexual interest or unusually increased obsession. Lack of emotional connection.

Detachment from family members, unable to feel anything for them or take an interest in them, becoming oblivious to family members. Wives have reported husbands no longer notice changes in weight or color changes of their hair for months, then suddenly notice something is different.

There are so many ways PTSD can be misdiagnosed and until the last few years, many mental health professionals have been only doing what they know instead of learning about PTSD. The problem is there are still many clueless psychologists as well as family doctors, usually first consulted when family members are clearly in need of help.

There are things that happen inside of us that change us, the way we act and relate to others, but there are also things that happen outside of us, out of our control and we respond to those events, sometimes in "unusual ways" after an abnormal event. If the person we look to for help gets it wrong, then time is lost, the wrong medication is given and therapy is focused on the wrong thing.

If you experienced, or someone you love, has been through a traumatic event, it is important your doctor knows about this so they can look to see if it is PTSD and not something else. Many people have also been treated for addiction to alcohol or drugs, when they were not addicted to the chemical itself but were seeking relief from feeling. This is called "self-medicating" and is usually confused with addiction. There are also many with addictions and PTSD, which makes things even more complicated for doctors to diagnose. Again, full disclosure from a family member or patient is vital in treating this properly. Your doctor cannot know what you do not tell them. When you look up the signs and symptoms of mental health illnesses, you can see how easily it is for them to get it wrong.

Be proactive in your healthcare and remember that your doctor only knows what you tell him/her.

Aftermath of 9-11 leaves PTSD legacy

A few hours on one September morning shattered the city of New York, the state and the entire nation. One morning. We read about what happened that day along with what came after with PTSD cases, illnesses and yes, even suicide cases. We read about broken families. Why is it so easy for us to understand what came after 9-11 when we cannot seem to find the same level of understanding when it comes to the police officers the rest of time on duty, the firefighters the rest of their time on duty or the emergency responders the rest of their time on duty? Where is this understanding when National Guardsmen come home or the troops, or the veterans years after they were exposed to traumatic events over and over and over again?

Let that sink in a moment then read the following.

Ground Zero workers 'six times more likely to be stressed'
InTheNews.co.uk - London,UK
Monday, 02 Feb 2009 08:02
Workers at Ground Zero six times more likely to suffer from serious stress disorders, study shows Printer friendly version Ironworkers at Ground Zero are almost six times more likely to suffer from serious stress disorders than the general public, a new study showed today.

Research published today revealed that 18.5 ironworkers situated at the ruins of the World Trade Centre suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In comparison, the national average in the United States is 3.5 per cent.

Of the study's 124 participants – all of whom attended the World Trade Centre mental health screening programme in New York City between 14 and 17 months after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks – 60 per cent displayed symptoms of psychiatric disorders.

As well as establishing a causal link between PTSD and working at Ground Zero, researchers, publishing their study in Psychiatric Bulletin, revealed near double rates of anxiety and panic attacks among participants. click link for more

Here you have us in the year 2009 but we're still talking about what happened that one morning on September 11, 2001. We still want to hear about the police officers, firefighters, the survivors and what happened to family members. We find it so easy to look at how their lives changed from this one morning but we don't want to look at how the lives change of those we send into combat or their families.

As bad as that is, yesterday I posted about how to normalize PTSD when it comes to the troops and veterans. That's because PTSD is a human wound caused by traumatic events, like this one morning in September. We need to help the troops and veterans let this sink into their own brains. New York experienced the horrific images of carnage but the troops and veterans experience this type of event over and over again. They cannot understand that sooner or later it does get to them simply because they are still human despite all the training, planing and equipping they receive. No matter how hard the military may try, they cannot prevent the men and women serving from being human. PTSD cannot be prevented unless somehow someone manages to stop all crime, stop all natural disasters, stop all fires and stop all wars.

As much as we claim to value the troops and the veterans this one fact is what makes them just like the rest of us and it's about time someone got the message thru to them that they are in fact still humans and they suffer like any other human. They need help like any other human. Would they think the people that responded to ground zero are weak or would they understand? Would they think the firefighters and police officers rushing to the Twin Towers were cowards because they didn't walk away the same as they rushed in or would they admire their courage in the first place? Then why can't they let those facts translate into what they go through? Why can't we make sure they look at themselves as a human first and a warrior second?

PTSD? YouTube Doesn't Care

Well YouTube just blocked another video of mine. PTSD After Trauma has been blocked so I pulled it. I'm not fighting them anymore. Take a look across YouTube and you'll find music video after music video but mine, well there about PTSD and to help people cope with it. They are for educational use and I have a Creative Commons license for share and share alike. That doesn't matter. You can't talk to anyone there to have them explain this either. They send back a form letter explaining absolutely nothing.

Video Disabled
A copyright owner has claimed it owns some or all of the audio content in your video PTSD After Trauma. The audio content identified in your video is Amazing Grace by Judy Collins. We regret to inform you that your video has been blocked from playback due to a music rights issue.

When War Comes Home Part Two uses two songs by Toby Keith. They blocked that one. I muted the music then they decided to let the music back in but I couldn't get it to play. Then I pulled it, tried to upload it again but they wouldn't allow it. They blocked Women At War, along with others. This is why all of my videos are being pulled from YouTube the end of the month. I can't take this anymore. They will be up on my web site at http://www.namguardianangel.com/ and soon they'll be uploaded here from the site.