WHAT IS P.T.S.D.?
You can summarise PTSD very easily.
PTSD is usually “a normal reaction to an ABnormal or life-threatening event.”
Furthermore, it’s not a mental illness suffered primarily by people serving in the armed services. While they are certainly prime candidates for PTSD by virtue of what they may be called upon to do – (i.e. killing others or risking being killed themselves) – PTSD visits civilians in civilian occupations just as much. Here are some of the occupations and/or situations which can precipitate PTSD:
- Working in the Ambulance, Fire and Police services
- Working in Hospital Emergency Rooms and being exposed to the many different types of admission in which people can be horribly injured
- For ‘ordinary civilians’ like you and me, we too can develop PTSD from a seriously traumatic experience. These could be the results of a terrorist attack (9/11 and the London or Madrid subway bombings are good examples) natural disasters such as earthquakes / tsunamis / hurricanes, the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness to us as individuals or someone who is close to us, violence in the home, rape, physical assault, sexual abuse as a child or being involved in an Air / Car / Train crash.
To many, the term PTSD is often dismissed by those (who consider themselves as ‘informed’) as little more than a current ‘buzz-phrase’ about a mental illness. Very often, those same people might well comment, “well, if you just pulled yourself together and snapped out of the way you are at the moment, we’d all be a lot better off!” Be in no doubt, PTSD is absolutely NOT a condition which any sufferer can ’snap out of.’
Let’s have a look at some simple statistics.
- Most of us, at some time or another, have a profoundly traumatic experience. It could be one of those mentioned above or another issue that literally shakes us to the core. Whatever that experience may have been, the chances are that at least 75% of those who had the experience go on to develop PTSD.
- Additionally – and this really is the nasty bit, research shows that some 8% of the populations of the majority of western countries suffer from some form of PTSD. Looking at Wikipedia on the internet to check out the populations of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States at their last Census – and then applying the 8% rule – it’s an easy calculation to do.
- The result is horrifying!
- Nearly 32 MILLION people in those countries alone currently suffer from PTSD!!!!!
- That’s effectively HALF the population of the United Kingdom in its own right!!!!
If you want to learn more about the illness in layman’s terms, we suggest you click on the .pdf file a little further down this page. Written and kindly provided by The Sidran Institute to educate the lay-person, this easily treatise tells you how sufferers got their PTSD in the first place, how help can be offered and some important myths that need exploding!
The Sidran Institute in Baltimore, Maryland is the United States non-profit that will benefit from the Triumph Trans-AmeriCa Charity Drive 2009. The other beneficiary charities are the Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada based in Montreal, Canada and Assist Trauma Care, based in Rugby in the United Kingdom.
To open the .pdf click on here about-ptsd-sidran.pdf – and then click on it again in the new window that opens.
Now, turning to other related issues in terms of the event itself – but still on the PTSD theme. I’ve had a few emails seeking clarification on whether or not the Charity Drive is primarily for the benefit of military personnel experiencing P.T.S.D.
The answer is a conditional YES, but only if the person with known or suspected P.T.S.D. symptoms has left military service, cannot find specialized help and is desperately seeking it. The military claims it has more than adequate facilities for those needing P.T.S.D. treatment, so this drive is not aimed specifically at active personnel in the military (American, British and Canadian forces) especially if the person with P.T.S.D. is likely to remain in military service for the foreseeable future.
Primarily it is aimed at civilians who have experienced a life-threatening or seriously traumatising event. Men and women in the Emergency Services – Fire Departments, Paramedics and the Police are very high on the list of potential sufferers – together with those who have been sexually abused as children or adults, experienced a serious car or plane crash or been at close quarters at some horrifying event. It is well-known that many who saw the attacks on the Twin Towers on 9/11, followed by the sight of people jumping from windows were understandably traumatised. It is therefore civilians rather than retired military personnel we seek to help by fundraising for non-profits who can react, by introducing them to specialised therapists and the release of dedicated reading matter – all aimed at helping them recover and regain their lives.
However it is important to note that many people suffering from P.T.S.D. are often unaware in the early stages of their illness that they are actually mentally ill. This is because the experiences they had which later caused them to become P.T.S.D. patients, do not immediately “come to the surface” in the forms of the nightmares, flashbacks, Bipolar disorders or various types of depression. That’s why P.T.S.D. is so sinister. The untreated symptoms or causes can remain in the background for many years and during that time can wreak absolute havoc!
That’s why this Charity Drive is SO important. The Charities/Non-Profits who will benefit from the money we hope to raise, demonstrably go on caring 24/365 until they can facilitate a recovery and that’s why they’re so special. That’s also why this event is so important and hopefully, the story below – written by my wife, will more than adequately explain how PTSD affected me.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
A Wife’s Story
I met John in 2003 when we were both working for a small charity in
I was somewhat intrigued that such an obviously intelligent and creative man was working in a position which was not utilising his skills; but I knew enough to understand that some people have many reasons to seek employment below their abilities, and not to ask why.
Gradually, after I left the charity, John and I became closer and he asked me to marry him. However, before he would accept an answer from me, he asked me to read a chapter of a story he had written, explaining that it was biographical. In this piece, John described how he had become embroiled in a War and had killed a man in order to save his colleagues and himself from certain death.
Having read this and discussed it with John, I happily agreed to become his wife. John, you see, was horribly ashamed at what he had done and carried a burden of guilt for it. As a Christian, he could not get over his horror at having been the author of death for another human being.Â
John expected me to reject him because of this, whereas in fact, his story showed him as a suffering hero in my eyes. John went on to explain that he had terrible nightmares and got terribly depressed around the anniversary of this event.
We got married and were very happy (we still are!) but every night I would be woken by John’s horrible nightmares. He would be talking and calling out in his sleep, sometimes screaming, sometimes crying. His legs would pound up and down as if he was running in the bed; this was so violent that it would wake people downstairs.
Gradually I became aware that I – and John’s eldest son, were the only ones he had ever told about what had happened to him twenty five years before.  He simply could not bring himself to talk about it and was filled with shame, both about what he had done and about what he saw as his weakness in being unable to put it behind him and get on with his life. Gradually, he gave me permission to tell members of my family and our close friends; and was amazed at their positive and supportive reactions. Instead of treating him as a pariah, they supported him and sympathised with him.
In the summer, the town where we live has a Boat Festival, a part of which includes a fireworks display. John had previously told me that he could not be near fireworks as they caused him distress, since they reminded him of his time spent under bombardment.
In this particular year, John decided he wanted to try to attend and we set off as a party to enjoy the evening. All was well, until the fireworks started. Then John started screaming and crouched down in to a foetal position. Then he lay down with his hands covering his head, he was crying and calling out. I sat down next to him and put his head in my lap. Gradually John started talking, but he wasn’t talking to me. He wasn’t aware that I was there or that he was in
On this occasion he and five colleagues were in
This day John was in charge. There had been a break in bombardment and all had taken time out of the trench.
Suddenly an Iranian aircraft came in very low and at high speed and a restaurant across the road from their trench was hit. John knew that two of his colleagues were in the restaurant and leaping from the trench, he ran across the road to find death and mayhem.Â
Miraculously both his colleagues were alive; though one was so drunk he could not walk and the other so shocked, he was literally paralysed by fear. John slapped him and brought him back to reality, he encouraged him to run back to the trench where the others were waiting. John then lifted the other man onto his shoulders and ran towards the trench. Half way there, the gas canisters used by the restaurant for cooking, exploded. John was lifted off his feet and flung headfirst into the wall of the hotel where he was staying – a distance of perhaps 40 meters. He was knocked unconscious and most of his teeth were totally smashed.
This then, was where John found himself that summer night. His mind totally in
To an outsider, John appeared to be having a seizure. I was asked by a member of the public if I needed an ambulance? The
This incident spurred me on to seek appropriate help for John. In the past he had been diagnosed variously as having epilepsy, bi-polar disorder and anger management problems. Having lived with him for some time it was my opinion that none of these diagnoses were correct. It seemed to me that the root of his problems lay in his memories of
Initially, I discovered Combat Stress. John spoke to them and was overjoyed to find that they helped people with symptoms like his all the time. The downside was that they were only able to help veterans or those serving in the armed forces.
A spark of hope though.
They recommended a charity in
Forms were filled out and sent off and then we received a date to visit
What an amazing time that was, but we were still sceptical.
How could they be so certain that something so dominant and destructive to John’s life could be banished? Uncertain, but hopeful, John began his treatment; and after three months of weekly visits to a counsellor with specialist training in Post Traumatic Stress, he found, with awe, that his nightmares had stopped and that thoughts of Iraq were no longer popping into his head, whereas before, they had been intruding many times a day. He is now even able to enjoy watching a firework display with me!
So is he totally cured? From observation I should say he is 90% cured. The legacy of those twenty five years is that present day trauma can send John into severe anxiety.
For example, when a woman drugged up to her eyeballs and verbally aggressive, told John she would kill him when he politely asked her to let him pass on a path he was trying to walk down, he went into shock.
He believed her threat, and was terrified of her for a while. Generally though, he has his life back and no amount of thanks can express the gratitude that John and I feel for the help he received from this small charity in
So, if you’re reading this and wondering “Do I have PTSD, could I be helped?†the answer is, if you have PTSD you CAN be helped, providing you have a therapist who is uniquely qualified in PTSD therapy techniques and knows intimately how to use them to optimum effect. As John now knows – and can confirm, you can still enjoy a happy life and cope with the past trauma of PTSD.
Assist Trauma Care (UK) The Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada in Montreal, Quebec and The Sidran Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, USA – are the three charities that will benefit from this event.