Man-Made Trauma
Those who have experienced hardship and suffering often experience lasting trauma from the experience. Traumatic events can fundamentally change not only victims' way of life, but also their psychological outlook. This is equally true for natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods as it is for man-made catastrophes of terrorism and war. Man-made trauma, however, is often more difficult to deal with, because frequently the perpetrators still live in close proximity to victims -- thereby providing constant reminders of the past, as well as the threat of further incidents. Even if the immediate source of the trauma is removed, time does not necessarily heal all wounds. The survivor may, in fact, continue to suffer.
http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/trauma_healing/?nid=1344
Post Traumatic Shock
PTSD - What It Is
Post traumatic stress disorder is a severe ongoing emotional reaction to a psychological trauma. Strong emotions caused by the event create actual changes in the brain. It has become more widely known in recent years due to the large numbers of service men and women returning from combat with the disorder. It is estimated that 20-30% of veterans suffer from PTSD and the Defense Department has invested $78 million in research in the last four years.
But veterans aren't the only ones affected, millions of other people suffer from PTSD as it afflicts victims of all kinds of trauma and in recent years there have been large numbers of sufferers from events like the Asian tsunami, 9-11, and Hurricane Katrina.
Virtually any event that is life-threatening or severely compromises the emotional well-being of someone may cause PTSD. Scientists don't know why some people develop it and others don't but have found that keeping the event to oneself is a key factor, but given enough trauma, anyone could develop PTSD.
PTSD symptoms usually begin as normal reactions to abnormal events, it's when they persist for more than a month that the disorder is indicated. There are three categories of symptoms: intrusive, avoidance and hyperarousal.
Intrusive symptons are sudden, vivid memories accompanied by painful emotions and sometimes occur in nightmares and flashbacks. Other times the reexperience comes as a sudden, painful onslaught of emotions that seem to have no cause, these are often emotions of grief that bring tears, fear or anger.
Symptoms of avoidance are emotional numbing, avoiding friends, family and relationships and avoiding people, places and activities that are reminders and likely to trigger the re-experiencing.
Hyperarousal symptoms are an inability to eat, sleep, concentrate or remember, feeling afraid and hypervigilant, as well as physical symptoms such as trouble breathing, increased heart rate and panic attacks.
These symptoms can be terrifying and seriously disrupt a life and the process of recovery can be very difficult. Hopefully in the near future PTSD will be universally understood, destigmatized, and we will have developed better treatments. "To first be dazed, then haunted by horrible memories and made anxious and avoidant is to be part of the human family." The way to disarm PTSD is to openly acknowledge and examine it, we may never be able to prevent it, but we can minimize its destructive, degrading effects and help victims become survivors and regain the dignity, respect, belief and safety they lost (Ochberg).
Ochberg, Frank, M.D. "PTSD 101" Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma. 20 January, 2009 < http://www.dartcenter.org/articles/special_features/ptsd101/00.php>
Next
PTSD - What It Feels Like