WHAT IS PTSD?
A NATURAL REACTION TO AN UNNATURAL EVENT
Many war veterans are suffering today from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD is a new name for an old story...After the Civil War it was nostalgia, for WWI it was shell shock, in WWII and Korea it was called combat fatigue. No matter what the term, the symptoms are the same, and most veterans who suffer with it will only identify with another veteran who has had like experiences. We like to call it PTS (without the "Disorder") because trauma IS A NATURAL REACTION TO AN UNNATURAL EVENT.
QUESTIONS FOR THE VETERAN
Do you feel down a lot?
Are you angry?
Do you feel helpless? Hopeless?
Do you sense something inside that doesn't feel good and you can't identify it?
Do you have problems functioning at your job?
If any of the information strikes a nerve, and you suffer from Post Traumatic Stress or would like to help someone who is affected by it, please contact us immediately - our services are free of charge because you already paid the price.
MOST VETERANS ARE IN SOME FORM OF DENIAL ABOUT POST TRAUMATIC STRESS
If nothing you have tried in the past has worked, or may have even made things worse, then perhaps it is time to take an entirely different approach to the problem of PTSD. There are always alternative interpretations for the nature of any problem, and therefore more than one strategy for intervention.
I N T E R N A T I O N A L
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MOST VETERANS are in some form of DENIAL about POST TRAUMATIC STRESS
Discover your level of denial below...
(Check off the ones that apply to you)
SLEEP DISTURBANCES
[ ] Unable to remember dreams?
[ ] Watch TV until late into the morning?
[ ] Do you stay awake as long as possible?
[ ] Wake up often during the night for no reason?
[ ] Wake in the morning still feeling very tired?
[ ] Have nightmares: dream of being shot at or pursued?
AVOIDANCE OF FEELINGS
[ ] Feel "hollow inside"?
[ ] Feel "emotionally numb"?
[ ] Feel detached, aloof, "emotionally dead"?
[ ] Seem to be cold, uncaring, even ruthless at times?
[ ] Unable to feel love or compassion for others?
[ ] Unable to experience either the sorrows or the joys of life?
RESTLESSNESS / LISTLESSNESS
[ ] Numerous changes of address?
[ ] Don't know why you even exist?
[ ] Ever drive about aimlessly when angry?
[ ] Chronic job-hopping/unstable work history?
[ ] Desire to seek refuge by moving away from the problem?
[ ] No feelings of direction, meaning, purpose, or significance in life?
[ ] Have you lost interest in work or other activities that you used to enjoy?
[ ] Ever feel like nothing's been going right, and "it's been like that for a very long time"?
ISOLATION / ALIENATION
[ ] Had many broken relationships - divorces?
[ ] Desire to live a life as a hermit?
[ ] Experience lack of social contact?
[ ] Have few acquaintances, even fewer friends?
[ ] Desire to seek refuge by moving away from the problem?
[ ] Feel isolated, or distanced from spouse, parents, children, brothers, peers or others?
MISTRUST-SUSPICION
[ ] Unable to feel secure in intimate relationships?
[ ] Do you frequently find yourself questioning the loyalty of friends or relatives?
[ ] Are you suspicious of managers, supervisors, and work peers?
[ ] Have you had numerous broken relationships, divorces?
[ ] Distrust yourself and your ability to "keep it together much longer"?
[ ] Always feel suspicious of being "exploited, used, or abused"?
[ ] Intensely concerned with issues of justice, "right or wrong"?
[ ] Can't deal with "gray" areas?
[ ] Have feelings of mistrust towards the government, government officials, and mistrust of "The System" in general?
FINANCES
[ ] Is your wife usually the source of financial stability?
[ ] Do you resent promotions and breaks that others got who did not go to war?
[ ] Do you feel frustrated because of inability to provide for the family?
ANXIETY REACTIONS
[ ] Do you possess numerous weapons?
[ ] Sleep with weapons within easy reach?
[ ] Ever feel uncomfortable standing out "in the open"?
[ ] Feel uncomfortable when people walk or sit behind you?
[ ] Hypervigilance: repeatedly check doors, locks and other security devices?
[ ] Do you feel most comfortable with your back to the wall, or in a corner of the room?
[ ] Do you have a tendency to react under stress with "survival tactics"?
RAGE
[ ] Generally irritable?
[ ] Ever destroy inanimate objects?
[ ] Verbally and or physically abusive?
[ ] Punch holes in walls with your fists?
[ ] Fantasize about retaliation and destruction?
[ ] Strike out at others for no apparent reason?
[ ] Invent several elaborate plans to "get even" and dwell on them for long periods?
IDENTITY ISSUES
[ ] Desire to live a life as a hermit?
[ ] Lack of confidence in your own abilities?
[ ] Do you ever feel like "a reject" from society?
[ ] Feel "hollow" like "an old man in a young man's body"?
[ ] Do you like motorcycles because they give feelings of independence, speed, light travel, high maneuverability, low
profile, solitude, exposure to the elements, instant acceleration, very loud noise, high vibration, feelings of raw
power, feelings of courting danger, and an "adrenaline rush"?
REDUCTIONIST THINKING
[ ] Give away material things easily?
[ ] Able to easily strip away all non-essentials?
[ ] Feel the need to "get to the point" in all conversations?
[ ] Irritated easily by insignificant chatter (small talk) and all non-essential conversation?
[ ] Hoard material and supplies that might be necessary for survival?
[ ] Able to leave the area at the drop of a hat knowing exactly what you need to take with you, and exactly where you
would go?
GUILT
[ ] Ever feel guilt for surviving the war when others (who may have had more to live for) did not?
[ ] Feel guilt that perhaps if you had stayed a little longer you could have "made a difference"?
[ ] Feel guilt for acts committed, or acts observed without making an effort to stop them?
[ ] Feel guilt for returning to the relative safety of home and leaving friends behind that were still engaged in combat?
INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS
[ ] Ever have 'flashback' episodes?
[ ] Intense thoughts of "what might hae been"?
[ ] Ever experience strong reaction to certain sights, sounds, or smells?
[ ] Have feelings of being somewhere other than where you really are?
[ ] Memories of traumatic events ever interrupt your routine thought patterns?
FEAR & CONTROL ISSUES
[ ] Try to control everything that happens around you?
[ ] Fear of people around you trying to control you?
[ ] Fear of dying and afraid to go on living?
[ ] Fear of surprises or situations over which you have no control?
[ ] Fear what might happen if you ever lost control of yourself?
DEPRESSION
[ ] Ever feel worthless?
[ ] Substance abuse?
[ ] Self-medication?
[ ] Difficulty concentrating? Easily distracted?
[ ] Feel a sense of helplessness or futility about your condition?
DEVELOPMENTAL DISCONTINUITIES
[ ] Feel that there are "holes" in your developmental stages?
[ ] Feel like you "lost something" when you were growing up?
[ ] Feel that you will never be able to regain what you have lost?
DEATH IMPRINT & CONTAMINATION
[ ] Think about death a lot?
[ ] Feel that you will never, ever get close to anybody again?
[ ] Feel that everyone that you get close to is somehow "contaminated" by you, and dies?
DENIAL
[ ] Unwilling to seek help, don't trust anyone?
[ ] Ever feel like "It's no big deal, I can handle it."
[ ] Do you ever deny that "your experience" could have anything to do with your attitude?
[ ] Are you unable to admit that you have any of the above symptoms or that you may have post traumatic stress
disorder, (PTSD)?
[ ] Do you deny even the possibility that there may be spiritual solutions to the problem of Post Traumatic Stress?
THESE ARE ALL SYMPTOMS OF P.T.S.D.
The above is provided by Oscar D. Ramirez, Ph.D.
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