fbpx

Archive for the ‘Trauma News’ Category


The Second Pandemic: PTSD

Posted on: by Susan

 

It has been a little over one year since COVID 19 made its world debut. In that time we have all seen reports of horrendous deaths from the disease, the toll it has taken on our healthcare professionals and the tremendous changes it has brought to every society in the world:

  • constant mask wearing
  • hypervigilance around health and contagion
  • decreased movement around our communities and world
  • elimination of cultural group activities from rock concerts to political events to pubs
  • the constant background fear of death or long term disability

In addition to these profoundly stressful changes in our lives, we have seen brutal killings on live TV by people who are supposed to protect us, as well as by mass murderers; social and political uprisings, the polarization of politics and the death of cooperation between political parties. These changes have left people all over the world uncertain about their future, about their safety, and about their financial survival. 

Many people understand that they are chronically traumatized. And many deny that these events affect them, even while acting out their fears and angers on their loved ones and those around them (itself a trauma symptom).

In the current Diagnostics and Statistical Manual on PTSD we have a list of criteria that apply to our collective experience of COVID and mass unrest. I have paraphrased some of these criteria; the ones that are verbatim from the DSM are in quotes.

1. “Exposure to actual or threatened death” by one of these four means: “directly experience the traumatic event(s)”, “witnessing in person, the traumatic event(s) as it occurred to to others, “learning that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or friend, and/or experiencing repeated or “extreme exposure to aversive details about the event(s)” as part of one’s work. 

Check. We would have to be very isolated indeed to not have experienced at least one of these criteria. As for the fourth criteria, that is officially listed as being “part of one’s work”, I disagree as a trauma therapist. Exposure is exposure. Just because the DSM says your exposure doesn’t count because you were not ‘on the job’ doesn’t mean that you were not traumatized. There is research showing that repeated viewings of traumas on TV or other media create a trauma response in viewers. I believe this criteria may be changed in future versions of the DSM.

2. Presence of one or more of these disturbing intrusive symptoms: uncontrollable recurrent memories and perseverations around the event(s); nightmares related to either the content of the event or the emotions around the event (loss, sickness, contagion, fear of the future etc.); flashbacks, or other dissociative reactions around the event(s), which for children can include repetitive play of the trauma or event; “intense or prolonged psychological distress at exposure to internal [your own memories] or external [in the environment] that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

Translation: You cannot stop thinking about COVID, COVID related losses (school, travel, etc.) or other traumatic events related to COVID or social unrest. You cannot stop the feels that keep coming, and you feel depleted because of this. It is hard to focus on daily routines and feel ‘normal’ again. You may take extraordinary precautions that are not strictly necessary or none at all as a rebellion to these feelings.  You may have insomnia as the mind unconsciously avoids dream content related to COVID or social unrest and pops us out of sleep as we approach REM phase, where memories are processed.

3. Avoiding anything that reminds you of the traumatic event(s) in one or two of these ways: “Avoidance of or efforts to avoid distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings about  or closely associated with the traumatic event(s) and/or “ [making] efforts to avoid external reminders (people, places, conversations,  activities, objects, situations) that arouse distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings about or closely associated with the traumatic event(s)”. 

In other words, you don’t want to think about it and you don’t want to talk about it anymore. Even reading this blog may be a trigger. (Did you make it this far?) You may avoid shows about: illness, contagion, disasters etc. that you previously enjoyed. Or you may avoid discussing COVID with friends and family, or avoid talking about your feelings about it. Denial is another way our minds practice PTSD-related  avoidance. We may minimize COVID or say we are not at risk, or refuse to take precautionary measures. All of these are trauma responses, in other words,  our mind unconsciously and automatically protects us through avoidance.

Some of these behaviors make other people very angry and are themselves a stimulation of the trauma. You may be very reactive to people who minimize the risk of COVID to themselves and others. Both of these reactions are traumatic in nature. We do not, necessarily, choose our defense (which is a whole other blog topic). Some people intellectualize and want to learn everything about the event; others want to know nothing or deny reality. Both groups are avoiding their feelings, although intellectualization is preferable to denial. Avoiding feelings, in general, is a traumatic response, as well as a cultural one (some cultures value feelings more than others). 

4.  Negative alterations in cognitions and mood associated with the traumatic event(s), as evidenced by two (or  more) of the following: 

  • Loss of memory around the event(s) [one of the more extreme reactions]
  • “Persistent and exaggerated negative beliefs or expectations about oneself, others, or the world”
  • “Persistent, distorted cognitions about the cause or consequences of the traumatic  event(s) that lead the individual to blame himself/herself or others.”
  • “Persistent negative emotional state (e.g., fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame).”  
  • “ Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities.”  
  • “Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others.”  
  • “ Persistent inability to experience positive emotions (e.g., inability to experience  happiness, satisfaction, or loving feelings).” 

What strikes me about this section is how real it is socially, except for the loss of memory bit. 

(Also how much the word “persistent” is used.)

 “Persistent exaggerated negative beliefs or expectations about oneself, others or the world” Check.

“…lead the individual to blame himself/herself or others”

Check.

“Persistant negative emotional state”

Check. It’s like a nightmare we cannot get out of, which then becomes a trigger for all of our other unresolved traumas from this (and other, if you believe in that) lifetimes.

“Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities”. 

Check. But in a weird way. COVID prevents us from participation and maintaining interest. Double check.

“Persistent inability to experience positive emotions”. 

Check and Checkmate. We all feel depressed. We are all grieving. It is hard enough to maintain hope in the persistence of COVID, never mind the persistence of our collective trauma around COVID. Ugh.

5. Unpleasant behavioral changes as a result of the event that include two or more of the following: Insomnia or other sleep disturbance, inappropriate emotional outbursts that are out of character, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, and/or difficulty focusing and/or concentrating. 

Well, yes. Most of these for most folks. One only has to venture online to see the reactivity happening. Nearly everyone I know either as a friend or patient has struggled with sleep this year. You can check in with yourself as to whether you are still washing your hands 10 times/day or wearing your mask when you really do not need to (hypervigilance), or if you jump when someone comes up behind you unexpectedly. 

Many people came into this period of time with PTSD, either diagnosed or not. They have been suffering tremendously because their systems were already sensitive to traumatic stress. The rest of humanity may now suffer some level of PTSD. I say “level” because although PTSD is by definition a very unpleasant condition, it can have levels of severity beyond baseline. If you are having dissociative symptoms such as depersonalization (“feeling as though one were in a dream; feeling a sense of unreality of self or body  or of time moving slowly”)  or derealization (the world around you feels “unreal, dreamlike, distant,  or distorted”) you may have a more severe situation that needs attention. Technically it is called PTSD with dissociative symptoms. 

Oh yes. And these symptoms need to have gone on for more than one month. 

Check.

Please, dear reader, remember: I would not write this blog if I did not feel you or your loved ones could be helped. There are many resources available to help you heal from PTSD. My book, The Trauma Tool Kit: Healing PTSD From the Inside Out is available in libraries all over the world, and has a rating of 4.6/5 stars on Amazon where it is available on Kindle and Audible (in my own voice).

Be well and stay safe, Susan PB

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5 E-Kindle Book 5th Edition (p. 308). Indephent. Kindle Edition. 



From COVID to PTSD: What Can You Do About It?

Posted on: by Susan

Hi friends. I am starting to see signs of people moving from acute stress into symptoms of PTSD, due to COVID. I have linked to the DSM criteria here . PTSD includes panic attacks by symptom definition, but needs greater specificity around the cause as outlined in the first section. If you know anyone who has died due to COVID you may be at greater risk. If you have a history of PTSD you may become more easily activated. The main signs are 1) the intrusiveness of symptoms (nightmares, anxiety etc), 2) negative mood (dysphoria) and decreased cognitive functioning 3) avoidance through numbing, substances, isolation etc. Some people will experience severe dissociative symptoms including feelings of unreality, surreality or like they cannot find themselves. Some may experience profound difficulty with memory as the overtaxed hippocampus fails to convert short-term memory to long-term memory (a very common symptom!). Your body may start to ache, or you may become dizzy or nauseous which compounds the alarm since these are also signs of COVID.

I think we are in the beginning of a PTSD epidemic concurrent with COVID, made worse by the lack of a caring, effective and empathic response by our national leaders. You may be confused about what you are experiencing since PTSD is a very PHYSICAL condition, not just something “in your head”. “Good thoughts” cannot change it; that would be like getting a band-aid on an amputation. Anyone is susceptible. With enough traumas piling up nationally we all may have PTSD when this is over. You cannot get too much help or do too much self-care at this time. Your nervous system and neuroendocrine system are being greatly taxed. Find regular times to lower anxiety and have fun. Be vigilant about reducing stress, even the relatively minor stress of watching a violent or scary TV show or movie. Peel the stress onion by letting go of even little stressors and take action 2x/day to lower your anxiety baseline through relaxation, meditation, gardening, yoga, walking or whatever helps you get into “rest and digest” mode safely. Your adrenals will thank you! Honor your need to be safe and whole and take good care of yourselves, including getting safe anti-anxiety meds on board as needed. Love and Reiki to all of you. S



Gun Control vs Mental Health: How Do We Stop the Killing?

Posted on: by Susan

Are mass murderers mentally ill or should we pursue gun control? This is a hot topic of debate. As a person who has a career spanning 40 years in mental health I would like to answer this question by answering some common statements that I’ve seen in the news the last few days.

“We don’t need gun control, we need better mental health services”. Wrong. We need both. If we have even one dangerously murderous potential mass murderer in our community we need to restrict their access to weapons. Isn’t this obvious, Republican Party?

“Most killers are not mentally ill.” What?! First of all I’d like to see a shred of statistical evidence to back that up. This is always said in forums with no citations. Even if there were stats for this amazing statement, can we consider where the known killers are? They are in prisons, American prisons, that famously do not provide adequate mental health services to inmates. No services equal no diagnoses, and no diagnoses equal no statistics. In the 1980s I did some research about serial killers (different than mass murderers but still…) and I found that an alarming number had temporal lobe lesions and/or diagnoses of Multiple Personality Disorder (what would now be Dissociative Identity Disorder).   We do not know jack daw about mass murderers. Most kill themselves, the rest end up in prison undertreated and definitely unresearched. As a therapist, when I read the descriptions of these folks they seem easily diagnosable to me. They are definitely not pinnacles of mental health and well being.

“Most mentally ill people do not kill other people.” Yes, that is a true statement. But that is not a reversible statement. See above. It is not logical to use this statement to establish anything. Even if mentally ill people don’t kill, they still deserve treatment. Most of us who have PTSD, for example, know that if a gun were in our hands in the wrong moment we could have killed ourselves or somebody else.  I believe a lot of couple murder/suicides happen this way, as terrible accidents that could have been prevented by not having a gun in the house.

“These people are not mentally ill, they are evil.” Really, folks it is 2015 not 1515. Should we sprinkle holy water on them? All sarcasm aside, to make this statement you have to assume that people are either born evil or choose to become evil. I do not subscribe to the belief that any human is born evil. Evil is a construct. Nobody is all good or all evil.   We are born babies, open to both good and evil actions . If a human grows up and identifies as evil, in other words, service to self above all others no matter what the cost they can wreak great havoc in the world. But if they are sanely evil, they do not usually end up dead, at least not for a while, they usually end up running corporations or governments (jk) (not really). Most of these mass murderers are young men who have barely started to live, and most end up dead at the end of their rampage. Where is the sanity in that? Calling these guys evil is lazy and glib and blinds us to solutions.

I recommend we all step back, take a deep breath and acknowledge to ourselves that each mass murderer is an individual with their own reasons for doing what they did. If we hope to prevent more such actions we need to seek to understand their behaviors and address the disconnection and untreated suffering that led to such a horrible event. And we need gun control.

 



School Shootings: An Open Letter to Parents

Posted on: by Susan

Dear Parents,

  I feel your pain and horror.  I, too, am a parent and have two Juniors this year whose finals week was interrupted by the school shooting at Reynolds high school.  They have been so busy just trying to get through finals week that they haven’t even had time or energy to integrate what is happening in their own community.

 Nothing makes us more anxious than a threat to our children’s safety. Nothing makes us feel more powerless, saddened and enraged then when our schools safe walls are breached by murderous rage and terror.

 Some of us are vulnerable to traumatic stress and anxiety already. Events like this can feel overwhelming to cope with, and even moreso to help our kids to cope.  So what can we do?

As a professional and as a parent, I recommend that you put on the metaphorical oxygen mask first.  Please take the time to do whatever you can to take care of yourself in the coming weeks.  If you feel your own anxiety spiraling out of control, please get some help from a qualified trauma therapist or perhaps some other provider that you feel comfortable with such as an acupuncturist, Reiki practitioner or yoga therapist.  If you feel that you need psychiatric medication, now would be a good time to get a consultation. Practicing mindfulness meditation could be helpful or whatever really helps you calm down and integrate.

 If you are like most Americans you are probably going to want to think your way out of this problem and come up with a snappy and satisfying solution (gun control, armed school guards,  mental health interventions etc).  I would encourage you NOT to jump to this just yet.  First we need to calm ourselves down and become really, REALLY present to ourselves and our families.

 Trauma, like grief, has its own pace and rhythm, and some of us are dealing with both.  Our kids may have known the victim(s) or even been the victim. We need to give healing its full due. If our kids see us stopping, processing and restoring ourselves from trauma, that gives them permission to do so as well.  There are many resources for healing out there, including my book, The Trauma Tool Kit: Healing PTSD From the Inside Out, which has a whole chapter on first-aid for trauma shock, the first stage of trauma.  Reading it will help you cope with the immediate aftermath of trauma. (You can find it in your local library and in all bookstores.)

 Your children are in shock and grief, too.  Like my kids, they may be in the middle of finishing up testing and not really be available for processing their feelings, or they may have a lot of time on their hands and be inwardly stewing over what has happened.  Lately the world seems to have exploded in violence.  Even if they are quiet, they have definitely noticed.

 Make yourself extra available to them.  Depending on age, gender and temperament our children will have varying needs and ways of moving through their own horror, anger and sadness.  Allow them to find their own mode of expression, which may be very different than yours.  But they do need to express in order to integrate.

 As a child and teen therapist, I know that there are very few children who can just sit down and talk about their feelings to their parents in an adult way.  It is best to find activities to do with your kids and let the conversation steer its way naturally to what is troubling them.  You can ask open ended questions and make positive statements such as, “I’m really interested in what you think/feel about this event.” “What are other people saying about what happened on Facebook?” etc.  Good activities can be throwing a ball, shooting hoops (I got really good at this doing inpatient work with boys), going for a walk together, driving somewhere, listening to music together (their choice),  playing a card or board or video game (not too intense so there is room for conversation).  You need to initiate these activities, especially for kids who tend to isolate when they are upset. 

 Allow your children, and especially teens, an uncensored discussion.  If you have rules about swearing or intensity (such as loudness or sarcastic tone), tell your child that you have suspended these rules, so they can say, freely, whatever is on their mind.  Our kids talk very differently to each other than they do in front of us.  If they need to blow off steam but feel inhibited in front of us, they will blow off steam elsewhere. 

 Sometimes stressful events like this show areas of relationships that are in need of work.  If you have been having trouble connecting with your child, this trauma will not automatically draw you closer. It may, in fact, do the opposite.  If so, consider seeking out professional help for yourself and/or the family.

 Put down your cell phone when you are home.  Stay home and make it clear that you are available when they need to talk, even if that need comes up around 10 or 11 pm as they are going to bed (as if often will). Monitor your own need to engage in avoidance activities and choose engagement.

  If you do not already have a self-care routine, now would be an excellent time to start one.  I am a big fan of progressive relaxation exercises and often prescribe them.  You could find some online or buy a CD and practice relaxing your whole body a couple of times a day, to reset your own nervous system.  Allow yourself more downtime than usual.

  Know these signs of acute stress and monitor them in your children.  If they persist past 2-4 weeks they may be cause for concern:

 

–       repetitive talk about the event

–       
repetitive drawing of the event

–       irritable

–       withdrawn


–       needy and clingy


–       more forgetful than usual


–       having trouble regulating emotions: laughing silly “highs” crash into sullen “lows

–       hair-pulling (trichotillomania)


–       disturbed eating

–       insomnia or frequent awakening in fear or tantrums

–       age-inappropriate behavior such as bed-wetting

–       rigid and perseverative play behavior (in younger children)

 

Lastly, know that no matter how upsetting this event is to your family and child, healing is possible. Human beings are incredibly resilient.  In the process of healing you and your family may wish to take some action in the world.  If this feels right to you, do it.  The wound of trauma often demands some response from us – when the time is right.

Blessings on your journey of healing, Sue



Defending Dr. Drew

Posted on: by Susan

My husband is an interventional cardiologist. Most of the people he sees are in manageable stages of cardiac disease. Some of his patients are quite sick and come in with advanced stages of illness. A few are dead and dying when they reach his cath lab. Miraculously, he can bring a few back to life, or ease their suffering greatly with stents and medications, saving them the trauma of open heart surgery.

Nobody is surprised when some of these people die. Sad. But not surprised. And certainly not outraged.

I’m a mental health professional, as is Dr. Drew Pinsky. In the media Dr. Drew has been blamed for the recent death of country singer Mindy McCready, who appeared on his show Rehab a few seasons ago. Like my husband, we both see people in various stages of illness. We’ve held people’s lives in our hands in our offices as surely as my husband has in his cath lab.

Dr. Drew, on his show Rehab, treats the sickest of the sick. He admits people to his hospital who have a terrible prognosis, many of whom have been told they are going to die if they don’t get treatment. They are in the end stages of addiction, a disease just as surely fatal as heart disease.

Yet, for some reason, when these patients die, the good doctor is blamed. Why? He is treating those who need intensive intervention and treatment in a psychiatric facility, just as my husband treats people in his hospital. These patients can get well with interventions for a period of time and then fail, just as cardiac patients can.

I can only chalk this reaction up to the ignorance and wishful thinking of the American people. Here is what I, as a lifelong mental health practitioner, would like the general public to know:

1) Addiction is a deadly disease, no less of a threat than cancer, heart disease, or a terrible accident.

2) It takes a highly skilled practitioner, one with hundreds if not thousands of hours of training, practice and supervision to help these people get better, and, yet, like other physicians, we still may lose our patients.

3) When we do lose our patients, we feel terrible. We work so much more intimately with our patients than, say, my husband does with his. We know their secrets, their character. We have laughed with them and possibly cried with them. It is impossible to be a good therapist without attaching to our clients and they to us.

4) Clinicians don’t just ever treat addictions. Addictions are always a symptom of a much bigger problem, and, frankly, that problem almost always involves boatloads of psychological trauma.

5) Working with traumatic stress is incredibly taxing for patient and practitioner. Frankly, not that many people want to do it. If you don’t believe me ask yourself when the last time is that you asked someone to tell you about their history of abuse and neglect and then listened all the way to the end of their story. Never? I rest my case.

6) Mental health clinicians are the pariahs of the medical community in the same way our patients are pariahs in the public’s eye. We treat “losers” so we must be losers is how so many of us are seen (if you wish you can substitute the word “crazy” for “loser”). Most of us are undervalued, underpaid and disempowered, but we soldier on because we believe in our work and enjoy helping people end their suffering.

7) My husband never lacks for the tools to do his work. His patients have the best equipment, the best care, and only leave the hospital when they are well enough to go home. Often they go home with assistance of some kind or another. This is rarely true in mental health work. Our patients do not have long enough stays to get better, have trouble accessing clinicians who know how to treat them, and are often discharged without enough support at home.

Even with the best support money can buy, some patients, like the country singer Mindy McCready, fail. Some people do well until they are put under undo stress and then they collapse. This was the case, as far as I can tell, with Ms. McCready. She’d already had several suicide attempts until the completed suicide of her boyfriend. She snapped.

How is this Dr. Drew’s fault? Now, I know there is some controversy about publicly airing shows on mental health treatment, and the questions are valid. Yet, as a professional whose work is always done in complete opacity, I’m happy that the general public gets to see some of what I and thousands of my colleagues give to our clients on a daily basis. I can’t participate in Take Your Daughter to Work Day, but we can sit down and watch an episode of Rehab.

I am sorry that Mindy lost her battle with depression and addiction. I am sad that Dr. Drew is getting blamed for losing a patient in the end stages of a terrible disease process. I hope we can all use this event to deepen our understanding of the terrible costs and demands of mental health and addictions instead of using it as a way to take a cheap shot at a profession that works in areas that no one else will touch.







5 Ways to Manage Post-Disaster PTSD

Posted on: by Susan

I just had a lovely interview with Luke Hayes, of MyRecovery Disaster Resilience Radio. We discussed helpful ways to prevent and overcome post traumatic stress around natural disasters, that are increasing in frequency and intensity around the world.

1) Be prepared. Don’t think it can’t happen to you (denial). Have food and water items stocked. Know what kind of disasters could happen in your area. Make a plan for a quick evacuation. An ounce of preparation is worth a pound of loss later. We don’t think and plan well in the midst of crisis. So plan ahead!

2) Know where to find help. Form a community organization. Familiarize yourself with local assistance such as Red Cross, shelters etc. If your community does not have such assistance consider forming a group yourself. People have much less trauma when they feel looked after by their community.

3) Practice control over your mind and emotions now. The first technique I teach my patients about PTSD is a single pointed meditation. Focus on one object for 3-5 minutes at a time. Most of us have flabby mind muscles. This exercise strengthens our ability to focus in a crisis and its aftermath while staying calm. It is easier to keep the mind calm when we have practiced at it ahead of time.

4) If you have severe trauma after a disaster seek help. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Response) is a powerful modality that involves eye movements that dissipates traumatic responses. It seems to work best on those who did not grow up with tremendous amounts of trauma. The results can be surprisingly fast and powerful.

5) Restore yourself and your body after the crisis has resolved. The body is profoundly affected and in some cases permanently altered by trauma. The endocrine system and central nervous systems may take weeks to months to heal fully affecting appetite, weight, autoimmune responses, mood swings, sleep patterns, libido and other aspects of human life. Most people tend to underestimate the results of trauma. Take the time you need to get help and heal yourself. It may take some time. 

You are valuable. You are needed. You deserve to heal!





The HPA Axis, Trauma and You pt. 2

Posted on: by Susan

Maybe you have seen the discussion in the media lately around whether PTSD is a disorder or an injury. It is an injury.

Psychological trauma affects the entire body through the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis. As we discussed before, (see The HPA Axis, Trauma and You), this axis governs the body’s entire endocrine (hormonal) system. This is not in control of the victim, any more than bleeding and swelling is for the victim of a beating. PTSD always involves injury to the body’s mechanisms. Always. This is one of the reasons the disorder is so painful and so hard to describe.

I have come to believe that all symptoms of PTSD are related to these disturbances or attempts to ‘heal’ the disturbances.

Let’s take an extreme symptom, cutting or self-mutilation. We know in neurology that pain in one part of the body cancels out pain in another part of the body. This is a joke with my acupuncturist. Some times a painful needle will be inserted and he’ll ask how my symptoms are. I’ll answer, “fine, now that all I can feel is your painful needle!”. 

So, in a strange kind of way, cutting can be “adaptive” for forms of extreme trauma by managing through diversion and re-routing of pain signals, which then gives the victim a feeling of control.

Avoidance is another one of these symptoms. People with PTSD go to great lengths to avoid (or scare off, if it’s a person) reminders of their trauma, sometimes resulting in strange “phobias” or behaviors. That saying, “you always hurt the one you love” goes twice for PTSD sufferers when their partners inadvertently trigger them. We need to learn when our PTSD injury is manifesting and make ourselves safe in ways that don’t injure our relationships.

When medicine embraces the physiologic basis for PTSD, sufferers will finally gain the help that they need to heal from this profound HPA injury.



The Trauma Tool Kit Has Arrived! *GIVEAWAY*

Posted on: by Susan

Hi all,

I’m happy to tell you that The Trauma Toolkit: Healing PTSD From the Inside Out is now in bookstores across the United States and is shipping from online booksellers. I had the privilege of finally holding my own copy this week. In celebration I am giving away three copies to the first three readers who link to this blog and comment below. Please be sure to send me your address privately if you see your name in the first three comments! Here’s to healing from traumatic stress! Blessings, Sue



TTK BREAKING NEWS

Posted on: by Susan

Hi all. Today I am pleased to tell you that one month out, the Search Inside function has been activated for The Trauma Tool Kit: Healing PTSD From the Inside Out. Quest Publishing has been quite generous with their sharing so you can begin reading now! Click on the book cover to the right of this post to go to Amazon’s site for the book. My greatest desire is that this book help you overcome your traumatic stress and PTSD. Blessings, Sue



Stress, Genetics and PTSD

Posted on: by Susan

Today there are a number of articles on the web about the genetic predisposition to PTSD. Researchers have discovered that if your ancestors were exposed to severe traumas, such as the holocaust, severe disasters, famine or others, you are likely to have some genetic markers that make you more susceptible to PTSD. We have known for some time that some people respond more dramatically to stress than to others. Now we are beginning to understand why. 

It would be easy to misconstrue this information to say that those with the trauma genes are ‘weaker’. This would be a mischaracterization. Researchers have made studies about how certain rabbits with more inherited hypervigilance are better at survival in certain terrains. The same people who are prone to PTSD may also have quicker reflexes, be more alert in their surroundings and/or more sensitive to situations. Sensitivity is not a liability but an asset. The world, after all, is not suffering from an overabundance of sensitivity but a lack of it. I would love to see researchers focus on the assets of these genetic changes.

Lastly, I want to point out that although some people are more prone to PTSD, there are some traumas that will cause PTSD in anyone, just as people with stronger or less strong immune systems may catch a particularly virulent disease. So let us engage our curiosity and our compassion for those who suffer in this way, and let us also take note of their resilience and their gifts.

 

 

photo courtesy of Maya Banitt



TTK Pre-orders are Here!

Posted on: by Susan

People have been asking me when they can get The Trauma Tool Kit. We all are suffering from a range of stress from ordinary to unbearable suffering. I am happy to tell you that it is almost here. I am thinking of you all as the book goes to print! Hang on and know that there is a way to heal fully from PTSD and other stress related afflictions. Blessings, Sue



The HPA Axis, Trauma and You

Posted on: by Susan

The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been the source of much research over the last three years. If you have traumatic stress, your HPA axis has been affected. If you have severe or chronic PTSD, your HPA axis has been affected a lot! What does this mean?

It means that PTSD is a whole body event. The HPA axis governs the entire hormonal system within the body including: mood, appetite, weight, sexual function, fatigue, sleep/wake cycles and more. As I like to say, the brain bone’s connected to the….everything bone!

What this means for you, suffering from traumatic stress:

1) You have to expect physical symptoms from traumatic stress.

2) You have to expect erratic moods.

3) You must find ways to relax your sympathetic (stress response) system on a regular basis.

4) Eat foods that calm down your body and nourish it.

5) Healing is possible, but not by just addressing the mind, although that is important. To fully heal you need to engage healing mechanisms at all levels of the body.

6) You must be gentle and persistent in your pursuit of healing.

It may or may not be obvious that traumatic stress affects the entire body, but the evidence is in. It does! The good news there are so many ways to heal! More on this in future posts. In the meantime, be well.



Trauma Toolkit Cover

Posted on: by Susan

Well, here it is, the cover to my book which will be released in May of 2012. I feel there is so much trauma in the world that it cannot come soon enough! I am very pleased with my publisher’s design. It is a thrill to see your name in print, but it will be a bigger thrill to know that Trauma Toolkit is out in the world, helping people! What do you think?



Behind The Walls

Posted on: by Susan

[vsw id=”4PfXxAWmkUE” source=”youtube” width=”425″ height=”344″ autoplay=”no”]

This is a fascinating account of what happens when a traumatized population becomes pathologized, marginalized and basically thrown away.  Tragic, fascinating and relevant. The Irish are arguably one of the more traumatized populations in the world, having been dominated by the British for 900 years before claiming their independence. Their considerable psychic and literary gifts have long been overlooked by the world.



PTSD Impairs Detection of Emotional Cues

Posted on: by Susan

This article has significant relevance for first responders, especially police.  Police are often a traumatized population.  In the last few years they have made many mistakes interpreting motives and danger levels of people they are responding to.  Here in Portland several mentally ill or traumatized individuals have been shot, some fatally, because officer misread cues about the suspects’ danger levels.  Now we can see that first responders themselves may become impaired. This new information highlights a need for increased training and psychological awareness on the part of police and others.



Your Brain on PTSD

Posted on: by Susan

We all have those days!  When your traumatized brain is not quite up to life, take some time for restoration and recuperation. You may not need to announce to your boss you are taking a mental health day, but take one anyway!  Anything you can do to calm down your mind and relax your body will help you cope and function better. Stay tuned for more blog posts on how to do just that!



© Lotus Heart Counseling, LLC • 7601 SW Brier Place Portland Oregon 97219 • (503) 869-0314 • 

To Top