PART I
WHAT IS PTSD?
SOME WOUNDS AREN’T VISIBLE
POST-TAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER
Our word“trauma” has Greek origins that means“wound.”
Albert Einstein once asked
Sigmund Freud,“Why war?”
The famous psychoanalyst was unable to answer.
War has bedeviled humankind at least since the beginning of recorded history.
TRAUMA& POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS
The human species has proved to be extremely resilient throughout history—wars, natural disasters, violence, betrayal.
• Trauma leaves marks on people, their culture, their history.
Trauma also leaves traces on human minds and emotions, biology, and immune system, and on the capacity for joy and intimacy.
• Trauma affects those directly exposed and their wives, children, families, and close friends.
Soldiers often return from tours of duty in combat zones with rage and an absence of emotion—thousands have committed suicide.
• Wives of soldiers with PTSD tend to become depressed, children insecure and anxious—but help is available.
Veterans with PTSD expend tremendous amounts of energy just to keep functioning.
• They often have persistent memories of terror, shame for showing weakness and vulnerability, nightmares, flashbacks.
They feel out of control, fear they are permanently damaged beyond redemption, emotionally numb, distant from people.
• Aimlessness is countered by intense involvement in work and projects to keep busy and avoid the PTSD demons.
Since the 1990s brain imaging tools have shown what actually happens in the human brain when exposed to traumatic stress.
VETERANS CRISIS LINE
DIAL 988, PRESS 1
Since its launch in 2022, America’s suicide prevention hotline—988—has fielded millions of calls, texts, and chats, a number that represents many lives saved. The 988 option was added to make it easier for people to remember, providing an alternative to 911 for situations that don’t require police or emergency services. With $1 billion funding from the government, the new line has invested more in text and chat functions, which have seen an exponential increase in use.
TO BE EMPOWERED, THE DOC SAYS…
THE KEY TO HEALING IS GETTING STARTED, NO MATTER HOW DIFFFICULT OR PAINFUL—THAT CAN SOMETIMES BE THE HARDEST PART, TO GET STARTED.
“Sobriety is one of the essential starting points for recovery from complex PTSD after combat.” (Shay,“Odysseus in America”)
ASCLEPIUS
Ancient Greek God of Medicine
Killed by his grandfather Zeus with a thunderbolt, not enough people were passing onto the underworld due to his skillful healing.
Today PTSD is no longer considered the wrath of vengeful and angry gods, but its effects on today’s soldiers would be quickly recognized by ancient physicians like Asclepius.
Asclepius was venerated for his healing abilities. Over the centuries his status evolved from mortal to divine. He was vested with the unique ability to rise from the dead. Eventually, he be
