A SOLDIER'S PERSPECTIVE
THE WEB'S LEADING MILITARY BLOG SINCE 2004
Whether PTSD can be healed is a complex question depending on a variety of variables. Simple PTSD can for the most part be healed, but the more complex forms of PTSD or trauma-based disorders have exponential degrees of healing and becoming whole again. Multiple traumas and trauma stemming from serious childhood abuse that has crippled the attachments in a person will require many years of therapy and the prognosis deepens.
In therapy we can see vast amounts of relief from major symptomology, resulting in a euphoric feeling that we have never felt before and can only be described as a spiritual awakening. I felt this feeling for approximately two years after receiving a similar amount of therapy. I say this because this feeling feels as though I had been “cured”, but…this feeling wore off and now I feel a post traumatic decline that borders on hopelessness.
So, to ask if PTSD can be healed, depends upon the depth and breadth of the cognitive and spiritual damage done and is a personal question we can ask ourselves for the rest of our lives.
(7) Readers Comments
Leave a Reply
![[UPDATE] The “Face” of Military Dating Scams – The Wall of Shame](http://militarygear.com/asp/wp-content/themes/LondonLive/thumb.php?src=http://militarygear.com/asp/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2.jpg&w=53&h=41&zc=1&q=100)
Anatomy of a Military Dating Scam
to Anonn, thank you. i thought so. i just want a clear picture of his
Military Dating Scams (More Nigerian Scammers)
New Scam to be aware of……….I am 2LT. Anderson Darrell Clinton , an off
Anatomy of a Military Dating Scam
New Scam to be aware of……….I am 2LT. Anderson Darrell Clinton , an off
[UPDATE] The "Face" of Military Dating Scams - The Wall of Shame
New Scam to be aware of……….I am 2LT. Anderson Darrell Clinton , an off
kelleng16
I know some people who have had it severe and some that have kind of shrugged it off their shoulders after a while.
Nice post.
you might like this too…it’s the story about the first time that any Gold Star parent visited the actual site where their son or daughter was killed while in Iraq. Essay and photos. It is a tremendous story.
http://www.parcbench.com/article_details.php?RId=82
Roman General
Thank you for your comment. Many soldiers and veterans who have experienced combat may have a delayed onset of PTSD. So what may appear as a “shaking off” may be a delayed reaction with extreme consequences.
SSgtJ
Hang in there RG. We only fail when we give up. I don’t see that in you.
The major “high” you describe was bound to decline some over time. Typically the higher the high, the lower the low will be.
Certainly the current climate of hostility both at home and abroad is not helpfull for those suffering from PTSD. We all need to support each other now more then ever.
Roman General
Those soldiers and veterans who have the most support are the ones who have the best chance in recovery.
flyonthewall
RG,
I apologize in advance if I’ve already bugged you on this. I’ve got meetings this week to question whether military with Post Combat Stress, PTS, or PTSD are reluctant to utilize free service by volunteer clinicians. (i.e. at “Give an Hour”). What do you think? What do you suggest?
Again, I apologize for late or even redundant request. Swamped with my “day job” while I try to mobilize free treatment resources for those how serve and served.
Fly
Roman General
No problem FOTW, I have thought about this for a couple of days and did not know what to say for a minute. But then I started thinking about why I was not persistent with receiving help. My initial help seeking came from the insistence from ex-wives–just 2:)–, on a conscious level I did not believe that I needed help. It took many years of my flailing about to become convinced of my need for assistance.
I believe the reason for many veterans reluctance to receive help, on the internet or in the office has to do with the inherent denial of PTSD coupled with the stigma attached. We survived the most intensive environment that a human can endure; combat, killing and mayhem. How can we succumbed to an unseen foe? Unimaginable and enduring ghosts that chase us unrelenting, a perfect machination for denial.
If I do not acknowledge it, I will not have to deal with it. Except that when we do not fully realize a part of our selves then we run the risk of being led by an unrecognized part of self that now becomes an entity within, influencing our thinking and behavior.
Another key issue we have, trust. We have an aversion with trusting anyone that do not think like us. In combat we formed the most intense bonding that a human can experience, a total and unrelenting commitment to a guardianship between squad members. I refer this as the “troop organism”, we feel great pain in the loss of our appendages, both in a KIA and in going home without the “rest of us”.
The mystifying experience of posttraumatic decline involves a sense of confusing reexperiencing and intrusive thinking from a disowned side of the personality. This disassociated self, the combat self, insists on interjecting itself into our daily life. In a battle with no solid enemy and no apparent battleground the warrior having been trained to combat the physical comes in contact with a foe that can overshadow the imagination. The pitched battle between denial and acceptance can rage for many years.
Even then after many attempts to receive help, I was not equipped to begin therapy, so I would quit before a diagnosis could be assigned. In the VA before a service connection can be determined the veteran must endure many forays into the stressors that caused the posttraumatic stress reactions. Doing so without many months or even years of therapy can be detrimental and harmful to the veteran, exacerbating their condition.
Roman General
I would suggest that in your website, if you have not already, include a section or navigation button that describes what kind of services you have to offer. A blog on what to expect and how you practice, about your guiding principles and ethical practices. Anything you can think of that might ease the mind of a veteran or soldier’s mind. The trust issues we have goes deep to the core of our pathology.
As you know, the first couple of in person treatment sessions are for building rapport and trust. With the online experience this rapport would be hard to manage. So a blog describing who you are might help the soldiers and veterans to trust the process.
Basically, let them get to know you and your values, principles and character. What would you tell someone about yourself that could build confidence and trust in you.
One last thing, if it were me I would put this blog posting embedded in your website. Just one post at a time with a link to go to your blog. One way to do that would be to embed a feed.
I hope this helped and that I was not too presumptuous.