My Thoughts and Opinions Regarding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, or a counselor. The information below is strictly my opinion. If you or a loved one is suffering from mental health struggles, please seek professional help.
I have noticed lately, a lot of people appear to be suffering from severe pain and anguish from what is in my opinion, PTSD related. If you are thinking this is written for you—it just may be. But you are not alone. This isn’t solely meant for you only, because there are so many people struggling right now. The one thing that I have notice that is a common relating factor that ties all the pain together is death. There are several aspects of death that we encounter: death of a loved one, a near death experience, causing an accidental or intentional death, or someone attempting to kill you. You could have survived an illness or injury that almost resulted in death. All these events can create stress. This stress can be so difficult to deal with. People react to stress in different ways or combination of ways: through anger, regret, remorse, irrational behavior, depression, uncontrollable anxiety, regression, suppression, and reliving the event over and over again. Our stress related actions can be confusing to ourselves and our loved ones and people close to us. Sometimes, our reactions can be induced by a trigger that reminds us of the traumatic event. These triggers can come from anywhere from stimulation of our senses—sight, smell, sound, touch, and taste. The sound of gunshots or fireworks is a common trigger for many people. The sight of a person resembled a loved one who died is also a trigger that could cause someone to begin to act irrationally. The pain of the memory flashes back, and anxiety grows. If you are a fighter, or suppress pain, you may begin to become aggressive and angry at whatever crosses your path, and not even know why you are acting out. Seeing a similar vehicle, or same intersection of a deadly (or near deadly) car accident can bring back fear and sudden loss. Passing a body of water after dealing with a drowning or near drowning could become a trigger. You could come across your loved one’s favorite movie, song, perfume, meal, colors, clothing, ect., and suddenly you are triggered. You could come across a reminder of your abuser and become frightened. Like the prey of a hunter who pulled the trigger, you go into fight or flight mode. You don’t know why you begin to act out, and people around you are confused, walking on egg shells. Comfort is nowhere to be found.
But you are not alone. You are not the only one with these difficulties. Death is scary. Death is traumatic. In my opinion, one way to heal is to find acceptance. Death is a part of life. If you have faith in any of most of the world’s major religions such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, you may have a spiritual link to understanding and accepting death. All those religions believe in the teachings of 1 God, and the Old Testament. Personally, I believe in Jesus’s teachings, and that he died for our sins so that we may be saved when we die. As you fall deep into the depths of your triggered traumatic experience with death, fall even deeper into your faith to help pull yourself out of your internal prison. Release your fear of death, and know that there is more. You just have to have faith.
