On PTSD Symptoms via Tolson 4 TEARS*
*Tolson 4 TEARS Telling Everyone About Rape & Suicide
so no shed tear is wasted
Those suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) often use common terms to describe the phenomena of the symptoms, citing "anxiety" "depression" "nightmares" etc. But how do those symptoms materialize, and how does it feel for the individual thus afflicted?
The nature of PTSD** is such that a somewhat distressing experience in the present can morph into a devastating situation for the individual that has post-traumatic stress. Why is that? An individual with PTSD carries within his-her psyche the entirety of the horrible experiences that caused post-traumatic stress. The pain of the past experiences can be alleviated, but how can the experiences be exorcised, eradicated, erased? (I don't think they can be). So a seemingly innocuous change in the controlled routine of a PTSD individual (I'm talking about a minor-to-moderate inconvenience) can escalate to a threat of imminent danger and impending doom in the mind of one with PTSD. Thoughts and feelings get twisted, and the individual feels overwhelmed and unable to cope.
Metaphorically speaking, a nice spring rain shower, with a single benign thunderclap, can suddenly turn malignant as it increases power to that of a wild hurricane, with thunder and lightening and uncontrollable wind. The person with PTSD can become swept away by a gentle breeze in the present when those breezes collide with the brutal winds of the past, the hurricane gusts that knocked him-her down to the ground to begin with. PTSD is aggravated by the chaos and confusion of an upset, and a breakdown ensues.
The challenge for the person with PTSD is to determine ways in which he-she can transform a breakdown into a BreakThrough. It takes diligent practice to see that every minor inconvenience need not evolve to a major catastrophe. (Note to self: Keep a sense of perspective.)
Lynn C. Tolson, author of Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story
**It is my opinion that the "D" in PTS-D be dropped because it is not I who is disordered but what was done to me that is disordered.
For more on the nature of PTSD click here
so no shed tear is wasted
Those suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) often use common terms to describe the phenomena of the symptoms, citing "anxiety" "depression" "nightmares" etc. But how do those symptoms materialize, and how does it feel for the individual thus afflicted?
The nature of PTSD** is such that a somewhat distressing experience in the present can morph into a devastating situation for the individual that has post-traumatic stress. Why is that? An individual with PTSD carries within his-her psyche the entirety of the horrible experiences that caused post-traumatic stress. The pain of the past experiences can be alleviated, but how can the experiences be exorcised, eradicated, erased? (I don't think they can be). So a seemingly innocuous change in the controlled routine of a PTSD individual (I'm talking about a minor-to-moderate inconvenience) can escalate to a threat of imminent danger and impending doom in the mind of one with PTSD. Thoughts and feelings get twisted, and the individual feels overwhelmed and unable to cope.
Metaphorically speaking, a nice spring rain shower, with a single benign thunderclap, can suddenly turn malignant as it increases power to that of a wild hurricane, with thunder and lightening and uncontrollable wind. The person with PTSD can become swept away by a gentle breeze in the present when those breezes collide with the brutal winds of the past, the hurricane gusts that knocked him-her down to the ground to begin with. PTSD is aggravated by the chaos and confusion of an upset, and a breakdown ensues.
The challenge for the person with PTSD is to determine ways in which he-she can transform a breakdown into a BreakThrough. It takes diligent practice to see that every minor inconvenience need not evolve to a major catastrophe. (Note to self: Keep a sense of perspective.)
Lynn C. Tolson, author of Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story
**It is my opinion that the "D" in PTS-D be dropped because it is not I who is disordered but what was done to me that is disordered.
For more on the nature of PTSD click here
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Beyond the Tears: A True Survivor's Story by Lynn C. Tolson, blog
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