PTSD

I've been reading, with interest, a Facebook conversation between two young women who are cancer survivors.  One of them posted an article that mentioned that 1 of 3 cancer survivors exhibit symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  I believe it.

PTSD used to be called "battle fatigue" and "shell shock", and was usually used in reference to soldiers in war who came home never to be the same again.  MOST people survive intact, in time, but many do not.  Jewish victims of the Holocaust had to have been PTSD sufferers.  Some wanted to talk about their experiences so that society would never forget; others pushed off the memories hoping they would go away so they could live again.  Much depends on when and how they were raised.  My father went through WWII and the Korean Conflict, but he chose to protect his family from the awfulness in favor of the amusing.  He was one of the happy survivors who made it home with his family intact and waiting for him with open arms.  He was almost retired when the Vietnam vets returned.  He called them "crybabies" because they seemingly whined about mistreatment.  It was a different time and a different war, but the results were the same.

PTSD is defined as something that happens to the mind--a mental condition--that occurs after experiencing or witnessing a situation that threatens one's sense of security.  (Translate: ability to live.)  The people who lived through 9/11 surely saw things or felt things that most human beings should not have to see or feel.  Their very ability to live through it was in jeopardy, but they did...yet they are challenged by the things that haunt them from the experience.  Thus, I define PTSD as what one sees when he/she closes his/her eyes to sleep at night, and how long those visions last.

A number of years ago, I went through Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) training with The Salvation Army.  This is a course that qualifies a person to assist first responders in disasters to debrief.  There are several levels of training for this, and it was an honor to be included in this level of training.  It is, however, like CPR training in that it expires after awhile.  I would no longer be officially qualified to help, but it did give me a feel for what needs to happen for people to avoid PTSD in disaster situations.  It's a skill...a feeling...an intuition.  I'm happy to have been a part of that.  I think it helps me to be sensitive to others who are challenged by their experiences.

One of the cancer survivors--Ashley by name--is a young mother.  She is a Facebook friend of mine because she was one of my students.  Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, she was treated and free of the disease...then it came back.  She then went through a bone marrow transplant that almost killed her.  Two years later, she is now free of the disease again, but she lives every day with the notion that it could come back.  It's a potential hammer hanging over her head, and living with that kind of fear is as much a part of PTSD as imagining that a stalker is coming to kill her.  It takes away a sense of security and function.  And it doesn't just happen with her.

A few years ago, I experienced a life-wrenching experience that plunged me into a horrible depression without benefit of medical help.  I don't pretend that my situation in any way matches the life-threatening situations that would normally cause PTSD, but the results were the same.   I was despondent, devoid of hope.  I KNEW I was in trouble and looked to places for help, but there were none.  Nowhere that I called could offer me counseling.  There are simply no counseling groups for old people to deal with the issues of old age and family problems.  Case in point:  my sister needs emotional support in caring for her husband with dementia.  Everywhere, there is advice about what to expect, but nowhere is there a place to go to know what to do, unless you can pay for it.  Even then, it doesn't always work.

Thus, it is no surprise to me that people with mental illnesses go untreated, then go on to kill others.  Mental illness, whether caused by PTSD or genetics, brain chemicals or injury, goes largely undetected and untreated in this country.  But treating mental illness is sometimes only a tweak in thinking.  Sometimes, just having someone to talk to and hold hands with works wonders.  Human beings gain strength in knowing that they aren't alone and unprotected in life.  We can't always change our experiences, but we can find healthier ways to deal with them, long term.  It's time for America to change its approach to mental illness, which includes PTSD.

Truth be known, mental illness is not at all rare.  I believe that every person experiences it at least once in life through experiences or fears.  Some people are able to work through it on their own, in time, but many don't.  Post Traumatic Stress is the very thing that causes us to remember exactly where we were and what we were doing the minute we witnessed or heard about life-altering events such as the assassination of a president or airplanes deliberately guided to crash into buildings.  In that sense, we all have PTS.  It becomes PTSDisorder when it won't go away...when our minds can't let it go...when we continue to live in fear in spite of our safety when the immediate danger is gone.

Cancer survivors don't always live with that feeling of safety.  They exist through treatment one day or week at a time.  Then a month passes.  They can breathe a mini-sigh of relief.  A cancer-free year later, the relief is more palpable.  The next milestone is five years.  After the 5-year mark, they are considered "in remission".  That doesn't mean "cured", although it could.  They just don't know for sure.  Thus, they live with the notion that whatever life-threatening risks they once had could return. Which causes PTSD.

I am not suggesting that the so-called normal life events that we all suffer from come close to what the cancer sufferer endures, but I am suggesting that there, by the grace of God, go we all.  We are all in this world together.  Time to be there for each other.