"Yet a time is coming
and has now come when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the
kind of worshipers the Father seeks." - John 4:23

My Heavenly Daddy is healing
me from the inside out.

Transparency is Real.
Many times painful.

Daddy let me be secure in You only!

Monday, September 21, 2009

PTSD


We who have been abused, can relate to PTSD. Some more than others.

“When humans freeze or dissociate, we are deluged with the same hormones as animals under attack. Once the danger has passed, we can sometimes use the same natural recovery mechanisms. We can shake, move, cry, yell, and breathe deeply, processes that sometimes help eliminate the chemicals our bodies have produced, just as animals do. And when we have the support of a caring person or community, we can receive comfort, thus meeting our need for understanding and connection.

But when children are sexually abused, they are rarely in a situation with optimum conditions for recovery. Instead, silence, secrecy, and isolation are the norm. Sometimes children are prevented even from crying out. And far too often the abuse is a recurring event, without time for recovery before the next assault.

In the weeks and months after a traumatic event, trauma survivors often experience an cute stress reaction that can incorporate an array of troubling symptoms, including nightmares, flashbacks, trouble concentrating, intrusive thoughts, insomnia, and increased startle reflex, panic, depression, numbness, mental confusion, sudden explosions of rage, and alienation. The world no longer feels like a safe place.

For many people, these reactions last a few weeks or months and then gradually subside. But for others, the symptoms persist, eventually developing into post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Survivors of child sexual abuse-especially incest-are at increased risk because they experienced many of the dynamics that make long-term PTSD more likely: the trauma (or threat of trauma) was repeated and of long duration, they were children when the abuse occurred, they experienced great helplessness and betrayal, they believed the abuse was their fault, and, most significantly, they used dissociation as a way to escape. Although dissociation is an important protection, it is a factor that is correlated with the later development of PTSD.

Post traumatic symptoms can grow stronger and become more entrenched over time. Or they can go underground and reemerge years, or even decades, later at a time of increased vulnerability-when a life event acts as a stimulus and triggers the post-traumatic reaction.” (The Courage to Heal)

11 comments:

  1. Good read. I suffer from this. Thanks for providing this info!

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  2. Thanks, JBR for stuff which will NEVER be stated too often.
    Bless you.

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  3. I also have PTSD. I am always glad to see the information being shared. You have done a great job!

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  4. Just passing by today JBR to wish you a great day! God bless you.

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  5. JBR,

    I love how much you have helped and encouraged fellow survivors in your blogs and throughout your posts. Thank you for all you are doing to heal those while you yourself are going through healing.

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

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  6. I was diagnosed with PTSD. At least now I have some idea of why I do some of the things I do.
    Thanks for the post. =)

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  7. good post. Hey wanted to thank you what you said on my blog and I'm routing for you too, ok. I want you to be free too. In Him we will. We're moving forward. He promised to complete what He started. Thank you so much for being you. For being real. Sarah

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  8. nodding head and agreeing completely. I, too, appreciate you blogging about this book. I have the book, but it has been on a bookshelf for a couple of years as I haven't been able to "face" it. When you posted about intimacy, I actually got the book out to read some of that part...but then put it back away....someday, JBR, someday....

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  9. I can always relate to what you post from this book, and this is no exception. The increased startle reflex is an interesting one. I hadn't thought about the correlation, but I knew what that meant as soon as I read it.

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  10. Great info; so wonderful that you highlight this condition. I wish you would add that PTSD can be healed! I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD for 25 years. And then I was diagnosed and went on a healing rampage! Today, I am 100% PTSD-free. It can be done. There are many therapies available. The path to freedom is individual but our job is to keep on it until we find the right combination of therapies and support to bring us out of the PTSD darkness into the light.

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  11. Praying God's sweet blessings all over your life sweetie.

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