1.    What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)? 

You can get PTSD after you have been:

- Raped or sexually abused

- Hit or harmed

- A victim of a violent crime

- In an airplane or car crash

- In a hurricane, tornado, or fire, natural disaster

- In a war

- In an event where you thought you might be killed, or

- After you have seen any of these events

If you have PTSD, you often have nightmares or scary thoughts about the experience you went through. You try to stay away from anything that reminds you of your experience.  You may feel angry and unable to trust or care about other people.  You may always be on the lookout for danger.

Dramatic and tragic events, like the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, and with media exposure such as we have today, even people not directly involved might be affected. Simply put, PTSD is a state in which you "can't stop remembering."

Research has shown that PTSD changes the biology of the brain.  MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and PET (positron emission tomography) scans show changes in the way memories are stored in the brain. PTSD is an environmental shock that changes your brain, and scientists do not know if it is reversible.

In the United States, 60% of men and 50% of women experience a traumatic event during their lifetimes. Of those, 8% of men and 20% of women may develop PTSD. A higher proportion of people who are raped develop PTSD than those who suffer any other traumatic event. Because women are much more likely to be raped than men (9% versus less than 1%), this helps explain the higher prevalence of PTSD in women than men.

More than half of all Vietnam veterans, about 1.7 million, have experienced symptoms of PTSD. 

New mothers may develop PTSD after an unusually difficult delivery during childbirth. Also, patients who regain partial consciousness during surgery under general anesthesia may be at risk for developing PTSD.

“Lack of predictability and controllability are the central issues for the development and maintenance of PTSD. The combination of intrusive and numbing symptoms has been consistently noted over the past century.

Though the biological underpinnings of response to trauma are extremely complex, forty years of research on humans and other mammals have demonstrated that trauma (particularly trauma early in the life cycle) has long term effects on the neurochemical response to stress, including the magnitude of the catecholamine response, the duration and extent of the cortisol response, as well as a number of other biological systems, such as the serotonin and endogenous opioid system.” (for an extensive review on the psychobiology of trauma, see van der Kolk, 1994).”

Under stress, our fight or flight mechanism kicks in which is the brain’s director called the hypothalamus.  When our fight or flight kicks in, the body secretes adrenaline which creates stress on the heart.  Although the emergency measure of the stress response is undoubtedly both vital and valuable, it can also be disruptive and physically damaging.

Stress is the body’s natural response to threat, whether that threat is mental or a physical accident or a disease.

By products of all this chemical activity called ‘free radicals’ begin damaging the cells and activate the aging process. It is a bit like ‘revving up’ an engine for a long period without going anywhere.  Of course it is not good for the engine after a while. Recent studies show that short periods of stress are actually good for the body because the healing process of the body afterwards gives it a lift.  An occasional challenge requiring acute thinking processes slows brain cell degeneration and increases brain function.

2.    When does PTSD start and how long does it last?

For most people, PTSD starts within about three months of the event. For some people, signs of PTSD don’t show up until years later. PTSD can happen to anyone at any age. Even children can have it.

3.    Are you the only person with this illness?

No. You are not alone. In any year, 5.2 million Americans have PTSD.

What to Do?  When we impose a positive emotion over a negative one, one must fall away and it usually is the negative one! Relaxation rules! Positive experiences turn on the pleasure centers in the brain and reduce areas that sense pain. The brain is elastic and can be programmed with stress management techniques. What a good deal—tune into the positive emotions to help counteract the negative ones!

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