National PTSD Awareness Month

Being a writer; I have a driven curiosity to research. When I started researching the month of June I quickly found that it is dedicated to National PTSD Awareness Month. Let me begin by saying I had no idea that there was an entire month dedicated to this illness. So the research alone was fascinating for me. There is an actual day dedicated to individuals that suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD);, and that is June 27.

Through research alone I was able to find so many details directly correlating to PTSD that I was never aware of. And in all honesty, it really makes me look at the behavior patterns of individuals that I know and love very well. I am no psychotherapist and I cannot diagnose a single person in this world; however, it is one of those situations that “if the shoe fits”.

PTSD is a direct result of a huge trauma that an individual personally experienced or witnessed. The trauma could be actual military experiences or military combat, a physical or mental accident or mishap, personal trauma, or witnessing a natural disaster, and unfortunately, it also includes abuse. Some people say that it can be treated through medication and therapy while others say that it just cannot be treated, it just has to be ‘dealt’ with specifically.

There are so many different levels of treatment that specialists talk about it really becomes confusing when you dive online and start clicking on links for answers. I have not been diagnosed with PTSD, nor do I think that I have it, but it is overwhelming to research online. So I can only imagine how someone who has been diagnosed with it feels trying to formulate a treatment plan for themselves. I literally don’t see how it can be done. Certainly not by the person who is suffering the symptoms.

There are four major treatment plans that specialists will point an individual to once they have been diagnosed with this condition. The first one is psychotherapy, this is no surprise. Psychotherapy is just a specific way of enlisting therapy into a person’s life whether it be on an individual or group basis. But, it is not blanketed therapy, it is very specific and it opens doors into a person’s mind. Secondly, there is always medication. Physicians will be quick to prescribe a medication if they feel it could benefit their patients. Service animals can definitely be soothing assistance for anyone suffering from PTSD. However, not all of society is ready to welcome service animals. Owners must be aware of that. Lastly, there are always self-management and self-soothing strategies out there. These are self-soothing techniques that will help bring a person back down to Ground Zero and install that reality check within them to “get it together” per se.

When you really start putting this condition into numerics it becomes extremely overwhelming. Several different websites will throw a number or percentage out at you. I was able to find that the average of the population is about 7 to 8% who may experience PTSD symptoms. However, about 3 to 4% of that population is adults. So that leaves the remainder, to be the children. In this day and age for a child to be suffering from such a severe illness is cringe-worthy in itself. But it is very true. Children often experience PTSD due to abuse from other children or adults, divorce and family, and even developmental delays.

One thing to keep in mind is that there really is no one blanketed treatment plan for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is explained in layman’s terms as this; not everyone is the same and neither is their trauma. Because of this, we need to treat everyone as a glorified individual, and nothing less. You don’t know what someone else is going through.

Until next time.

#KristinaWrites

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