In Australia, we are celebrating all the people who have fought in wars, protected our borders and done service for the country. There is a big march in the city, they had a dawn service and veterans from far and wide take part in this coming together, this appreciation, the memories....
So as I reflect on the members of my own family who fought in the war (like my grandfather) or became a nurse in the war (like my grandmother), I often think about the mental scars these men and women are left to face in the aftermath. The nightmares they have seen, the lives they have taken, the friends and comrades they have lost, the casualties, the fear and the survival. No-one can ever truly imagine what these people have gone through, what people are continuing to go through in the likes of Afghanistan, South Korea, Iraq, Somalia, Syria etc.
It was also thanks to soldiers and military men passed that we are able to understand something called PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). It was only after so many men were coming back from war and started to develop common symptoms, that the governments and the world of mental health started to accept that there are links between what had occurred at war and these symptoms. As you can imagine, this was no easy journey, to admit that PTSD was a real side effect of war would be for governments to accept liability, to be responsible for changes and treatment. We can also thank these soldiers and their trauma for the developments in psychotherapy and psychology that move beyond psycho-analysis and the days of Freud and his long - term therapy which had been the dominant means of treatment for mental health issues. When these soldiers started to return home after the likes of WWII and Vietnam, long - term psychoanalysis, which entails delving into childhood and working through deep set issues, was no longer viable. Something was needed to treat the mass of soldiers and military men for what was now emerging as PTSD, something which was now being acknowledged as a response to trauma (not embedded in childhood). As the likes of Carl Rogers and his Person Centred Therapy started to gain popularity, so too did our growing understanding of the human condition. Questions were being asked, theories were being challenged and when you look at all the different modalities and frameworks employed today, we have to give thanks to these men and women who suffered to make this possible for us all. I say us all because psychotherapy and psychological fields are now available to masses of people with a variety of presenting problems, it is good to acknowledge that it was not always this way.
PTSD can effect everybody, not just soldiers in the war. This disorder is due to the residual effects of a past trauma or trauma's. It is thanks to these soldiers that a very comprehensive list of symptoms has now been developed and associated with PTSD. Some of these symptoms include nightmares and sleep disturbances, hyper-vigilance (being extremely alert), racing heart, anxiety, depressive symptoms, inability to do certain activities that were otherwise easy for you, anger, confusion, panic attacks etc. There are many symptoms and changes that occur when people suffer PTSD and it is often overlooked or misdiagnosed through lack of awareness or due to a very late onset. It is not unusual for people to develop PTSD after a substantial period of time has lapsed since the trauma, sometimes even years. This makes it difficult for people and practitioners to often make the link between symptoms and PTSD.
Trauma does not always have to be about war, death, terrible accidents or personal injury. People can get traumatised by someone else's trauma or potential trauma. This is called 'vicarious trauma'. For instance witnessing an accident, almost being in an accident and wondering what could have been or having something happen to someone close to you. We are beautiful creatures, human beings, most of us equipped with a very special tool called empathy. Unfortunately by being able to empathise with others, imagine yourself in their shoes so to speak, we are also vulnerable to imagining people's pain, fear and panic. Thus it is important to be mindful of how you are being affected, to be kind to others and yourselves and to be aware of what PTSD is all about. It is also important to spare a thought for all those brave men and women who have had to live with trauma and put their lives on the line for the safety and protection of their country and it's people.
Thank you to all the ANZAC's!
Paula
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