New study aids understanding of PTSD

Study of passengers from Air Transat near-disaster aids understanding of PTSD (click on this heading to read about the study)

It is exceptionally interesting that this study found that those who survived a traumatic event and suffered PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) processed their memories of the trauma differently than those who survived the same event and didn't suffer from post traumatic stress.

Surprisingly, it is the people with more detached recall, not the ones with the most emotional and detailed recall, who are  more likely to suffer from post traumatic stress symptoms.

This seems counter-intuitive but perhaps gives us an important insight into PTSD--an insight that could become a tool to help those who constantly face trauma--like soldiers going into battle and emergency responders. They could possibly be taught in advance of anticipated traumatic events how to process the experience to best avoid suffering PTSD in the future.

Immersing oneself in the trauma as it is being experienced and putting words, thoughts and emotions to events as they transpire and consequently remembering those very personal responses to the trauma seems to be a key to successfully getting through and past traumatic events.

Feeling distant to the event and remembering it as if from a time and space outside the trauma may be an unhealthy way to deal with it.

In my novel FIREWALLS, Katrina suffers PTSD from the violence she experienced as a young teen in The Traz biker gang. As a child, she totally disassociated herself from the terror to the point where she refused to even think about it, choosing to believe instead that it hadn't happened. When it came time for her to help police investigators, she refused to put words to what she witnessed, saying that to do so would make the events real.

Skillful interrogation eventually broke through that barrier but she suffers for years from PTSD, never owning the event but rather focusing on the negative feelings she holds toward her tormentors and seeking revenge.

Not until she accepts the fact that she has a problem, does she begin to heal and not until she revisits the physical place where the violence occurred does that healing take shape. By allowing herself to become immersed in the memories she'd held at bay for so long, she is finally able to accept that the event happened in her past, will never change, is no longer happening and will not happen again. This insight is largely brought about by her comparing memories of that traumatic night to  her current state--everything from the weather and the sounds about her, to her size and the time of day.

By personalizing the memories that up until then had been little more to her than answers to investigators' and psychiatrists' questions and court room testimony, she first came to 'own' the event and then move past it.

That old adage that one ought to "live in the moment" might well be great advice for those horrible moments as well as for the wonderful ones.


 New study aids understanding of PTSD is brought to you by

FIREWALLS 

"Packed with humanity, crafted with insight."

"Schuh has created a character worthy of being called a hero." 

"A tale of comfort and hope that we, too, can slay our own dragons."

"A gritty, fast paced thriller"

"Firewalls provoked emotions in me and that is a sign of a brilliant book." 

Eileen Schuh, Author
DISPASSIONATE LIES
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ

Something inside me is screaming

Something inside me is screaming

and I know not what it is.

Its terrified cries

for countless weeks

Today's poem is sponsored
by FIREWALLS

have kept away sleep

as I seek

to understand.

What does it fear? Is danger near?

Does it think

I’m on the brink

Of disaster or defeat or death?

Or is it fighting monsters

from the past, perhaps?

I gasp and sweat and pace,

searching for the face

of the nameless terror.

Whose voice is this

that destroys

my dreams?

What must I do to mute

those screams?

Something inside me is crying

and I know not what it is.

Crying, denying, dying

Trying to be free

of me, perchance.

Or of time and flesh and circumstance,

What was and what should have been.

Something inside me is screaming

And I know not what it is.

Insight is not always the strong suit of those suffering from Critical Incident Stress or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Two police officers in my new release FIREWALLS deal with their PTSD the best way they know how--which often falls short of what their jobs demand and their relationships need. That in the end Shrug and Katrina are able to help each other heal, is a testament to the power of the human spirit.

FIREWALLS is Book 3 in the BackTracker Series. Enter the international Rafflecopter draw below to win a 3-book set of the series--eBook or paperback, winner's choice. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FIREWALLS and Post Traumatic Stress

My new release FIREWALLS is up on Amazon and Smashwords and other fine online retailers in eFormat and will soon be available in paperback, too. I will not be officially launching this novel until December, when my 23-stop library tour is over, but an author can't sit on secrets for long.

So, in conjunction with my fine friends and fellow authors over at Famous Five Plus, I'm giving you an advance sneak-peek at this, the third novel in my BackTracker Series.

Please visit the Famous Five Plus website where you'll find more information about this novel as well as a special time-limited coupon enabling you to download FIREWALLS from Smashwords in the eFormat of your choice for only 99₵ .

I'll share with you here, the Dedication and Author's Message from FIREWALLS:

Dedication 

Dedicated to those struggling with past traumas and to their loved ones who share their pain. 

Message from the Author 

I hope FIREWALLS, with its compassionate look at the roles of friendship and love in the healing of those with Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), enlightened you on the burden that trauma places on the mind, body, and soul of its victims and their loved ones.

Among other things, traumatic stress can alter thinking, derail love, split apart relationships, destroy careers, spark violence, cause nightmares and induce depression. Reaction to traumatic events can occur immediately or years later (as in this story), and in varying degrees and combinations of symptoms.

If you sometimes felt the characters were acting ‘out of character’ they were, because as Katrina and Shrug were struggling to overcome their pasts, PTS was chipping away at their hearts, clouding their thinking, and altering their personalities and behaviours.

PTS, also sometimes called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS) or, when job-related, Critical Incident Stress, can be effectively treated and those who suffer can recover and live healthy, fulfilling lives.

It’s incumbent on all of us to recognize and understand the symptoms in those whose lives touch ours and fully encourage their recovery. Katrina and Shrug were indeed lucky that they were surrounded by supportive friends and co-workers and were offered the professional help they needed. That in the end, they were also able to help each other heal, is a testament to the strength of the human heart in the face of adversity.

If FIREWALLS left you feeling Katrina and Shrug both have bright futures, you may be right—but you’ll have to wait for the next novel in the BackTracker Series to find out for sure!