We recently had a speaker come to Open Door Mission and present on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The following are notes from the presentation:
– PTSD traces its identification to the Civil war? They referred to it as the Soldier’s heart.
– In the 1980 researches noticed similarities in symptoms between combat veterans and domestic violence victims
– 8% of US adults suffer from PTSD
– More women than men are affected
– 65% of male rape victims suffer from PTSD
– 46% of female rape victims suffer from PTSD
– Amygdala (part of your brain) that warns us if there is danger is remains too active. It doesn’t assess safety very well–just danger.
Unconscious mind
Doesn’t deal that well with time, so, if you were hit by a yellow Volkswagen beetle at 10th & Howard – years later you may not like yellow, Volkswagen beetles and prefer not to go to the Old Market.
Part of the challenge of dealing with PTSD is that items are stored in the unconscious mind (almost time independent) and dealt with the Amygdala which focus on danger. Getting control of these thoughts and reactions requires going from the unconscious to the conscious and getting control of the Amygdala.
Steve Frazee
Senior Program Director