POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

It is common for people to feel that no matter what they've faced or lived with, no matter how extreme, they should be able to carry on. But sometimes people face situations that are so traumatic they may become unable to cope and function in their daily lives.

Some people become so distressed by memories of the trauma - memories that won't go away - that they begin to live their lives trying to avoid any reminders of what happened to them. Research suggests that prolonged trauma may disrupt and alter brain chemistry. For some people, this may lead to the development of PTSD, a serious and common health condition.

PTSD may develop following exposure to extreme trauma. Extreme trauma is a terrifying event or ordeal that a person has experienced, witnessed or learned about, especially one that is life threatening or causing physical harm. It can be a single event or repeated experience, and can cause the person to feel intense fear, horror or sense of helplessness. The stress caused by trauma can affect all aspects of a person's life, including spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing.

A person who feels this way, months after a traumatic experience has passed, may be suffering from PTSD. For these people, getting beyond the trauma and overcoming PTSD requires professional help.

RECOVERY SERVICES

Treating PTSD is best accepted and utilized if integrated into existing, trusted community agencies and resources. In addition, programs are most effective if workers indigenous to the community and various ethnic and cultural groups are integrally involved in service delivery.

Outreach has a far larger objective than "advertising" services and bringing people in the clinic door for treatment. The educational aspect of outreach can promote and enhance healthy adaptation and coping. By providing survivors with anticipatory guidance about normal stress and grief reactions, stress management strategies, and information about resources, outreach may actually prevent a survivor from needing mental health treatment.

Eyaa-Keen Centre provides Traditional Behavioural Health Services through Intensive Outpatient Treatment sessions. These sessions are an effective and gentle way to address PTSD and related issues.

SYMPTOMS OF PTSD

People respond in different ways to extreme trauma. Many people who experience extreme trauma do not develop PTSD. However, for those who do, PTSD symptoms can appear within several weeks of the trauma, while some experience symptoms months or even years later. There are two types of trauma:

1) Individual trauma is a blow to the psyche that breaks through one's defenses so suddenly and with such brutal force that one cannot react to it effectively.

2) Collective trauma is a blow to the basic tissues of social life that damages the bonds attaching people together, and impairs the prevailing sense of communality.

Individual traumas may have an increased risk of impulsive behaviour or suicide, and victims of sexual assault are at especially high risk for developing mental health problems and committing suicide. One of the most pivotal observations in relation to the development of PTSD in adults who were traumatized as children is the association between early trauma exposure and subsequent retraumatization.

Collective trauma is often less "visible" to mental health clinicians trained to work with I individuals. However, people will find it difficult, if not impossible, to heal from the effects of individual trauma while the community around them remains in shreds and a supportive community setting does not exist. Thus, community-based interventions such as outreach support groups, community organizations, consultation, and training of 'gatekeepers' and community caretakers are essential to rebuilding and strengthening social ties.

Collective traumas, such as the Residential School Legacy, can sever the social ties of survivors with each other, their family, and community. People may relocate to housing away from family, neighbours, community and other natural social supports like churches, clinics, child care, recreation programs, and schools. When taken away from these long-standing ties with familiar places and people, the survivors experienced demoralization, disorientation, and loss of connection.

As a result, families sorely missed visits from friends and relatives who were afraid to come into the area, while people missed their customary work, hobbies, recreation, their neighbours and acquaintances, and the comforting sense of familiar faces in familiar places. Numerous studies indicate that a new and unfamiliar environment, accompanied by the loss of social support networks, can lead to the development of numerous social and motional problems.

Three categories - or "clusters" - of symptoms are associated with PTSD:

1) Re-living the event through recurring nightmares or other intrusive images that occur at any time. People who suffer from PTSD also have extreme emotional or physical reactions such as chills, heart palpitations, or panic when faced with reminders of the event.

2) Avoiding reminders of the event, including places, people, thoughts or other activities associated with the trauma. PTSD sufferers may feel emotionally detached, withdraw from friends and family, and lose interest in everyday activities.

3) Being on guard or being hyper-aroused at all times, including feeling irritability or sudden anger, having difficulty sleeping or concentrating, or being overly alert or easily startled.

People with PTSD may have low self esteem or relationship problems, or may seem disconnected from their lives. Other problems that may mask or intensify symptoms include: