If someone you know has PTSD then, like most people, you probably want to help but may not know how. More often than not those with PTSD do not have the words to describe their experiences, at least not in the beginning. However, the better prepared you are for the fact that a survivor isn’t aware of part of their experience because it has been cut off by trauma, the better able you will both be to work towards healing and awareness.
The brain responds to stress, quite naturally, by protecting us from too much of it. You’ve, no doubt, encountered this in daily life. For example, you’re driving down the road, worrying like mad you’ll be late for a meeting when the car in front stops suddenly. You slam on the brakes just in time. The stress you’d been feeling about being late gets pushed far out of mind so that your total focus is on averting disaster. The same mechanism underlies PTSD and without it it’s highly unlikely we’d have made it this far as a species.
A mind under severe stress behaves in fairly predictable ways. But sometimes the strength of that predictability is so great that the brain does not return to its normal pattern of functioning even after the experience which provoked the initial stress reaction is over.
Think of it like the electricity mains box in your home; When there is an overload of current through your home’s circuitry a fuse blows. This stops the current before it damages other circuits or electrical goods. Sometimes, though, the current passing through can be so great that the main fuse blows and you have to switch to back-up power. Similarly, full consciousness gives way to instinct when we experience life-threatening trauma, engaging what’s called the “fight, flight or freeze” response.
Most people’s daily lives do not require that response but it’s there when we need it, inherited from the part of our brain which is dedicated to just one thing: survival. That reptilian part functions almost exactly as it did when we were living in caves and the likelihood was that we would need an ingrained, reflex response to cope with random tiger attacks. It’s that same reaction, that same blown fuse that activates the powerhouse back-up generator that is a traumatic stress reaction.
For those who experience a traumatic stress reaction and do not go on to develop PTSD the fuse has been reset but those who develop PTSD – either immediately following the trauma or after a significant delay – remain on back-up power. Nobody is sure precisely what differs for those who develop full-blown PTSD since we don’t know quite enough about the brain but we do know that it happens, and that it can be tricky but far from impossible to come back from.
(This series is by the suggestion of my near and dear – hope it will help! Part II: tips for what to look for to recognise PTSD reactions/flashbacks as they’re happening.)
Oh excellent! All my bloggy friends are getting all helpful and writing cool stuff about depression and PTSD. Nice work, CK.
Between this and Michele’s work, I think I might be able to explain a few things to people in my life soon! ;)
Thanks Svast. Explaining it is terribly difficult ‘eh… some if it’s just never going to get across. As with most things, if you haven’t experienced it, there’s always a gap.
I would quite literally rather die than have my private areas examined. It has been more than 19 years since I’ve had a “female exam.” This is due to PTSD from sexual assault. I don’t want anyone judging or moralizing with me about this. I just wanted to give an example of what PTSD can do. On a logical level I know that medical people are not turned on by looking at someone’s privates, especially the privates of an old bag like me. But there is something inside me that desperately needs to protect me from another sexual assault. So I just will not do it.
Bravo, Lily. Really good example of how hard it hits.
That’s the thing: logic simply doesn’t apply. But I’ll get to that later…
for now i’ll just say as I relate!
I have studied probably close to 10 mental ilnesses since it was once my major in college and I have an interest now for my own life as well as the students I teach. Even with all that going on, I have never studied PTSD so this will be a real treat for me. I loved your visuals of the car brakes and the circuit breaker. I feel a lot less ignorant about this disorder.
a treat? hehee cool that you’d think of it like that :)
In what sense do people with PTSD remain on backup power Kid? The blown fuse idea is interesting, and I understand that trauma can ovewhelm our usual coping system at the time of the trauma.
Somehow I’m not quite connecting the dots here. Thx
ok, i mean in the sense that their relationship with the world is primarily run/mediated by that now basically permanenty engaged traumatic response. Normal fully concious awareness is, with active PTSD, secondary to self-protective responses. Those protective mechanisms are fired up and driving things which are displayed in symptoms like hypervigilance and inappropriate anger etc
inappropriate anger… something I’m VERY good at! ;)
hehe Me too!
*looks scared*
Great, two of my closest tweeple show inappropriate anger.
Gonna have to be careful with my words! :P
Interesting how it’s the opposite from depression in this respect, since that’s often a case of inappropriate…umm…pain? Yknow, how someone can say something that would normally be insignificant but if you’re in /that/ mood it just hits you like the most cutting thing you can imagine.
Or does PTSD have that side too?
~Shiv
Thanks Kid, that makes sense now.
Thank you for this series, it’s great to finally have a no-bullshit, laymans terms explanation of PTSD that even I can understand! I’m sure there’s lots of people who will find your explanations and advice very useful, so again: thank you!
~Shiv