Today's NY Times had an interesting article on PTSD. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/25/sc...ef=todayspaper

One of the theories presented in the article is that (emphasis added): "The lasting harm of being a child soldier, it seemed, arose not from the war but from social isolation and conflict afterward.
This finding is echoed in studies of American soldiers returning home: PTSD runs higher among veterans who cannot reconnect with supportive people and new opportunities.
So is the traumatic event more than just the event itself — the event plus some crucial aspect of social environment that has the potential to either dull or amplify its effects?
Some scientists doubt that any such redefinition is in order. Carol Ryff, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin who does research on resilience, says the new findings did not redefine trauma; they merely confirmed that “certain conditions maximize the likelihood of alleviating trauma.”
But others, like the neuroscientist and writer Sandra Aamodt, co-author of “Welcome to Your Brain” and “Welcome to Your Child’s Brain,” say the studies suggest that there is no trauma to alleviate until the post-event social environment plays its role.
To Dr. Plotsky, this new view strengthens the argument for social interventions that have been shown to ease the effects of traumatic experiences — especially preschool programs for children at risk of trauma, and training for their parents.
We can’t undo bad things that happen. But maybe we can reshape the environment that exists in their wake. As Dr. Aamodt puts it, that approach “has the significant advantage of being possible.”"

[skeksi]

Fascinating, thank you for sharing the article with us!

I certainly feel I can draw parallels from my own experience to what the researchers found.

[Open Eyes]

Yes it makes sense to me, it got me thinking actually. When I was raising my daughter and stressed and feeling "unsafe" with my husband's binge drinking
I was constantly trying to somehow make up for it by "cleaning and changing" my home. I did "not" disregard my child though, however I can see how a mother may do that unintentionally. I feel that because I was so distrubed and unsettled I was driven to try to somehow "change" my enviornment for a sense of "relief".

If I think to my own childhood and remembering the disturbance in my home growing up with my brother being a problem child along with my father not being home to help my mother, my mother was stressed and I definitely sensed it.

I was very challenged with this holiday season and I had to deal with a lot of unwanted deep disturbance. I could not seem to clean and decorate my home for the holidays and every time I tried, I felt depressed and very confused mentally. It wasn't that I didn't want to either, but just that I could not get any kind of settled rythum or organized forward moving thoughts. I was constantly haunted by flashes of memories that were confused and upsetting.

I remembered Christmas growing up and how my mother did everything she could to make it very special. However, the unspoken underlying stress was that we all knew that my brother was going to blow up and rage at some point. It was never a question of "if" but always "when". And it would always upset and stress the entire family because it was always bad. Bad? well his room, his space in the home was constantly soaked in urine.

Once we all got past my brother blowing up, we all got to have Christmas and I knew I finally could "relax and be happy somehow".

And I always felt bad for my mother, I knew her as loving, but tired and stressed. That is when I began trying to "clean" her home for her in hopes that it would somehow help her "feel better", that somehow I could "fix" or "ease" the problem.
My older sister and I got to decorate the tree and we put blue candles in the windows and I had one for my bedroom. And the lights were multi colored on the tree, (something I do not like now and find unsettling) and I loved lots of colors growing up. I felt like I wanted to absorb the warmth of those colors and lights and I loved my little colored candle in the window. I wanted to embrace that "happy spirit" of Christmas in a way that made up for the "unrest" that always came.

When I married and had my own home, I had to do a lot of decorating for the holidays. I was never satisfied with just a wreath on the door. I instead, pursued a very elaborate carefully thought out "Country Living" Christmas decor. My sister did the same and I can still remember the two of us standing outside one Christmas day, wondering why we had this great need to decorate so much and could not just do as others did with just a tree and a wreath on the door. It was a compulsion we did not understand. I see why now, and because of that I feel lost in "how to I do Christmas now?" My sister still doesn't know, and I don't plan on telling her.

As far as my little farm and my home now, I realize that because it was so invadid as far as my neighbor totally disrespecting "my space and my little world in that space", that caused so much damage, that is why I completely broke. And when I did break and could not get "others" to understand it, or help me with it, I got worse and worse.
So I agree with how they are learning that in this study.

I understand how the "holidays" are very hard for those that struggle with PTSD and even other disorders. The holiday speaks of a "tradition" that is meant to celebrate family and to give thanks and appreciate others in meaningful ways. But for those that suffer from "disfunction" it is much like that mother rat who can't function around her babies and instead "stesses". There is a deep seeded question of "how do I do it"? And not even really understanding what that deep despair really means either.
I didn't understand it myself, and then when I did realize it, I didn't know how to "fix" it or explain to others how I was so deeply challenged.

What "did" help me is that I have learned enough about PTSD so that as hard as it is, I have made up my mind to "observe" these things that do "come forward". And, to try as I am now, to put these things/memories into words, and that is not always "easy". A lot of the things that were coming forward this year were many "pictures" and "no words with them". There were emotions there too, again with no words either. Even more difficult was the fact that as these things did come forward, I was the "age" when these troubling things happened, so the fear and anxiety and confusion was not the "me" I know now, but the "me" I was at the time.

Most people believe that when we experience unpleasant things in our lives, once we get past them, we are to "just" deem them "in the past" and "let it go" because "it is over and done with so move on". I personally thought that I somehow just "survived" my past and that after it ended and I got over the emotional part, I could just move forward. But the reality is that the brain doesn't really do that, all it really does is hold these experiences as troubled pockets in the brain that we somehow seal off, but they do not truely get processed or validated in "healthy" ways as eluded to in this article.

What I can say "unhappyguy" is that "if" we can find our way to finally addressing these things that come forward and truely allow ourselves to learn from them verses deeming ourselves "forever inadequate" we "can" make meaningful gains. However, the process of doing just that takes a lot of time and patience and the right kind of "validation" as well.

The one thing that I try to be "thankful" for is that PTSD is being studied at "great length" and we have gained alot of knowledge with the new technology we have as well. For me to see this kind of study shows me that we are gaining a sense of "science" to back what I know about and struggle with personally. That a time is coming where people who genuinely struggle like you and I and others where we will be validated in a much more meaningful way. And at some point we will gain enough wisdom so that we can do more to "prevent" children from developing the unfair foundation for later struggling with PTSD in their future.

Sorry this is long unhappyguy, but I really struggled this holiday, and I felt very alone and misunderstood while I was struggling too. And I know I am not alone with that. I am glad you posted this article, because I feel relieved whenever I see that "science" is gaining on recognizing how the human brain can struggle from a troubled childhood, and that the mother can impact how a child is able to deal with stress as well.

Open Eyes

[skeksi]

unhappyguy, I wanted to think about the article and come back and add some thoughts.

I think people who are responded to compassionately, with acceptance and support, can still develop PTSD. But I agree with the researchers that compassion and support can mitigate the effects of trauma and perhaps decrease the chances of PTSD developing or reduce its severity.

I've been told that the response to a trauma can be as powerful in shaping PTSD as the trauma itself. In my case, the traumas were ignored, downplayed, or dismissed, and there was no room for me to have reactions to them, so I hid them well. But of course that didn't stop the reactions from happening. Now that I know what does help trauma recovery, I am working hard on giving myself that compassionate support, and I'm getting it from my treatment team and friends. But it's coming many years late, so it's not as effective.

[Open Eyes]

(((skeski))),

Yes, I agree, me too.

Open Eyes