PTSD

Our Mental Struggles, Day 4

                  For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

              I was raised in a small town, and it was common for the boys who were hunters to carry rifles in their trucks. It was common to see people carrying pistols on their hips, especially those who worked in the woods or on a farm. Guns were used responsibly and never considered out of place or dangerous. But then Columbine happened and everything in our nation changed.

              Since then, school shootings have increased. More and more people have been involved in hostage situations involving armed gunmen and fear runs deep in the veins of Americans. Now, we have active shooter drills and hard corners in classrooms. We turn off lights and close blinds. We memorize code words and have color coded flip charts hanging on our walls. It’s not the same world I grew up in.

              Many current educators have experienced school violence and attacks. When lockdowns happen, the warning light flashing hits them differently. When there are intruders on campus, a different kind of fear shows up. And if there are gunshots or loud noises anywhere near campus they are back in the moments of their past and it’s as real as if they were experiencing it in the present.

              Post Traumatic Stress shows up in unexpected and uninvited ways. It can be triggered by sounds, smells, songs, phrases, actions or anything that causes a past traumatic experience to surface. Trauma to one person is not always trauma to another person, but if our body internalized the event or events as trauma, it is forever seared as such.

              Some symptoms of PTSD are intrusive thoughts that are like flashbacks, causing someone to relive the event and the emotions repetitively. This can hit in the middle of the day or overtake a person in their dreams. Other times the person will develop negative mood changes about themselves, the world around them, and others. They easily blame others, create guilt, anger, shame, and constantly live in fear. There are often blank moments of memories that have been completely shut down by their mind to protect them. Positivity is hard to muster and numbness of emotions is a common protection. One of the major symptoms is being easily startled for fear of danger. Guards are always high, sleep is difficult, and so is concentration. Angry outbursts can come from what seems like nowhere and physical reactions like sweating, fast breathing, shaking, and rapid heart rate accompany these.

              I think of PTSD as anxiety on steroids. And it’s not just shootings or school violence that creates PTSD. Abuse. Stalkers. Prolonged mistreatment. Bullying. And anything our body and mind internalize as significant, fear-based stress.

              When an educator wrestles with PTSD, life could be perfectly normal in the classroom and one thing could trigger that teacher without warning. We just don’t know from day to day. As we educate our students, we need to also educate ourselves on the signs and symptoms of PTSD in our lives and the lives of those we work with. It could be life-changing.

Reference: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967

Do the Heart Work

1.      Have you or someone you loved ever experienced PTSD? What is it like when they are triggered?

2.      PTSD may not make sense if you’ve never experienced it, but how can educating yourself help someone who is having a breakdown?

3.      How can you change your prayers for someone with PTSD based on what you have learned today?

Digging Deeper

Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (ESV).

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

It’s important to talk about our issues, struggles, and our past. Our minds can convince us of untruths and lead us to think we are alone, freakish, or too far gone. We can live in our secrets and never realize we are living a lie. God never wastes a hurt as long as we willingly offer it to him. He comforts us so that we can offer that comfort to others. A recovery phrase I heard once was “we are only as sick as our secrets”. PTSD is often begun through things that happened that we’ve never spoken about. The more light we shed on those secrets, the more God can begin to heal them.

If You Get Spare Time

              If you’ve never experienced it personally, spend time thinking about what PTSD victims go through. If you deal with PTSD in some form on the regular, make a list of the things you wish others knew about PTSD and how it impacts you. Then vow to share it with a close friend.