Training Knights Lesson 10 Healing PTSD Part 2

By Stephen Cheney

Intro

Here, we continue with investigations into the workings of the mind.

What is the Official Treatment for PTSD?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment can help in regaining a sense of control over one’s life.

You may have PTSD if the problems you experience after exposure continue for more than a month and cause significant problems in your ability to function in social and work settings and negatively impact relationships. (from the Mayo Clinic)

The primary treatment is psychotherapy; but can also include medication.

Treatments include:

• Hallucinogens.

• Ecstasy.

• Virtual Reality.

• Blocking the glutamate receptor system protein GluA1.

In rare severe cases: Electroshock therapy (ECT: Electroconvulsive therapy).

ECT: Electroconvulsive therapy:

ECT is generally considered a safe and effective treatment. While severe damage is not typical, the electric currents used can be strong enough to cause a seizure, which in turn may lead to damage to brain tissues and memory loss. This memory loss is intended to alleviate traumatic experiences. Some temporary or lingering side effects may include retrograde amnesia and anterograde amnesia.

Autobiographical Memories:

The Hippocampus of the brain is essential for recalling our personal memories, as well as for spatial navigation and coherence. It plays a role in geometric combinative structuring, allowing the imagination to travel through time - both into the past and the future.

One of the risks associated with slightly damaging neurons to eliminate memories is that the patient may become bewildered and unsure of their identity, which could potentially lead to thoughts of suicide. Given the post-operative risks and the intrusive nature of ECT, albeit without breaking the skin, obtaining informed consent through a consent form is necessary.

HOWEVER:

From the initial recognition or disclosure of symptoms, there is a ONE-MONTH WAITING PERIOD before PTSD is officially recognized, and treatment can begin.

Thus, Is the Official Treatment for PTSD Satisfactory?

Due to the time gap, No.

To confirm symptoms and yet demand a month waiting period prior to initiating treatment is irresponsible. Hoping that the symptoms will just go away, when the causes, past or present, still exist, is not a prudent approach. Serious untreated symptoms can only worsen over time. How many patients with a full set of symptoms of any illness visit their doctor only to be told to come back in a month for a review? They should receive prompt treatment instead.

How many PTSD sufferers die from suicide during their waiting period?

Many suffer greatly having experienced the horrors of war. Numerous soldiers who fought on government orders for honorable reasons end up witnessing dishonorable events. Do they deserve to be medically delayed then? No. A country that neglects them also neglects its Duty of Care.

Emotions Magnify

A negative or horrifying experience is not just one happening amongst many other not-so-unpleasant events. Emotions magnify such experiences. A traumatic event is replayed many times over in the mind, which remembers it vividly. Consequently, the traumatic event becomes a much-repeated and re-suffered occurrence that fatigues the mind and willpower. As soon as one becomes aware of this replay, it is the opportune moment to stop it and deliberately busy the mind with something else as a distraction. Bad occurrences from the past need to be buried before they bury you. Overwhelmed by many new experiences that you actively seek out to provide distance from trauma, remember that you are more than just an incident; you live through many events and adventures.

It is not only atomic particles that become entangled; their fates merged. Emotions act like a binding energy that makes deep lovers feel as one. Therefore, when one dies, the other dies inwardly, creating a strong bond that later leads to repeating that tragic experience. Likewise, emotions and memories combine and are stored for re-experiencing events such as shell shock, torture, horror, rape, deadly errors, etc. The control of one’s emotions is paramount in training before any combat engagement. Someone who has experienced trauma may view the world as not worth living in, seeing it as too horrific to bear — an oversensitivity to the evils in reality. However, a warrior with an intact mind would prefer to die fighting evils in battle rather than escaping such duty by suicide.

Be stirring as the time, be fire with fire,

threaten the threatener, and outface the brow of bragging horror,

so shall inferior eyes, that borrow their behaviors from the great,

grow great by your example and put on the dauntless spirit of resolution.  — William Shakespeare

When seeking solutions to a problem, first explore where else that problem should logically exist, but in reality, it doesn’t, and why that is so.

(Image: Warrior - unknown source)

[The views expressed in this publication are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Dissecting Society™ ].