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Post Traumatic Stress by Andrew Wolfe,LMP
It seems
more of life’s circumstances generate more stress responses in individuals
these days. One can speculate the cause of theses stresses, but the end result
is the effects that it takes on individuals or in larger concentrations;
communities, countries and nations or the wide spread global influences.
But what is
post- traumatic stress syndrome and how does it affect an individual?
Post traumatic
stress come from the inability to cope from a witnessing or experiencing a
terrifying event. The term seemed to be most prevalent in post war veterans but
in the current world we face we don’t have to be in times of war to feel the
effects of PSTD. As violence and general unrest becomes more of a standard
verses an exception, more individuals are being exposed to all kinds of stress
such as motor vehicle accidents, public
threats, sexual and physical crimes, global and environmental treats, victimization
of civil liberties, social unrest and injustices,etc.
Some of the
side effects of PTSD is the inability to cope, nightmares, night
terrors, flashbacks, memories of the event, depression and a loss of interest
in life, isolation and avoidance, depression, outburst of anger, feeling
startled easily, difficult with memory and concentration, change in eating and
sleeping habits.
What happens
to the body when an individual has experienced something traumatic?
The body is
designed to be an efficient machine. It has set within in a vast network of self-preservation
mechanics. This network is the nervous system. Within this system is two main parts, the central nervous system (CNS)
and the peripheral nervous system (PNS). The
central nervous system contains the brain and the spinal cord,
whereas the peripheral nervous system
connects the CNS to the extremities (arms and legs) and the organs. The PNS
serves as a communication relay between the brain and the extremities. The PNS is divided into the somatic nervous system (which creates voluntary
movement) and the autonomic nervous
system (which controls involuntary functions within the organ such as heart rate,
digestion and respiration).Within the autonomic nervous system there is sympathetic nervous
system :commonly referred to the “Fight of flight response”. It allows the body
to prepare itself to take on the impending stressor or engage the muscles to
flee impending danger. Either way the body is aroused to prepare to engage in
either response in order to cope with the impending situation. The other
division of the PNS is the sympathetic nervous system ( CN), which is the
recovery phase of the two divisions. It is referred to as ‘rest and digest” or
“feed and breed”.
When a stress response occurs in the body it engages this
system in order to generate action or rest dependent on what phase occurs
within the nervous system. The body finds within these systems a state of homeostasis or balance. It can be thrown
out of balance if it doesn’t maintain this state of equilibrium, such as in the
case of a repetitive insult to the nervous system which doesn’t allow for the
recovery phase to enter back into. Such terns as “burn out” or chronic fatigue”
can occur. With post- traumatic stress syndrome a loop of memories can occur
based on a trigger of a current observation, sight, sound, sensation etc. that
transports the memory to the original traumatic incident. Even though the body’s
mechanics is engineered to perform at optimum homeostasis (a kind of check and balance
in the body), it doesn’t always mean that it does. Our primitive brains have
long evolved to deal with on- going threats, be it that now, instead of having
wild animals chase after us in the “fight or flight” response” ,it is grid-lock
among other things. This shift of modern innovation has created a higher and
more demanding pace of life for most of us. When we can’t cope our bodies
suffer the on-going loop of stress which plays into heavy consequences of our
body, and thus our quality of lives. The over flowing repercussions of this can be endless; mental and physical
health issues, social phobias ,social disruptions of home and family life, disruptions of work and
occupational productivity etc., allowing
for loss of income for individuals and their employers. According to The World Health Organization (WHO) Global
Burden of Disease Survey estimates that mental disease, including
stress-related disorders, will be the second
leading cause of disabilities by the year 2020. We need to rethink about the impact of
what PTSD has on our lives and the degree in which it overflows into other
aspects of our everyday.
What happens to the body when in the “fight or flight”
mode?
Our bodies, as implied, ready itself to take action whether
by responding to defend our position of attack/assault or by taking the action
to flee or escape the threat. In order to do either tactic the body needs to
prepare itself in order to initiate this order. Chemicals are released such as
adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream. This creates a
change in the body to respond by increasing our breath, distributing the blood
flow from the less important digestion into muscles and the limbs. The eyes
take in the threat by this reaction as dilation which allows focus and attention
to the impending threat. Our body is now in a state of readiness. This takes
place as a state of survival, without this impulse we would not have been able
to survive as we know it. This is a primal state, a state of self –preservation
that is built into our wiring. As in the state of preparedness, we also have
the ability to calm ourselves and return to state of balance after the perceived
or actual threat is gone. This allows for a natural state of coping taking place
in the nervous system. With this affect in the body the muscles contract (tighten)
ready to initiate movement.
What happens if the body stays in the “fight or flight”
mode for a sustained time?
As a part of the preparedness of “fight or flight” response
hormones are released. If not used within the time needed and the body doesn’t
coming into a state of balance afterwards hormones can accumulate in the body.
This build up can create disorders in the body such headaches, irritable bowel
syndrome, inability to absorb food and
poor sugar regulation, high blood pressure, depression ,chronic fatigue and other auto immune disorders. We
all know about the dangers of stress now we know the immunology and physiology
around this statement.
The emotional component of PTSD is mentioned indirectly
with the prior mentioned side effects, but how does the emotions influence the
body? We answered that when we looked at
the mechanism of the nervous system by explaining what happens when being
engaged with the “fight or flight” response. But let’s go a bit further with
the idea of emotions and how they can have an impression on the physical body.
The physical body creates a blue print from past and current emotions. Because
of the creation of the nervous system we have the mechanism to function. It is
in the chronic (long standing) and traumatic events that catapult us into a crisis
mode in the body which cannot handle this. The body responds as the outward
expression of these experiences. In basic anatomy and physiology muscle all
have a function. This function is expressed of dynamic movement. Impairment can
take place not just on a physical level, but an emotional level as well. All
muscles have within this blue print the memory of movement. This memory can
sometime get lost in transit by injury, trauma or disease. But the memory is
there. Muscles all have cell and nerve bundles that comprise part of the
network of communication and mobility. These cells and nerves contain the
memory. This memory can be emotional. If you kick an animal it remembers the
trauma not just in the flinching of anticipation of the trauma once provoked but
it also within the muscle. The stress
factor is not just purely in the physical or just in the emotional; hence the
coined term simply stated: “body mind connection”. For, if memories are stored
in the body, then it gives “body work” a whole new meaning of discovery. Once
we tap into the physical body we are not just touching the physical abnormalities
or disorders but something underlying deeper waiting to be extradited.
So now that one identifies what is PTSD and what its symptoms
are and how it effects the body how does an individual recovery?
Receiving support whether professionally or from family,
friends or a group, spiritual guidance etc., is a step in the right direction.
All though it is difficult to overcome some biases one may have about asking
for help or needing intervention, it is highly recommended. Support allows an
individual to know they don’t need to suffer in silence or shame. There are a
number of organizations and professional specifically able to handling persons
suffering with PTSD.
Getting back to a routine is helpful as well as staying physically
active as well as the suggestion of getting back into nature.
Know this is something that happen to you but it doesn’t have
to identify who you are.
is a web site that is non- profit to help with PTSD.
Cop y write Andrew Wolfe LMP 10/30/2014
For information on the author visit www.harmonymassagetherapy.com
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