PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by a number of stressful
events. These can include military combat, prolonged abuse or neglect, rape,
witnessing violent death, being held hostage, natural disaster. These are just
some of the causes. PTSD can develop immediately or may take days, months or
years. According to the NHS website (http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Post-traumatic-stress-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx)
PTSD affects ‘1 in every 3 people who have a traumatic experience’.
I am no expert on PTSD, I can only tell you what I have seen
and heard from people who have suffered with it as well as the information I read
on the internet. I will provide links to some good sites about PTSD at the end
of this post as I believe that it is important for us to widen our knowledge on
mental health, something that has been ignored greatly through the years. So
here comes my explanation.
How about a little history:
ever heard of ‘shell shock’? A term coined during World War 1. This is
what we call it PTSD today, which doesn’t mean that it solely applies to those
that have fought in a war! Soldiers with shell shock had symptoms such as
insomnia, the inability to speak or walk, in a constant state of panic. Many
people would have been put into an asylum ‘back in the day’ had they shown
these kinds of symptoms, mainly because they couldn’t get on in society. PTSD wasn’t
officially recognised as a mental health disorder until 1980, a long time don’t
you think? We have a better system today, there are many therapies developed especially
for mental health, trained professionals who can help someone manage the
symptoms, drug therapy and, in my Dad’s case, walking around the entire UK! In
the end it is up to the individual to make their own decision on what kind of
therapy would be better for them.
Dad started off on the drug therapy, which is very common I
find, this meant that he was taking anti-depressants as well as anti-anxiety pills
when needed. Before he started the drug therapy my Dad would get extremely stressed
in crowds, he would feel the need to hide away, scream out loud, shake, panic,
get angry. He started gaining weight again, looking haggard and ill. This wasn’t
the Dad I knew, Dad developed PTSD years after the event. I think Dad kept all
his pain shut up inside for such a long time that it just exploded out of him
like a bottle of coke that has been shaken then opened. For a while the
medication appeared to be working but Dad felt he wasn’t getting any better, he
was just managing. This isn’t what he
wanted. He wanted to get better; he still wants to get better. So, very, very randomly he told us that he was
going on an adventure. (Psst, this is where you all join the story.) Dad
started walking the country. Starting at Land’s End and walking all the way
around the coast. To be honest I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to do
it, I worried every day I didn’t hear from him. Then, something amazing
happened. My Dad started to sound better. Happier. I was astonished. He had
finally found that thing that had the potential to get him better! Every time
he rang me he had another crazy story about being ran through a field by a herd
of cows, or sneaking into a festival by accident and then chipping his tooth
trying to get out. Then he started to meet you guys, all you that have been
supporting him along the way, who would offer him a bed for the night, a hot
meal to fill his shrinking tummy, a story for him to cherish. This is the
hardest bit for my Dad, his anxiety mainly comes from too many people around
him (this is why he hates cities and chose to walk the coast!). This is why he
has to take a break every now and then, go off the radar for a few days. But he
will be back! Don’t you worry ;).
So, I hope that this has given you a little bit of
information about what PTSD is and what it does to my Dad. Don’t forget to
donate to Dad’s charities of choice the links can be found to the right of this
post under the title ‘Where to Donate’. Also, check out our facebook and
twitter pages also linked to the right of this post. Please comment!
Sites about PTSD:
- http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Post-traumatic-stress-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx
- http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/posttraumaticstressdisorder.aspx
- https://www.combatstress.org.uk/medical-professionals/what-is-ptsd/
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