PTSD, A Misunderstood Diagnosis.
Today I had a meeting with a group of people of a department I am looking to work with. In this meeting we discussed a lot of issues and topics, one of which was my PTSD which raised a few questions which of course the first one was if I was in the Military or not. Of course within recent years due to the amount of wars we have taken part in, the country is becoming more aware of the term and is becoming a more recognized mental illness in our community today.
What really surprised me, and almost angered me, is the lack of real knowledge of just what PTSD is and how it can and does effect a person. There almost was a sense of fear in the conversation as if they needed to walk on egg shells. Now this was not a job interview so it was not like anything was off key however questions were asked and it was really evident that the questions asked and the manor they were asked in really showed just how uneducated they were, almost to the point of ignorance which I don't condemn however it shows again just where media and other forms of information lack in the correct conveyance of what PTSD is.
I know it seems I almost repeat myself and I know we have come along way in understanding the real effects on someone who deals with this diagnosis, however it is the way mainstream media reports on military personnel who return who have this. Today, the United States Army is doing research on how to combat PTSD in many ways as they try and understand what many survivors of abuse have known for years, that trauma does not end once the original act is done. It plays over and over in ones mind for years to come, sometimes hidden for years until triggered by an event that brings the memories forward. Most times, when they have been hidden and they come forward it is even that much harder for a survivor to deal with because the memories that have been suppressed for a long period of time will catch a person off guard and not ready to deal with these "New Found" memories.
With news reports of soldiers committing suicide hitting major news outlets over the last few years, PTSD unfortunately become known as the war illness as I stated by the questions I was asked. What the media fails to do is present it in a way where the public gets educated to understand why it is soldiers have this illness, nor do they report that this illness has really been around for as long as man has been alive. As with any illness it has only really been in the last few decades where PTSD has been recognized outside the Mental Heath field and in fact recognized by Social Security as a debilitating illness. This illness also brings on many other illness's such as depression and other disorders that the public has known about for many years such as eating disorders. It is only now that they are finding a real link between PTSD and these illness's and a real push is on to treat it.
With all that said, I feel that more education is needed by the public in general to help understand the real effects of PTSD and how the mind reacts to trauma. It is not an illness that one needs to be afraid of and not an illness that means that the person who has it will not lead a normal life once it is treated and under control thru the help of understanding, counseling and sometimes more often medications. To me labeled as having a Mental Illness does not mean that a person is a threat to others or even themselves just because they have this illness. The truth is, it is the Major Depression that is a side effect that causes a person to do self harm or even taking of ones life. And while depression is so widely known and never questioned by anyone, PTSD is not so well known and that is where the confusion comes in. Sufferers of PTSD alone often never show any signs until one of the side effects become present. And this is where research is coming into play, on just how the trauma does effect ones mind as well as thinking and actions.
So until the world as a whole understands what PTSD is and how it truly works, I don't see the understanding it getting any better soon. Like I said, compared to depression which the first reaction by the public is compassion, sufferers will always be misunderstood and misrepresented under the great umbrella of being Mentally Disabled. Just like the call to remove guns from anyone and everyone who suffers a mental illness, having PTSD or even depression does not mean right away they should be targets of this label. It does not even mean that a person is what the world refers to as "Being Mental" either. This is why in my opinion that public education is so important and that a better understanding is needed by everyone.
What really surprised me, and almost angered me, is the lack of real knowledge of just what PTSD is and how it can and does effect a person. There almost was a sense of fear in the conversation as if they needed to walk on egg shells. Now this was not a job interview so it was not like anything was off key however questions were asked and it was really evident that the questions asked and the manor they were asked in really showed just how uneducated they were, almost to the point of ignorance which I don't condemn however it shows again just where media and other forms of information lack in the correct conveyance of what PTSD is.
I know it seems I almost repeat myself and I know we have come along way in understanding the real effects on someone who deals with this diagnosis, however it is the way mainstream media reports on military personnel who return who have this. Today, the United States Army is doing research on how to combat PTSD in many ways as they try and understand what many survivors of abuse have known for years, that trauma does not end once the original act is done. It plays over and over in ones mind for years to come, sometimes hidden for years until triggered by an event that brings the memories forward. Most times, when they have been hidden and they come forward it is even that much harder for a survivor to deal with because the memories that have been suppressed for a long period of time will catch a person off guard and not ready to deal with these "New Found" memories.
With news reports of soldiers committing suicide hitting major news outlets over the last few years, PTSD unfortunately become known as the war illness as I stated by the questions I was asked. What the media fails to do is present it in a way where the public gets educated to understand why it is soldiers have this illness, nor do they report that this illness has really been around for as long as man has been alive. As with any illness it has only really been in the last few decades where PTSD has been recognized outside the Mental Heath field and in fact recognized by Social Security as a debilitating illness. This illness also brings on many other illness's such as depression and other disorders that the public has known about for many years such as eating disorders. It is only now that they are finding a real link between PTSD and these illness's and a real push is on to treat it.
With all that said, I feel that more education is needed by the public in general to help understand the real effects of PTSD and how the mind reacts to trauma. It is not an illness that one needs to be afraid of and not an illness that means that the person who has it will not lead a normal life once it is treated and under control thru the help of understanding, counseling and sometimes more often medications. To me labeled as having a Mental Illness does not mean that a person is a threat to others or even themselves just because they have this illness. The truth is, it is the Major Depression that is a side effect that causes a person to do self harm or even taking of ones life. And while depression is so widely known and never questioned by anyone, PTSD is not so well known and that is where the confusion comes in. Sufferers of PTSD alone often never show any signs until one of the side effects become present. And this is where research is coming into play, on just how the trauma does effect ones mind as well as thinking and actions.
So until the world as a whole understands what PTSD is and how it truly works, I don't see the understanding it getting any better soon. Like I said, compared to depression which the first reaction by the public is compassion, sufferers will always be misunderstood and misrepresented under the great umbrella of being Mentally Disabled. Just like the call to remove guns from anyone and everyone who suffers a mental illness, having PTSD or even depression does not mean right away they should be targets of this label. It does not even mean that a person is what the world refers to as "Being Mental" either. This is why in my opinion that public education is so important and that a better understanding is needed by everyone.
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