PTSD Symptoms

[MSimon]

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms typically start within three months of a traumatic event. In a small number of cases, though, PTSD symptoms may not appear until years after the event.

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms are generally grouped into three types: intrusive memories, avoidance and numbing, and increased anxiety or emotional arousal (hyperarousal).

Symptoms of intrusive memories may include:

Flashbacks, or reliving the traumatic event for minutes or even days at a time
Upsetting dreams about the traumatic event

Symptoms of avoidance and emotional numbing may include:

Trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event
Feeling emotionally numb
Avoiding activities you once enjoyed
Hopelessness about the future
Memory problems
Trouble concentrating
Difficulty maintaining close relationships

Symptoms of anxiety and increased emotional arousal may include:

Irritability or anger
Overwhelming guilt or shame
Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much
Trouble sleeping
Being easily startled or frightened
Hearing or seeing things that aren't there

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/post-t ... N=symptoms

[MSimon]

Major Sexual Symptoms of Sexual Abuse

Difficulty with becoming aroused and feeling sensations
Sex feels like an obligation
Sexual thoughts and images that are disturbing
Inappropriate sexual behaviors or sexual compulsivity
Vaginal pain
Inability to achieve orgasm or other orgasmic difficulties
Erections problems or ejaculatory difficulty
Feeling dissociated while having sex
Detachment or emotional distance while having sex
Being afraid of sex or avoiding sex
Guilt, fear, anger, disgust or other negative feelings when being touched

http://www.psychotherapist.net/adultsurvivors.html

[MSimon]

If childhood sexual abuse is not treated, long-term symptoms can go on through adulthood. These may include:

PTSD and anxiety
Depression and thoughts of suicide
Sexual anxiety and disorders, including having too many or unsafe sexual partners
Difficulty setting safe limits with others (e.g., saying no to people) and relationship problems
Poor body image and low self-esteem
Unhealthy behaviors, such as alcohol, drugs, self-harm, or eating problems. These behaviors are often used to try to hide painful emotions related to the abuse

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/chi ... -abuse.asp

[MSimon]

Anyone who has gone through a life-threatening event can develop PTSD. These events can include:

Combat or military exposure
Child sexual or physical abuse
Terrorist attacks
Sexual or physical assault
Serious accidents, such as a car wreck
Natural disasters, such as a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake

After the event, you may feel scared, confused, or angry. If these feelings don't go away or they get worse, you may have PTSD. These symptoms may disrupt your life, making it hard to continue with your daily activities.

http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/what-is-ptsd.asp

[MSimon]

As noted above some people take drugs to deal with PTSD. (Bad if you self medicate - good if the medical cartel supplies your needs).

And funny enough - symptoms of PTSD are ascribed to the drug use.

I ascribe that to the effectiveness of government propaganda on weak minds.

[MSimon]

So D,

There is the reservoir for all the behaviors you claim to hate. What do you intend to do about it?

[ladajo]

And you have also eloquently pointed out that Child Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse are on a list of things that can bring about PTSD.

So it would seem that they are not the core issue drug use banner you claim. They are but one point on a list of many.

I have never argued that folks seek to mind alter to deal with stress. What I argue is that drug and alcohol use in itself can induce stress, which can then further the need.

PTSD is but one form of stress.

[MSimon]

And you have also eloquently pointed out that Child Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse are on a list of things that can bring about PTSD.

So it would seem that they are not the core issue drug use banner you claim. They are but one point on a list of many.

I have never argued that folks seek to mind alter to deal with stress. What I argue is that drug and alcohol use in itself can induce stress, which can then further the need.

PTSD is but one form of stress.

Dude. If you have never had 10+ or 20+ or 30+ years of PTSD you have NO IDEA. None. Zero. Nada.

And I never said Child Abuse was the only route. Just the main route in America. And I can't do much about car accidents, military excitements, or first responder trauma.

I can do something about child abuse.

====

And yes. We do have a wonderful mechanism for keeping the stress levels of drug users up. It is called prohibition.

I would think you would want those levels to come down. To reduce the time people spend taking drugs. But the most ardent prohibitionists know very little about the etiology. The people with the strongest prescriptions turn out to be the least educated on the subject. I think it is a law or something. "The ignorant shall rule." And since everyone is more than sufficiently ignorant of something people should make as few rules for others as possible.

And yes. If the PTSD levels are high enough drugs may do as much harm as good. But you have to be in very bad shape from the get go for that to be true. i.e. very little or nothing may help. That is where suicide comes in. Fortunately I decided (or was lucky) not to take that route. I did contemplate it for a number of years.

As I said - you have no idea of the level of despair. So bad you get huge rushes from the littlest joy. Or it takes massive amounts of joy to have the littlest effect. Everything is out of proportion. Depending on the day of the week and the weather. Gloomy days are hell on the spirit.

So here I am speaking from experience - (about 25 years from the start at age 4 until I came out of it at about 30) and you - who have faced none of this have all the answers. "If we can just keep them from taking drugs their problems will be solved. Their dysfunctions will melt away."

To deal with this effectively we are going to have to start with some ugly truths. America has a HUGE child abuse problem. Especially when you consider 20% are susceptible to long term PTSD (everyone will get it short term with enough stress) and 10% of the population shows symptoms (as measured by individual drug and alcohol use levels).

And the problem is that levels of violence against children which are barely noticed among the 80% will send the most susceptible of the 20% over the edge. We need to be much more careful with our children.

Instead of educating people about how to prevent the problem we have gone to war with its victims. In a supposedly Christian country. Whose most revered religious leader was reputed to have favored the company of folks with PTSD. You know, drunks, prostitutes, etc. I'm told it was quite a scandal in his day. Evidently his followers are none too keen to follow in his footsteps by personally ministering to the afflicted. They prefer to war on them.

Well OK. But I'm told God's judgment will be harsh on the matter. Deservedly so. You can't say you weren't warned.

What happens when all those PTSD sufferers learn more about PTSD (and stop blaming themselves) and they decide to come after you? Well they already have. And thus our current pResident.

The PTSD Party

You ought to read it. It explains how a certain political party is using the war on abused children against you. To some effect I notice. So you are already reaping what you have sown. Enjoy!

There is a God and he/she/it is just!!!!!

===

Any way. That is one big reason I'm a libertarian. It is best for the government to take as few actions as possible. Because our understanding is limited the consequences of any action are unpredictable. More often bad than good.

You know - that "smaller government" thing Republicans mouth at every election. And seem to forget in between.

[MSimon]

Your ignorance is showing:

PTSD is but one form of stress.

PTSD does not start out as a form of stress. It starts out as a response to stress (I prefer the word trauma as it better expresses the level of stress required in most cases).

Now we can do what we can to reduce the stress levels in society. Or we can increase it. Making war on the traumatized is bound to increase the stress levels on those most susceptible to it.

Very clever.

I'd say that was a job for government. And whaddya know? It is.

A plan so pernicious that only a socialist could come up with it. I like to call it "moral socialism". Sometimes I like "Republican socialism".

Back in the Progressive era the moral socialists and the economic socialists were united. Now a days there is a division of labor. Quite effective too.

Each side pretends to hate the other while at the same time having the same goal: "running other people's lives". Which is another reason I'm a libertarian.

What platform do both parties run under? "We know how to run your life better than those other guys." Well. Really. No you don't.

[Skipjack]

I think that a lot of PTSD that is diagnosed in war vets is actually real physical trauma from shockwaves created by nearby explosions or artillery firing. There was a pretty plausible study that showed the brain damage that can result from these shockwaves, especially if you are exposed to them over a prolonged period of time.

[MSimon]

I think that a lot of PTSD that is diagnosed in war vets is actually real physical trauma from shockwaves created by nearby explosions or artillery firing. There was a pretty plausible study that showed the brain damage that can result from these shockwaves, especially if you are exposed to them over a prolonged period of time.

Of course it is hard to tell as emotional trauma and physical trauma are intertwined.

Getting scared by sudden loud noises repeatedly....

We are in the unfortunate position of knowing much and little at the same time. Fortunately we are at the stage where we can begin to outline the holes in our knowledge. We have not yet reached enough interest to do more study. That will come. I'm working on it.

[Skipjack]

Getting scared by sudden loud noises repeatedly....

True, but the physical trauma can be measured and tested for. I have to look up the paper. It was quite the eye opener for me and it explains a lot of weird stuff happening to veterans.

[ladajo]

And I never said Child Abuse was the only route. Just the main route in America.

And this is where we disagree greatly.
And you certainly do sell it like it is the "only route".

In any event, I am sorry that you had a bad childhood. That does not mean however that most others do as well. I am also not so sure you have come to terms with it yet. I do am not saying that to pooke at you. It is merely an observation. You know full well I have a lot of repsect for you and your mind.

You know for decades, my father would wake up screaming in the night when he heard a small aircraft fly over. Maybe head something to do with the Kamikaze that hit his Destroyer (DD-780 if you are curious) during WWII. Funny thing, it never drove him to abuse alcohol or drugs. In fact, he never took any drugs his whole life. he was an old school honest dude, with a revence for god until his dying day. Maybe has to do with being born in 1922 and growing up during the Depression. Dunno.

I also know stress. Seen a lot through the years.

In the case of traumatic injury, yes, there has been some significant leaps in the last years as we have come to learn about Traumatic Head Injury and Physical Shock. Several very detailed long term studies courtesy of the Iraq/ Afgahnistan injury pool. I had a nice long evening chat back in 2009 sitting in the bar of the Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor with Victoria Ray Carlson about this: http://www.ncd.gov/rawmedia_repository/ ... cument.doc

We also discussed a book a buddy of mine had just published at the time about navigating the VA for rights and benefits: http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Produc ... r-You.aspx

[MSimon]

That does not mean however that most others do as well.

Of course not. But you must admit that the prevalence is rather high (there are no good stats as far as I know) to get 1/2 of the susceptible to come down with PTSD.

Even if some US PTSD is not due to child abuse and even assuming that the abusers are concentrated among those with PTSD then the rates are still rather high.

So why do I concentrate on child abuse? Even if it is a small proportion - something can be done about it.

BTW people with PTSD seem to have an affinity with each other. In all my contact with that community - both on line and in person - I never met a one who wasn't a victim of child abuse. Not one. Of course it could just be me. And since I have gone looking for it on line that certainly would skew my personal results.

It would be nice to have some good stats. But we will not get any until the focus is off drugs and instead becomes why people take them. We will get the studies eventually. Once my point of view catches on.

And no matter how people get their PTSD should we be punishing them for self medicating their problem?

[MSimon]

Further research has shown that people with a disposition to resort to cannabis use are more likely to live longer and healthier lives than users of other "social drugs" such as alcohol.[19]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_drug_theory

Dang. Its just like those Firesign Theater people said. Everything you know is wrong

BTW I am probably one of the top amateurs in the field of drug use/abuse. It might be worthwhile to get up to date before further discussion. In order to avoid more embarrassment.

You would certainly educate yourself before making Polywell Pronouncements. Why are you so confident about all the government propaganda that has been fed you? Why don't you even know it is propaganda?

You know agencies are not above lying to keep the train covered in gravy. Why to you think the Drug Warriors are exempt?