But this time to those who deal with PTSD: BLACKFIVE: On PTSD, or more properly, on Coming Home. Grim's post is incredible: open, thoughtful, and encouraging.
What you need to know, first and last, is that so-called PTSD is not an illness. It is a normal condition for people who have been through what you have been through. The instinct to kill and war is native to humanity. It is very deeply rooted in me, as it is in you. We have rules and customs to restrain it, so that sometimes we may have peace. What you are experiencing is not an illness, but the awareness of what human nature is like deep down. It is the awareness of what life is like without the walls that protect civilization.
Those who have never been outside those walls don't know: they can't see. The walls form their horizon. You know what lays beyond them, and can't forget it. What we're going to talk about today is how to come home, back inside those walls: how to learn to trust them again.
Please read the whole thing, including the comments; there's lots of superior and intelligent thoughts to take away and ponder on.
Thank you for the link, Kat. It was an excellent explanation. They say when my father came home after WWII he would hit the floor every time there was a loud noise nearby. It went on for several months as he gradually eased back into civilian life.
Posted by: f mcdonald | November 19, 2007 at 10:00 PM