MAJOR RESPONSES TO THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Friends asked me yesterday how I am doing. To be honest I am not real sure. All I know is that I am trying to cope but feel very sad. Afraid, I think, if I let myself feel much that I may not stop crying. But then I say to myself, "Quit being a drama queen." So I will do some follow up here with more from the Family Ed materials to try to communicate the fallout from PTSD:

Major responses of those suffering PTSD;

Depression

Anger

Anxiety

Sleep disturbances

Tendency to react under stress with survival tactics

Psychic or emotional numbing

Loss of interest in work and activities

Survivor guilt

Hyper-alertness

Avoidance of activities that arouse memories of traumas in war zones

Suicidal feelings and thoughts

Flashbacks

Fantasies of retaliation and destruction

Cynicism and distrust of government and authority

Concern with humanistic values overlayed by hedonism

Negative self-image

Memory impairment

Hyper-sensitivity to justice

Problems with intimate relationships

Difficulty with authority figures

Emotional distance from children, wife and others

Self -deceiving and self-punishing patterns of behavior such as an inablity to talk about war experiences, fear of losing others, and a tendency to fits of rage