PTSD

Checklist Quiz


(Print this page and circle the ones that apply to you)


Sleep Disturbances


  • Unable to remember dreams?
  • Watch TV until the early morning hours?
  • Stay awake as long as possible?
  • Wake up often during the night for no reason?
  • Wake still feeling very tired?
  • Have nightmares: dream of being shot at or pursued?

Avoidance of Feelings


  • Feel "hollow inside?"
  • Feel "emotionally numb?"
  • Feel detached, aloof, "emotionally dead?"
  • Seem cold, uncaring, even ruthless at times?
  • Unable to feel love, compassion for other?
  • Unable to experience either the sorrows or the joys of life?

Reslessness / Listlessness


  • Numerous changes of address?
  • Don't know why you even exist?
  • Drive about aimlessly when angry?
  • Chronic job-hopping / unstable work history?
  • Desire to seek refuge by moving away from the problem?
  • No feelings of direction, meaning, purpose, or significance in life?
  • Lost interest in work or other activities that you use to enjoy?
  • Feel like nothing's been going right, and "it's been like that for a very long time?"

Intrusive Thoughts


  • Ever have "flashback" episodes?
  • Intense thoughts of "what might have been?"
  • Experience strong reaction to certain sights, sounds, or smells?
  • Feelings of being somewhere other than where you really are?
  • Memories of traumatic events ever interrupt your routine thought patterns?

Mistrust - Suspicion


  • Frequently find yourself questioning the loyalty of friends or relatives>
  • Suspicious of managers, supervisors, and work peers?
  • Numerous broken relationships, divorce (s)?
  • Distrust yourself and your ability to "keep it together much longer?"
  • Always feel suspicious of being "exploited, used, or abused?"
  • Intensely concerned with issues of justice, "right or wrong?"
  • Can't deal with "gray" areas?
  • Have feelings of mistrust towards the government, government officials, and mistrust of "The System" in general?

Financial Chaos


  • Wife is usually the financially stable one?
  • Resent promotions and breaks that others got who did not go to war?
  • Feel frustrated because of inability to provide for the family?

Anxiety Reactions


  • Possess numerous weapons?
  • Sleep with weapons within easy reach?
  • Feel uncomfortable standing out "in the open?"
  • Feel uncomfortable when people walk or sit behind you?
  • Hyper-vigilance: repeatedly check doors, locks and other security devices?
  • Feel most comfortable with your back to the wall, or in a corner of the room?
  • React under stress with "survival tactics?"

Fear & Control Issues


  • Try to control everything around you?
  • Feel people around you are trying to control you?
  • Fear of dying and afraid to go on living?
  • Fear of surprises or situations over which you have no control?
  • Fear what might happen if you ever lost control of yourself?

Identity Issues


  • Desire to live a life as a hermit?
  • Lack confidence in your own abilities?
  • Feel like "a reject" from society?
  • Feel "hollow" like "an old man in a young man's body?"
  • Do you like motorcycles because they give feelings of independence, speed, light travel, high maneuverability, low profile, solitude, exposure to the elements, instance acceleration, very loud noise, high vibration, feelings of raw power, feelings of courting danger, and an "adrenaline rush?"

Reductionist Thinking


  • Give away material things easily?
  • Able to easily strip away all non-essentials?
  • Feel the need to "get to the point" in all conversations?
  • Irritated easily by insignificant chatter (small talk) and all non-essential conversation?
  • Horde material and supplies that might be necessary for survival?
  • Able to leave the area at the drop of a hat, knowing exactly what you need to take withh you, and exactly where you would go?

Guilt


  • Feel guilt for surviving the war when others (who may have had more to live for) did not?
  • Feel guilt that perhaps if you stayed a little longer, you could have "made a different?"
  • Feel guilt for acts committed, or acts observed without making an effort to stop them?
  • Feel guilt for returning to the relative safety of home and leaving friends behind that were still engaged in combat?

Rage


  • Ever destroy inanimate objects?
  • Verbally and or physically abusive?
  • Punch holes in walls with your fists?
  • Fantasize about retaliation & destruction?
  • Strike out at others for no apparent reasons?
  • Generally irritable?
  • Tend to be verbally abusive

Isolation / Alienation


  • Had many broken relationships, divorces?
  • Desire to live a life as a hermit?
  • Experience lack of social contact?
  • Have few acquaintances, even fewer friends?
  • Feel isolated, or distanced from spouse, parents, children, brothers, peers or others?

Depression


  • Ever feel worthless?
  • Abuse substances or self medicate?
  • Diffculty concentrating or easily distracted?
  • Feel a sense of helplessness or futility about your condition?

Developmental Discontinuities


  • Feel that there are "holes" in your developmental stages?
  • Feel like you "lost something" when you were growing up?
  • Feel that you will never be able to regain what you have lost?

Death Imprint & Contamination


  • Think about death a lot?
  • Feel that you will never, ever get close to anybody again?
  • Feel that everyone that you get close to is somehow "contaminated" by you, and dies?

Denial


  • Unwilling to seek help, don't trust anyone?
  • Feel like "It's no big deal, I can handle it."
  • Deny that "your experience" could have anything to do with your attitude?
  • Are you able to admit that you have any of the above symptoms or that you may have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
  • Do you deny even the possibility that there may be spiritual solutions to the problem of post-traumatic stress?

These are all symptoms of PTSD

© 1996 Oscar D. Ramirez, Ph.D.


"Designed to Deal With Pain"


Thu human body has been designed with protective means to automatically cope with severe, overwhelming pain. When a person experiences overwhelming physical pain, the body automatically goes into a state of "shock." All nonessential physical functions begin to shut down so the body can focus on dealing with the physical trauma it has experienced. The body does this automatically without being told to. In severe cases the body will shift automatically and go from shock into a "coma." If the body did not react automatically in this way, the pain would be so intense that the body would succumb to it and die. Interestingly enough, the mind usually continues to function even when the body is in a coma.


God has also instilled in the human mind a way to cope with severe, intense mental and emotional stress. When a person experiences overwhelming mental or emotional trauma or distress, it is sometimes called a "nervous breakdown." In severe cases, it may even lead to a "catatonic" state. The body is awake, the eyes are open, but the mind shuts down all outside thoughts as it tries to focus its energy to process and repair the extreme mental trauma it has experienced. This natural way of insulating the mind from overwhelming mental anguish protects it from overload. It is not unusual for people to die from overwhelming, unbearable emotional trauma.


The spirit of man, his soul and his conscience also have a way of dealing with the horror of moral pain or spiritual trauma. The body continues to function, and the mind also is able to function, but man's spirit is "deadened," his conscience becomes "callused," and his heart becomes "hardened." In the absence of these key aspects of humanity, behavior is typified by a lack of any evidence that these important human elements are present of functioning at all. This is one view of what might be happening to someone experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder.


When Did Traumatic Stress First Begin?


One of the first known cases of traumatic stress is recorded in the Bible in Genesis chapter four. Cain killed his brother Abel, and tried to discount the severity of his crime. He experienced denial of his guilt - "Am I my brother's keeper?" - which also indicated that this true identity was now in question. The result of all this was immediate alienation from God. Cain became unable to do productive work (Gen. 4:12). He became restless, felt overwhelmed with fear, and helpless in the face of potential attackers. He wandered about aimlessly. His symptoms were no different than what this generation's vets experience with PTSD.


The most traumatic experience a human being can encounter is to incur the displeasure of God. This results in feelings of separation and alienation from Him. The bad news is that everyone is considered equally guilty before God and thus alienated from Him. "For all have sinned and falled short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).


In God's eyes, the murderer is no more guilty than the liar: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in just one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).


The good news is that there IS a solution to this crisis of the spirit, soul, and conscience! The prophet Isaiah tells us that God is a reasonable God; "Come, let us reason together saith the Loard..." Moreover, He tells us that He has a solution for our feelings of guilt as well as for our actual guilt. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).


How is this done? The Bible says that the wages (payments) for sin (guilt) is death (Romans 6:23). The 53rd chapter of Isaiah says "all we like sheep have gone astray ... but the Lord had laid upon Him (Jesus) the iniquity of us all." The debt for all the acts committed in war or peacetime, all your guilt, shame, and sin were laid upon Jesus, and his death was sufficient to pay for it all.


Why did God do this? "For God so loved the world (you and me) that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him (in what He did by dying on the cross) should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth in Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not, is condemned already" (John 3:16-18).


If Jesus paid for all your sins on the cross (including the wrongs done in the war and even after the war), how many sins do YOU have to pay for? This is salvation, and it is a free gift.


Why carry your guilt and longer if God had already made provision to get rid of it? Simply ask God for forgiveness based on the provision that His Son made on the cross in dying to pay for all you have done wrong.


The One who designed your body and mind to deal with overwhelming pain has also provided peace for our soul and spirit. It's time to stop denying, and time to accept.


It's time to come out of the darkness and into the Light.


It's time to come home!