Can You Get PTSD From Anything? Trauma Is Not a Competition
PTSD Is Not a Pissing Competition
I was contacted by a female veteran who made it very clear to me that she believes that REAL PTSD was only something that people in the military could experience.
I very firmly and politely disagreed. PTSD is something that happens as a result of trauma; it is not something that occurs because you entered the military.
In a side note, I wrote:
In my work as a PTSD recovery mentor and through my relationships with many veterans, I find that many who enter the elite branches of the military do so because they have suffered childhood abuse. They don’t ever want to be placed in a position of vulnerability again. Because of the stigma of sexual abuse, many never admit to having experienced it and never report it later on in life.
The early trauma makes it nearly impossible for them to manage their military service PTSD effectively. The true-to-life movie Antwone Fisher deals with this subject.
This result is unheard of for someone who is not a veteran
I wrote about my brain scan:
In 2016, I travelled to Atlanta for a business meeting to connect with some people working with innovative medical technology. Just after lunch, we were sitting, joking around, and someone suggested: “Why don’t you scan the Australian to see if he has kangaroos hopping around up there?”
We all had a great laugh, and I agreed. What my business associate was referencing was a new technology they were using on veterans who were diagnosed with severe cases of PTSD. This technology scanned the brain and produced a graphical interpretation of brain function and brain health.
The system was designed to measure and help manage cognitive function and impairment objectively. It did this by detecting subtle variations in brain activity and performance. It was proving to be a great aid to veterans in helping them understand their PTSD.
What the technology couldn’t do however was tell if the PTSD caused the changes to the brain’s function, or if an injury caused it on the battlefield. They never scanned anyone with PTSD who had not served in the military.
The doctor who was operating the system took what looked like a shower cap or a colander that had a bunch of probes hanging off it. He attached the probes to my scalp and the scanner to his laptop. I sat there looking like something from Young Frankenstein.
The guys thought it was awesome. They couldn’t wait to “see the roos hopping around.” The jokes were bad, crude and very funny.
The doc pushed the GO button, and I stepped through the assessment while everyone else went back to the business at hand.
“bro, you’ve got issues”
The test timed out, and the doctor was halfway through a comment to everyone else in the room when the results came on the screen. His face went blank and he was dead quiet. Everyone looked at him and he just looked at the screen.
He typed something, looked at it again, and then very solemnly said in his best ‘there is nothing to worry about’ voice, “How about we step outside and have a talk?”
Out in the foyer, he wanted to know about my extensive military background. It took me a while to convince him that I didn’t have one. He then wanted to know how many years I had been playing professional football.
I told him I hadn’t seen a game let alone played in one. He refused to believe me. He went on to explain that what he was seeing was one of the worst cases of PTSD-related brain inactivity/activity he had ever seen.
He said that my entire frontal lobe was completely blue and that other parts that should be blue were completely red.
“Doc, what does blue mean?” I asked, “Is that good or bad?”
With glorious clinical detachment, he said, “Simply put, it’s not working, your brain’s not working. The front third of your brain, your frontal lobe, is so incredibly deficient, that there are other parts just working overtime to compensate.
“We have only seen this in veterans with the most severe trauma following extended periods in theaters of war. This result is unheard of for someone who is not a veteran. What happened to you?”
In love with drama, not impacted by trauma
A lot of my mates and people I help are veterans. Good people. Solid.
THEY will tell you there is a percentage of veterans that use the claim of PTSD as a crutch and to elicit sympathy and a paycheck. It is the same in all walks of life; there is a particular type of person in love with drama, not impacted by trauma.
It is time to rally together
For those of us that deal with this crap every day, it is time to rally together for a solution. A military/non-military pissing competition serves no purpose whatsoever than to divide a community that should be working towards a solution that helps everyone.
This is for personal reflection, not medical or crisis advice.