Somewhere along the way, I think I've lost my grip.
It doesn't feel bad precisely. Just manic and dizzying, and quietly out of control. Once I was strange and eccentric, under a thin veil of professionalism and togetherness. I hereby acknowledge that I've crossed the line now - under the fun veil of eccentricity, I really think I may have gone mad.
I ask this of this jury of peers:
Is it possible to suffer post-traumatic stress or shock from purely emotional distress and trauma?
It doesn't feel bad precisely. Just manic and dizzying, and quietly out of control. Once I was strange and eccentric, under a thin veil of professionalism and togetherness. I hereby acknowledge that I've crossed the line now - under the fun veil of eccentricity, I really think I may have gone mad.
I ask this of this jury of peers:
Is it possible to suffer post-traumatic stress or shock from purely emotional distress and trauma?
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
Diagnostic Criteria for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder*
A. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present:
1. The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.
2. The person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Note: In children, this may be expressed instead by disorganized or agitated behavior.
B. The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in one (or more) of the following ways:
1. Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. Note: In young children, repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.
2. Recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: In children, there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content.
3. Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when intoxicated). Note: In young children, trauma-specific reenactment may occur.
4. Intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.
5. Physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.
C. Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following:
1. Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma
2. Efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma
3. Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma
4. Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities
5. Feeling of detachment or estrangement from others
6. Restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings)
7. Sense of a foreshortened future (e.g., does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span)
D. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following:
1. Difficulty falling or staying asleep
2. Irritability or outbursts of anger
3. Difficulty concentrating
4. Hyper-vigilance
5. Exaggerated startle response
E. Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in Criteria B, C and D) is more than one month.
F. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
Acute: if duration of symptoms is less than 3 months
Chronic: if duration of symptoms is 3 months or more
Not until the women's liberation movement of the 1970's was it recognized that women in civilian life had post-traumatic disorders. The real but private conditions of women's lives were hidden. The privacy created powerful obstacles to consciousness and made women's reality practically invisible. Those who spoke about sexual or domestic abuses were subject to public humiliation, ridicule and disbelief. Women remained silent out of fear and shame, and silence permitted sexual and domestic exploitation.
Ten Warning Signs of Mental Illness*
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1. Marked personality change.
2 2. Inability to cope with problems and daily activities.
3. Strange or grandiose ideas.
4. Excessive anxieties.
5. Prolonged depression and apathy.
6. Marked changes in eating or sleeping patterns.
7. Thinking or talking about suicide.
8. Extreme highs and lows.
9. Abuse of alcohol or drugs.
10. Excessive anger, hostility or violent behavior.
* from the American Psychiatric Association
A person displaying one or more of these warning signs may have a mental illness and should be evaluated by a mental health professional as soon as possible. If the individual has experienced trauma due to crime or abuse, the behavior may be a normal response to an abnormal event.
Depression
The most common complaints that patients tell their physicians are the common symptoms of depression. In 1990, the American Psychological Association reported that depression annually afflicts about 7 million American women and is responsible for 30,000 suicides. This is twice the rate of depression found in American men. The rate of depression and victimization in women may be linked.
Symptoms
unusual weight gain or loss of weight
either sleeping too much or insomnia
inability to enjoy pursuits which formerly gave pleasure
brooding over the past
pessimism about the future
loss of interest in sex
extreme irritability
overreaction to trivial events
trouble with concentration or memory
neglect of appearance
frequent thoughts of death or dying
social isolation
low self esteem
feelings of helplessness
Take care sweetie
[Edited on May 10, 2006 7:56AM]