A few of you have been asking about my experiences with PTSD ...
I've blogged on this issue today - please feel free to check out the full Blog / article at
http://www.transformation.com/gloomr...ess-info-/4135
Feel free to mail me directly, if you wish ...


(Excerpt from Blog intro)
"The main problem we faced (with regard to my having PTSD after being blown-up in Iraq) was that nobody realised I HAD PTSD ! My only knowledge of it came from 'Nam movies - I figured you had PTSD if you were having flashbacks ... and I wasn't (I was just having a truckload of nightmares etc, etc, etc !)

No-one saw the symptoms and recognised them for what they were; not us, not the doctors, no-one ... simply because the information wasn't available or the awareness wasn't there. Because of that, I had to find my own way out of it, even though I didn't know what "it" was ! I just knew that a part of me was missing ... and I feared that I had been permanently damaged ...

It was more than 2 years later that I finally came to realise what had been going on, when I was trying to help an injured comrade.

I was lucky ... I had done some of the right things to get through (purely by chance, not by design I assure you !). Even so, it wasn't easy and there were times that I almost lost more than I ever feared I would ...

I believe that whatever awful experiences we go through in life (abuse, addiction, loss, depression, illness ... the list is a long one), they are all experiences that present us with
AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY (Yes, you heard me right !).

An opportunity not to just stay stuck in "VICTIM" mode, not to merely "SURVIVE" the experience, but to overcome the adversity, to find a way through it, to "THRIVE" IN SPITE OF WHAT HAS HAPPENED: to FIND a way to grow, to LIVE that way and to GIVE it to others.

Anyway ... the point of my blogging on this subject is to help you to look at your loved ones, or even yourself, and to identify ways of helping those suffering the effects of PTSD to get through it's challenge ...
http://www.transformation.com/gloomr...ess-info-/4135

For those that are interested, I've added 2 more blogs ...

"After a traumatic event"
http://www.transformation.com/gloomr...tic-event/4283

"How PTSD is measured"
http://www.transformation.com/gloomr...-Measured/4432



Paul

I found out this morning that yet again, Iraq has taken another friend and former colleague from us ...

sO Let me share some Soldier Support Resources for Soldiers and their family members, including their kids, Pre & Post Deployment, as well as during the deployment itself.
Videos, booklets and brochures can all be viewed / download, free of charge, from this site

https://www.battlemind.army.mil/

https://www.battlemind.army.mil/inde...ort&videoId=49

TRAUMA RISK MANAGEMENT (TRiM)
http://www.counsellingatwork.org.uk/...summer06-b.pdf

http://www.rncom.mod.uk/uploadedFile...ers/stress.pdf


Other video:

Lifelines Online PTSD Video Series for Military Families - PTSD Combat : Winning the War Within

frontline: the soldier's heart: watch the full program online | PBS

YouTube - Battlemind Video - Army PTSD Training

Books:
Amazon.com: Moving A Nation to Care: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and America's Returning Troops: Ilona Meagher, Robert Roerich: Books