Unable to remember dreams?
Watch TV until late in the Morning?
Do you stay awake as long as possible?
Wake up often during the night for no reason?
Wake in the morning 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 to be cold, uncaring, even ruthless at times?
Unable to feel love or compassion for others'?
Unable to experience either the sorrows or joys of life?
Numerous changes of address?
Don't know why you even exist?
Ever drive about aimlessly when angry?
Chronic Job hoping / unstable work history?
Desire to seek refuge by moving away from the problem?
No feelings of direction, meaning, purpose, or significance in life?
Have you lost interest in work or other activities that you used to enjoy?
Ever feel like nothing's been going right, and "it's been like that for a very long time?"
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?
Desire to seek refuge by moving away from the problem?
Feel isolated, or distanced from
spouse, parents, children, brothers, peers or others?
Mistrust-Suspicion
Unable to feel secure in intimate relationships?
Do you frequently find yourself questioning the loyalty of friends or relatives?
Are you suspicious of managers, supervisors, and work peers?
Have you had 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?
Finances
Is your wife usually the source of financial stability?
Do you resent promotions and breaks that others got who did or go to war?
Do you feel frustrated because
of ability to provide for the family?
Do you possess numerous weapons?
Sleep with weapons within easy reach?
Ever 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?
Do you feel most comfortable with your back to the wall, or in a corner of the room?
Do you have a tendency to react under stress with "survival tactics?"
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 reason?
Identity Issues
Desire to live life as a Hermit?
Lack of confidence in your own abilities?
Do you ever feel like "a reject" from society'?
Feel "hollow" like "an old ma 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, instant 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 on-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 with you, and exactly where you would go?
Ever feel Guilt for surviving the war when others (who may have had more to live for) did not?
Feel guilt that perhaps if you had stayed a little longer, you could have "made a difference?"
Feel guilt for acts committed, or act observed without making an effort to stop them?
Feet guilt for returning to the relative safety of home and
leaving friends behind that were still engaged in combat?
Ever have "flashback" episodes?
Intense thoughts of "what might have been'?"
Ever experience strong reaction to certain sights, sounds, or smells?
Have feelings of being somewhere other than where, you really are?
Memories of Traumatic events ever interrupt your routine though patterns?
Try to control everything that happens around you?
Fear of people around you 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?
Depression
Ever feel worthless?
Substance abuse? Self medication?
Difficulty concentrating? 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?
Ever feel like "It's no big deal, I can handle it".
Do you ever deny that "your experience" could have anything to do with your attitude?
Are you unable 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
THE SYMPTOMS OF P.T.S.D.
How The Body Deals With
Overwhelming Pain
The 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," and in life threatening situations, may ultimately go into a "comatose" condition. All non-essential physical functions shut down in order for the body to focus on dealing with the physical trauma it has experienced. The body does this automatically without being told to. If the body were not to 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 stress. When a person experiences overwhelming mental trauma or distress, he suffers a "nervous breakdown," which may even lead to a "catatonic" state. The body is awake, the eyes are open; but the mind shuts down as it tries to deal with the extreme mental trauma it has experienced. This natural way of insulating the mind from overwhelming mental anguish protects it from the mental strain, which would otherwise reach unbearable levels. It is not unusual for people to die from overwhelming emotional trauma.
The spirit of man, his emotions (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 functioning. This is one view of what might be, happening to someone experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
If nothing you have tried in the past has worked, or may have even made things worse, then perhaps it is time to take an entirely different approach to the problem of PTSD. There are always alternative interpretations for the nature of a problem, and therefore more than one strategy for intervention.
One of the first known cases of
traumatic stress is recorded in the Bible in Genesis chapter four. Cain
killed his brother Able, 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 his 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 have incurred the displeasure of God, or feeling separated and alienated from Him. The bad news is that everyone is considered equally guilty before God and thus alienated from Him. "For all have sinned and fallen 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 Lord..." 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 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 (payment) for sin (guilt) is death (Rom 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, all your guilt, shame, and sin was laid upon Jesus and his death paid for it all.
Why did God do this? "For God so loved the world (me and you) 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 3:16-1 8).
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 any longer if God has 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 your sins.
There are many other issues in life to deal with but guilt no longer has to be one of them. It is no longer time to deny, it is time to accept. It's time to come o t of the darkness… time to come home!
POINT MAN
INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES INC.
(800) 877 - VETS