PTSD and Veterans Day

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. According to one study, one in five of our troops will return home from war with this hidden wound. Our preparation for interviewing Nate Self (www.nateself.org) along with Bobby and Elissa has taken us on a journey that will forever change our view of our courageous warrior veterans and current military forces.

PTSD is not a sign of weakness but rather an indication that the individual struck by this emotional, spiritual and mental weapon is reacting to circumstances and events that threaten their physical, emotional and spiritual lives. In his work book for those experiencing Post Traumatic Stress, The Combat Trauma Healing Manual, Christ-centered Solutions for Combat Trauma Chris Adsit states, "One of God's top design priorities when He created us was that we be equipped to defend ourselves and survive in a wide variety of dangerous situations. To this end, He equipped us with an amazing set of response mechanism...After a traumatic event, your brain knows that it just had an incredibly close call, and it is determined to be ready to react if the danger comes by again. Good idea - except if it gets stuck in that mode, which is essentially what PTSD is...The shock physically alters parts of your brain.

Your reactive pathways modify, your brain chemistry changes and becomes hypersensitive, overreacting to normal stimuli. Your hippocampus - the part of your brain that interprets and calms your emotional responses - shrinks and works less effectively. Your left and right brain hemispheres have trouble communicating and balancing each other - so you're either all emotion and unordered, or you are emotionless, cold, withdrawn and not much fun to be around. Sometimes each of them inside of five minutes. And whenever your brain senses that it's getting near the "scene of the crime" via some sensory trigger (a smell, sound, a sight, a memory), it quickly opens up the photo album it created during the earlier traumatic event and puts on an intense slide and video show to re-instruct you that you don't want to go there again! "Are you nuts!?? We almost bought it when we were there last time?? Get away??" The technical term for this is "re-experiencing." (Page 25, 27)

Jane and Rolando Ford, a retired military couple who are redeeming the pain of PTSD by offering help and hope to other men and women who are struggling to find a new level of normal after war, gave us an example of this "re-experiencing." Jane told us that driving in a car with Rolando was at times terrifying because he was on full alert for anything that to him resembled an IED - an explosive device hidden in trash or by the side of the road. She described him reacting with rage and fear if a piece of paper blew across the highway. Others told us about sleeping fully dressed on top of the bedcovers with their weapon by their side and described recurring nightmares so terrifying that they avoided sleep. How do you "re-condition" a brain that has been physically altered by such fear and experiences?

Chris Adsit goes on to give hope to veterans and current military troops alike when he states:

"The opening of the photo album can also have another function. It's a flare being sent up by the trauma survivor's inner self alerting the outside world that he's been through more than he can handle and he needs help dealing with it. We humans aren't meant to suffer our traumas alone and not bother anybody else about them. We are an interdependent species, ordained so by our Creator. We need each other. And if our "outer self" won't take action, our "inner self" will keep up the pressure until we do. By the way, it seems to work. More PTSD suffers finally decide to seek help due to their re-experiencing symptoms than any other reason." (Page 27)

I see the fingerprints of biblical encouragement all over this journey. We repeatedly heard veterans tell us that one person coming alongside of them was the beginning of their journey toward hope and help. In our interview with Bobby and Elissa Hoops, Bobby described how a "chance meeting" with an Army Chaplain in his Congressman's office was the moment he believed he had a reason to live. And that's why Bobby and Elissa are now helping others find a new level of normal when they bring war home.

I will share more of their story in a future post. Please pray for us as we start the hard work of editing these interviews in a way that will give hope and help to hurting military families. We are praying for that one soldier, Marine, sailor, veteran who is ready to join the thousands of veterans who have taken their own lives because they are without hope as a result of their war experiences. Pray with us that many will respond now to the hope and help that comes through knowing Jesus.

Thank you to our veterans for the sacrifices you have paid to protect our country.

In His grip,

Sharon