SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

Biological Sensitivity Levels by (me!) sandra, tvgp

i return for the millionth time to Dr Eric Kandlers work: habitization vs. sensitization.  having lived with...  barely lived through having PTSD for many, many years... i know signs and symptoms intimately well. the most important word in this euphemistic diagnosis is POST.   -even more important than the word trauma actually.  i say this because whatever trauma it might be..  And what a sad and long list of traumas we have to work with..

but the trauma itself, be it a fire, rape, explosion, human act of violence or natural disaster.. earthquake, tsunami, etc.

these traumatic events are very finite. they have a beginning, middle, end.. all pretty condensed.   it is not living through the traumatic event that is nearly as challenging as all that happens after...  POST trauma; AFTER...    when your innate biological settings have been devastated... when hypervigilance, startle response, depression, fear, anguish, despair, hopelessness..

-the inability to manage biological, mental, emotional, physical responses...

PTSD is to the mind, as Parkinson's is to the body.  -you can no longer control what you once could.. You are entirely vulnerable and don't get to vote on whether or not you will surrender.

it is why I so appreciate Dyan nyads  /sp?    comment:

mind over matter is the luxury of a healthy mind.

-there is no mind over matter solution for the person who has Parkinson's disease...

-there is no mind over matter solution for the person with PTSD.

-there is only enduring, managing, Medicines...

and it is highly, highly, excruciatingly exhausting to endure,  manage, medicate...

PTSD: while i certainly perceive this as something i had; not have..

past tense..

i am not without lingering sensitivities..   things that don't  bother other people much; and/or things that very temporarily bother others, but their recovery time is quick..

-let us visit the example of a fender-bender..   a surprise rear-end hit while you are driving..   this can leave both the person whose car was hit, and the person who did the hitting, hypersensitive for a while AFTER it happens...

how long? what intensity?   I can promise you.. whatever the answer; it is different by measurable degrees from whatever it was before..

so I'm fascinated by.. innate biological settings; the impact of trauma; post-trauma settings... and recovery times/methods..

but close here with a written hug of support and understanding and compassion with those of us who battle internally..

because, when my uncle, who did battle Parkinson's the last several, many years of his life..

when his arms went this way and that.. when he walked with a hobble, when he struggled to speak..

he was not also bombarded with people expecting him to just get over it..  'What is wrong with you.. ? My arms don't do that...'

but again, and again, and again.. people with PTSD, or any form of mental illness; damage to the brain.. which is hidden from  view vs. broken bones, or any physical damage to the body people can readily see..

we battle not only the disease/syndrome/illness itself.. but simultaneously battle an utter lack of understanding by the general public.

without a lot of God.. without a lot of prayer... without the love & support of a lot of people..

i would not be alive to post this write now.

In Jesus Name, -amen.

***

some time ago.. i came across a tv program, where a person in the audience who had a phobia to frogs, was surprised with the sudden picture of a frog appearing in front of her on a very large monitor.

-she screamed and bolted and the audience laughed..  -something so funny about how scared people react...

but there is a distinction to be made between fears and phobias..

if people understood..  they might not laugh.

so, for example.. what if someone in the audience had a raw open wound...

and then suddenly someone ripped off the gauze and smacked it with bare dirty hands..

-to see this type of pain inflicted intentionally doesn't provide the same entertainment factor..  in fact, it would be considered cruel, and stupid not funny

but there seems to be a huge disconnect when it comes to physical vs. mental wounds and injuries..

for the most part. /with a few exceptions..   people are not diabolical; they are just wildly ignorant about things they can't see with their own two eyes, and/or things they have not experienced themselves.

-that's where i believe God comes in..  distinguishing between people who do things out of ignorance vs. with malicious intention.

posted by SHE @ 9:45 AM