Guest Post with Linda Wood Rondeau

PTSD and the Christian 

In my thirty-year career in human services, I often counseled people experiencing PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). These issues are explored in my writings. The Other Side of Darkness is more than a romantic suspense. It is the story of believers who struggle to overcome significant past pain interfering with a full and satisfying spiritual life in the present.

Samantha Knowles is a victim of child abuse. She has trouble sleeping and is an overachiever. She strives to find purpose in her pain through her career as a Special Victims Prosecutor. However, she fails to recognize how she uses her position to exact revenge rather than the positive change she desires. In order to move from darkness to light, Sam must confront her post traumatic stress. Only when she surrenders her past to God is she able, with His help, to move from darkness to Light.

Too often, even those of great faith fail to recognize how significantly a past event has impacted their present. They mistakenly believe that if they are believers, they should be able to overcome. By His stripes we are healed, however, the healing is not ours to promote but ours to claim. No matter how hard or deep we suppress our emotional pain, the symptoms erupt often when least expected. PTSD is not a spiritual problem, it is an emotional problem. The spiritual problem evolves only as we continue to cope outside of God’s touch.

The apostle Paul wrote, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” The first step in healing from post traumatic stress is to admit to those loosened threads unraveling the joy God wants us to experience in Him.

Once we recognize we are suffering from a post traumatic stressor, mental health professionals recommend taking the following steps:

DO 

Talk with your family doctor
Remember: PTSD is not a sign of weakness
Accept the trauma as a part of who you are
Surround yourself with positive people and experiences

DON’T 

Suppress your feelings. They will spew when you least expect it and often in harmful ways.

Trivialize your symptoms. Prolonged PTSD symptoms can also cause parallel physiological damage such as heart disease or gastric disorders

WHAT CAUSES PTSD 

PTSD is most often associated with the hellish experiences soldiers face during war. Firefighters and other first responders are also vulnerable to PTSD. Other causes may be an accident, child abuse, a criminal attack, abandonment of a parent or spouse, death of a loved one, or even divorce or other dramatic familial change.

The body will react to negative experiences. Normal symptoms include feeling angry, upset, withdrawn, experiencing panic, a feeling of helplessness, a desire to control our environment and the people around us, a sense of disconnectedness, inability to sleep, confusion, or a sense of feeling numb or indifferent. Normal reactions may last days or even weeks. However, most often over time, the sense of fear, anxiety and sadness will dissipate.

PTSD occurs when these symptoms are prolonged, lasting weeks, months or even years.  Any overwhelming life experience can cause PTSD, especially if the event felt beyond our control.

PTSD may also be the result of unlearned or poor coping skills attributable to a previous trauma or loss, a family history of depression or PTSD, a history of abuse, drug addiction, prolonged stress, or lack of social supports.

SYMPTOMS 

There are three basic types of symptoms associated with PTSD

1. Re-experiencing the traumatic event through intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, feelings of intense distress, or physiological symptoms such as panic attacks including rapid heart rate, labored breathing, nausea, muscle tension or sweating.

2. Avoiding anything that brings back the memory of the event such as avoiding certain people and places. Subsequently, we might lose interest in pleasurable experiences, becoming detached or feeling hopeless for a future such as marriage and family.

3. Increased anxiety may manifest itself in sleep disturbances, rages, inability to concentrate, hyper vigilance, jumpiness or becoming easily startled.

4. Other symptoms may include a sense of guilt, shame or undue self-blame, substance abuse, acting out behaviors, mistrust, suicidal ideations, reclusiveness, or unexplained fatigue and/or systemic aches and pains.

OVERCOMING PTSD

To overcome PTSD, a person needs to move from a sense of victimization to that of confidence. Once we realize that we are the sum of our experiences, we are ready to surrender the negative to God’s healing. He will turn the pain into purpose. While transitioning from darkness to Light we can try some techniques that will help reduce the anxiety, allowing us to focus on healing: relaxation, prayer and meditation, spiritual and mental health counseling, support groups, reconnecting with the community, and utilization of our familial and community supports.

Remember that PTSD is a physical/emotional problem. We do not think ourselves spiritually deficient because of the pain we feel after a broken bone. Neither should we equate PTSD with spiritual deficiency. If you believe you may be suffering from PTSD, I urge you to call for help immediately. God has provided a comforter and stands ready to take you from the darkness to His Light.

Linda will be awarding one $10 GC to http://www.pelicanbookgroup.com/ to one randomly drawn commenter at every stop during the tour as well as to the host with the most comments. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/05/virtual-book-tour-other-side-of.html

About the Author

Award-winning author, LINDA RONDEAU, writes for the reader who enjoys a little bit of everything. Her stories of redemption and God’s mercies include romance, suspense, the ethereal, and a little bit of history into the mix, always served with a slice of humor. Walk with her unforgettable characters as they journey paths not unlike our own. After a long career in human services, mother of three and wife of one very patient man, Linda now resides in Florida where she is active in her church and community.