School Shootings: The Traumas of Bullying

Posted on October 10, 2011 by L. Kessler

The traumas of the bully and their victims both need to be addressed.

In an article in the Sun Sentinel, Tony Plakas notes a 2003 study published in the American Behavioral Scientist, in which researchers observed a common theme among the 28 school shootings in U.S. middle and high schools between 1982 and 2001: Most of the boys that opened fire were teased and bullied mercilessly as a matter of routine. Their violence was retaliation. The teasing and bullying was almost exclusively homophobic slurs.

trauma, ptsd, bullying, healing from truama, trauma treatment Although strict school policies against bullying should be in place, merely stopping bullying isn’t enough. It should go further with a two-pronged approach: Prevention to stop bullying and treatment for both the one being bullied and the one doing the bullying.

Once a bully is identified and the bullying stopped, the traumas that produced the bullying behavior (usually ongoing abuse or neglect at home that results in a sense of powerlessness and shame) should be addressed. In other words, the bully needs intensive counseling that will help release the pressure valve of anger and cruelty being perpetrated on him at home that causes him to inflict harm on others. (Girls, of course, are just as involved in the bullying dynamic, although theirs rarely escalate to shootings.)

While stopping the bully is priority one, healing the damage they did should also have high priority: the one who was bullied should also be sent into counseling. The effects of being bullied usually do not erupt in the violence of the shootings studied above. Instead, they haunt the victims forever, impacting their abilities to relate socially and function in the workplace. I can’t tell you how many adults I’ve seen whose troubles at work–such as anxiety, hypervigilance, and depression–originated with being bullied when young.

At work here is a familiar dynamic: victims become perpetrators. The bullied victims either become bullies themselves, or they internalize the bullying and victimize themselves or others, sometimes resulting in suicides or explosive revenge. (Often in both.) Only by resolving the underlying traumas of the bullies and the traumas caused by their bullying can the cycles be broken.

So if you know someone who has been bullied, encourage them to find someone who can help them with their traumas. Merely stopping the bully isn’t enough. They need help.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and share this by pressing the links.

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Brilliant Info on Anxiety, Trauma, and PTSD

Posted on October 7, 2011 by L. Kessler

Blogs and Books on Anxiety, Trauma, and PTSD from Patience Mason

I came across this very impressive site by Patience Mason on Trauma and PTSD. She writes interesting blogs, coming from her experiences as the wife of a Vietnam Vet with trauma and PTSD and as an activist.

I can’t recommend her enough. Once I started reading her blogs, I was hooked. Here are a few blog titles:

An ABC of Ideas for Living with PTSD
Women Veterans
A Rant from Belleruth and Me
Veteran’s Day and I’m Mad
Feeling Warehoused in Army Trauma Care Units
. . .and many more.

Give her site a try and click below to share it with others. And don’t forget to comment below and tell me what you think about her. She speaks with an authentic voice that is compassionate, heart-felt, and at times outraged.

Posted in General, trauma | Tagged combat trauma, combat vets, effects of trauma, healing trauma, PTSD, PTSD Treatment, stress, trauma, trauma healing | Comments Off

Self-Soothing Touch for Anxiety, Trauma, and PTSD

Posted on September 28, 2011 by L. Kessler

Self-soothing touch is a way we can relieve anxiety and lessen the effects of Trauma and PTSD.

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Just as a mother’s touch calms an upset baby, so self-touch can sooth minor emotional upsets and anxious feelings that arise from the challenges of living.

Touch has a profound effect on the nervous system, whether it’s our own touch or someone else’s. Nerves in the skin and the muscles below sense the pressure and signal the brain to pay attention to the area being touched. This automatically draws attention away from disturbing feelings and helps the activated nerves in the area of the upset to spread the feelings over a greater surface area, thus reducing the severity of the feelings.

When you feel a bit anxious or emotionally activated, try the following touches:

For a nervous stomach, place a hand on your belly and gently hold it there.
For anxiety, place a hand on the back of your neck. Don’t massage; simply hold it there.
For rampaging thoughts, place one hand on the back of your neck and one on your forehead or across the top of your head.
For a racing heart, place a hand on the side of your upper arm just below the shoulder. Hold it for awhile, and then switch sides.

In each case, keep your awareness on the feel of the touch and see what happens. After some time, you may notice a deep breath arise on its own and a sense of calmness spread through your body.

Although self-soothing can help decrease anxiety, it will not cure the underlying cause. It is merely a band-aid. The wound, which is the residue of a past trauma causing the disturbing symptoms, will open and the pain take over again. Eventually, the symptoms will worsen and manifest in more serious ways.

Getting treatment for anxiety, trauma, and PTSD is the only way to heal those wounds. If you suffer from tension, anxiety, or panic attacks, get help now.

What kind of anxiety do you have? Please comment below.

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Soul Loss: Beyond Trauma and PTSD

Posted on September 16, 2011 by L. Kessler

Interesting article on soul loss as it relates to trauma and PTSD.

trauma, PTSD, what is trauma, PTSD treatment, soul loss, soul retrieval, healing from trauma

Click on Picture to See Article

“What sometimes happens in war may more accurately be called a moral injury — a deep soul wound that pierces a person’s identity, sense of morality and relationship to society.”

What do you think?

Click here to read the article and then leave a comment below. Please share this article with others by clicking on the buttons below.

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Brainspotting for Trauma and PTSD

Posted on September 12, 2011 by L. Kessler

I interview Lisa Schwarz about Brainspotting, Trauma, and PTSD treatment.

During a training in Brainspotting, I had a chance to interview the instructor Lisa Schwarz about what Brainspotting is, why it is important, and how to get more information about treatment and/or training. The video is only 2 minutes long.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_dBPDqGBEE

This is an amazingly effective technique that quickly gets to the traumatic core of issues and discharges the accumulated neural energy that remains in the body. These neural capsules of frozen trauma influence every aspect of our lives, from our physical and emotional well-being to the quality of our relationships and the choices we make in life.

Click Here for a Free Consultation.

Pleas leave a comment below and share it with your friends by clicking on the buttons below. Only by sharing this information can the pain and suffering of trauma and be PTSD be resolved so something new can flower in its place.

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Secondary Trauma and PTSD from 9/11

Posted on September 4, 2011 by L. Kessler

Studies detail Secondary Trauma and PTSD in those who witnessed 9/11.

In an article from the Los Angeles Times, Melissa Healy writes about the Trauma and PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in those who were not directly involved in the violence of that day. Rather 9/11 has shown that secondary trauma can develop in those who witness the after-effects of traumatic events. This type of trauma has also been seen in people who watched it on TV. How many of us were glued to the TV those following days? How many of us held on to the horror that we watched long after the images slipped into the past?

This type of trauma is prevalent amongst first responders, emergency medical personnel, rescuers, paramedics, firemen, and the police. Servicemen who have not been directly involved in combat frequently develop PTSD from what they have seen.

Like all traumas, this too can be resolved and healed. The problem is we rarely recognize that we are suffering from it. Recently on the East Coast, an earthquake had people terrified that another attack had occurred–a sign that they still suffer from the trauma of 9/11. Although this may not be full blown PTSD, it is still Trauma. And as such these effects are still felt in the body and affect us mentally, emotionally, and physically.

If you still suffer from the horrors of something you’ve seen, get help. You block the memories and think you have handled it, but you haven’t. They are still there.

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Posted in General, trauma | Tagged effects of trauma, healing trauma, PTSD, PTSD Treatment, sleeplessness, trauma, trauma healing, trauma therapy | Comments Off

Obama: Ending Stigma on PTSD

Posted on August 31, 2011 by L. Kessler

Obama addresses the stigma in the military towards Trauma and PTSD.

This one minute video contains a segment of his speech to the American Foreign Legion in Minneapolis on Tuesday, August 29, 2011.

(Sorry, but the clip contains a 30 second commercial at the beginning.)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzNgG_VgjXA&feature=related

This is the first step in helping combat veterans to seek help for Trauma and PTSD.

Please leave a comment and share it with others you know who may suffer from PTSD by clicking the links below.

Posted in trauma | Tagged combat trauma, combat vets, healing trauma, PTSD, PTSD Treatment, trauma | 2 Comments

Freezing in Trauma and PTSD

Posted on August 24, 2011 by L. Kessler

The Freeze Response is one of the hallmarks of trauma and PTSD.

This response evolved as a means of survival in a predatory world. The following video demonstrates the survival benefits of the freeze response in nature.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibnJeCtwsP4&feature=player_embedded

In a traumatic event, the brain signals the body to flee. This is the first response that takes the least amount of energy and offers the greatest chance of survival. But if that isn’t possible, the brain tells the body to defend itself and fight, which requires more energy than fleeing. If neither flight nor fight are successful and the danger still looms, the brain arrests all movement in the body with the freeze in which the body stiffens and/or collapses. In the video, the deer is frozen and appears dead.

The freeze bestows several benefits in nature. Many predators won’t touch dead prey. Some predators will leave the prey and return later, which gives the prey a chance to escape. Chemicals that suppress pain are also released into the body that allows animals to ignore its injuries and run away if the opportunity presents itself.

We humans have the same responses hardwired into our nervous systems too. But we have left the eat-and-be-eaten life of the animal kingdom far behind us, and these responses no longer help us survive trauma and PTSD–except, perhaps, in combat.

Like animals, we also have the innate capability to discharge the effects of the freeze. But man’s neocortex suppresses the body’s natural ability to discharge and tries to handle the trauma by trying to think it away or “handle” it. This doesn’t work, and the freeze continues to express itself long after the trauma is over, expressing itself in many ways such as fatigue, dissociation, paralyzing fear, listlessness, or a constant tightening of the muscles.

The good news is that this ability can be recovered and the freeze and its effects released. Somatic Experiencing and Brainspotting are perhaps the best therapies for this. We, too, can get up again and escape the jaws of trauma and PTSD.

To find out more about how to release the effects of the freeze, contact me.

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Trauma and PTSD Explained in the Congo

Posted on August 19, 2011 by L. Kessler

trauma, PTSD, healing from trauma, PTSD treatment, Somatic Experiencing, Peter Levine, Twig Wheeler

Twig Wheeler Talks about Trauma

Twig Wheeler attempts to tell a group of 200 in the Congo what Trauma and PTSD is.

The link below will take you to his short account of what happened as he threw out all the metaphors used in the West and came up with a creative way of conveying the essence of healing from trauma.

What I find particularly interesting is the way he describes the shaking in the body (neurogenic tremors) that takes place as the body discharges the stored energy of a trauma.

Click here to read the article and then comment below.

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Difference between Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD

Posted on August 18, 2011 by L. Kessler

Trauma, Acute Stress Disorder, and PTSD

We all have stress in our lives. After a stressful event, we usually feel upset for a couple days or weeks but then go on with our lives with nothing more than a grimace at the memory. But if something with more impact comes along that overwhelms us, and the distress we feel lasts longer than 2 days, we now have a trauma.

Acute Stress Disorder

The symptoms for Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD are the same. One doesn’t need to have all of them for a diagnosis, only a few from each of the following categories:

Re-Experiencing Symptoms: upsetting thoughts or memories, nightmares, flashbacks, strong responses to reminders of the traumatic event.
Avoidance Symptoms: avoiding thoughts, conversations, feelings, places, and people that remind us of the event; loss of interest, feeling distant, difficulty remembering parts of the event.
Hyperarousal Symptoms: sleep problems, irritability, outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, jumpiness.

According to the DSM-IV, a diagnosis of Acute Stress Disorder requires someone to suffer from the above symptoms for at least 2 days but for less than 4 weeks.

PTSD

Although the symptoms for Acute Stress Disorder are the same, a diagnosis of PTSD cannot be issued until one has suffered the symptoms for 30 days. Even if a trauma survivor suffers greatly with severe symptoms following the trauma, they cannot receive a diagnosis or treatment until reaching the 30-day point.

In other words, the difference between Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD is time.

These classifications in the DSM-IV are important because insurance companies and the Veterans Administration adhere to them. Insurance companies won’t pay for treatment nor will the VA administer help for PTSD until the requirements are met—no matter how much the person suffers or how severe the symptoms are.

If you suffer from the above symptoms, don’t wait. Get help now. Contact me and we can talk about it.

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Help for Stress and Trauma