Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder   by  Dr Elizabeth McCardell, M. Couns., PhD, Dip Clin Hypnotherapy
July 2013

     He flew helicopters during the Vietnam War, picking up very damaged bodies. He flew home from the war and got a job with an airline as an aircraft mechanic. Thirty years later the airline collapsed and he no longer had a job. Fortunately, he was close to retirement anyway, so he took the opportunity to stop work. The very next day, he found himself standing on the rails of a local bridge about to jump in. Instead he rang me.

     He had been perfectly alright during his years as a mechanic – apparently. Maybe he worked too hard, for he never had time to form  intimate relationships with anyone, never had children, lived a quiet life in a small somewhat isolated house on the edge of town near the airport. He went to work, came home, cooked dinner, ate, watched a little television, didn’t drink alcohol, didn’t smoke, went to bed, got up, went to work …

     Now memories deluged in: blood, entrails, faces half blown off, burnt flesh; the chaos of piles of bodies staining the forest floor; chopper noises and wind, endless wind and that tacktacktacktacktack. Nightmares all night, every time he closed his eyes; nightmares every time he blinked and nightmares with his eyes open.

     He hadn’t thought much about the war, he didn’t dare too, all those  years since he returned home from Vietnam, and now that’s all there was.

     The onslaught of memories, dramatic though they  were, were not the only signs of what we now call Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the fact that this man felt numb and sort of distant from others was a sign things were not right. I found out, too, that he had suffered insomnia for many years, and he was jumpy, and easily irritated.  He also didn’t really think he had a future.

     This man lived  in a very orderly manner, mechanically almost. He avoided situations that reminded him of the extreme stressfulness of the war. He attended no Anzac Days, belonged to no veteran clubs. He effectively held anxiety at arms length which allowed him to get on with life, more or less.

     When I saw him a dozen or so years ago, I worked entirely from a talking therapy model, with some relaxation techniques thrown in. I’m not sure I achieved much, but then I didn’t practice clinical hypnotherapy.  I’ve since learned that hypnotherapy increases the likelihood of recovery by about 93% for people with PTSD. Medication can be helpful, but only superficially.

      Clinical hypnotherapy is a wonderful tool. It doesn’t resemble stage hypnosis, and there is nothing wooo wooo about it.  A state of oblivion nor mental unresponsiveness is not induced. Clinical hypnotherapy  is a state where ordinary day-to-day awareness is reduced and a person’s attention is directed toward a specific mental idea, problem, physical stimulus, fantasy or insight and through this medium, new insights and new ways of being become possible, and part of the continuous reality of now.  In this way the therapeutic trance state is not dissimilar to watching television, reading a novel,  painting a picture, or playing golf. What is different about it is that positive changes to your life actually happen.

      Clinical hypnotherapy can be very effective in the treatment of PTSD, depression, anxiety, pain management, habits you want to break like smoking, binge drinking and eating, sleep problems, and so on. Why clinical hypnotherapy works so well with these problems is that these conditions already have elements of a trance state within them. By working within this dynamic, the therapist can alter how things are perceived and thus remove the cycling effect of these problems.

      Why some people develop PTSD and others don’t is still poorly understood. Trauma is felt as such when a person is met with appalling circumstances that arise when we are unprepared for it. The feelings we have are of shock, powerlessness and horror. This sudden interruption to our normal functioning can persist for years, indeed a lifetime, after the trauma is over.

      At a physiological level, cortisol levels rise in response to physical and psychological stress. The body produces the hormone cortisol to regulate energy levels, by converting protein into energy by the release of glycogen (sugar) into the blood stream. We need energy to deal with stress. We need to be able to run away from terrible situations, if we can. If we can’t run, our bodies can hold itself in a state of chronic stress, and in the case of my Vietnam veteran client, a chronic state of held-in terror. There’s certain evidence to suggest that high cortisol levels can be transferred from mother to child. My client’s parents may  well have experienced their own trauma during the Second World War, thus giving him a predisposition to PTSD. War is horrific, and the people suffering PTSD are numbering among the thousands. It’s believed that 40% of soldiers fighting in Iraq will suffer PTSD. The effect reverberates down the generations.

      To be clear, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder can arise from a range of traumatic events, including: interpersonal violence (eg being mugged, or unexpectedly attacked, or robbed at gun point), combat violence, sexual assault, irregular sexual abuse,  torture (random torture is the worst), sudden and unexpected death of a close family member or dear friend, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, mining accidents, and so on. The most binding characteristic of these events is that of their unexpectedness. It is no wonder that when we have experienced such fundamental disruptions and we have no immediate means of discharging that energy, our physiological and psychological responses of hyper vigilance, sleeplessness, irritability, panic attacks, depression, and worst of all, our sense of powerlessness take over our lives. Trauma, however, can be healed.

      Meditation, relaxation techniques, physical exercise, and emotional and psychological support, are all very useful approaches in the effective treatment of this most disturbing problem, but talking with someone and getting assistance through clinical hypnotherapy and psychotherapy provides actual means for recovery.