 |
||
|
|
 |
Roadblocks to Recovery From an outside perspective, it might be difficult for someone who does not have post traumatic stress disorder to understand the difficult road to recovery. People might expect recovery to go by quickly, they might feel as though the event is simply a part of life and something that person needs to get over, or they might not understand why seeking and staying in therapy and taking medication as part of treatment is hard for those with PTSD. On the other hand, veterans with PTSD going through treatment might approach some hurdles and feel as though they cannot jump over them or that they are a signal that treatment is not working. Both seeking and staying in treatment can prove difficult for someone with PTSD for a multitude of reasons, especially for someone who served in the military. Society looks at people serving in the military and expects them to be immune to trauma, leading that person to associate seeking help with vulnerability or weakness1. As a society, we tend to think in a concrete manner rather than an abstract one. We stigmatize mental illness because there is often no physical injury to point to as the cause or source of the psychological distress. We seem to think that without a wound or scar as evidence, there is no trauma. Psychological bruising or scarring is much different than an external wound, because although our bodies go through relatively the same biological processes to heal, our minds all deal with emotional or psychological trauma in different ways. The Ghost Rider Foundation aims to educate the general public about PTSD, and one way to accomplish this is to illustrate why the process of recovery is not as easy as swallowing a cure-all pill. Those going through the treatment process also should know that their preoccupations about treatment are not unfounded, but those obstacles are common and do not mean that treatment will be unsuccessful. Treatment can be very successful for people with PTSD, but listed below are some obstacles to illustrate to the general public that dealing with PTSD is difficult. The way someone with PTSD reacts and responds to certain situations can often be unconscious, so even the person with PTSD can’t explain why they act the way they do. By getting a better understanding of PTSD, the GRF hopes the families of those with PTSD will be better prepared to offer help and support, and the general public will be less apt to prejudge those with PTSD.
|
|
©2009
Ghost Rider Foundation.  |
||
