Mental Health Awareness: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The author traces her unlikely founding of Serenity Park, a sanctuary for rescued parrots and veterans with PTSD, describing how her observation of the deep bonds that birds are capable of forming gave her the idea to establish a beneficial therapy practice for traumatized veterans.

Traumatic stress arises in reaction to catastrophic life events. Such events can range from train disasters and car crashes to natural calamities such as earthquakes, wildfires and floods, and from life-threatening medical diagnoses to acts of violence and abuse. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a common psychological condition resulting from such events and occurs when our coping resources have been completely overwhelmed. The intrusive hyper-reactions, recurring memories, flashbacks, avoidance behaviours and changes in the sense of self linger long past the actual event and often prevent a sense of healing or resolution with the experience.

Repetitive trauma during childhood can impact your emotional development, creating a ripple effect that carries into adulthood. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is a physical and psychological response to these repeated traumatic events. A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD contains research-based strategies, tools, and support for individuals working to heal from their childhood trauma. You don’t have to be a prisoner of your past.

Learn the skills necessary to improve your physical and mental health with practical strategies taken from the most effective therapeutic methods, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and somatic psychology. When appropriately addressed, the wounds of your past no longer need to interfere with your ability to live a meaningful and satisfying life.

We hear the terms trauma and PTSD more and more. Yet many people still believe that trauma can only result from experiences that are particularly extreme. But trauma is an emotional response that can stem from a wide variety of upsetting experiences, leaving us feeling anxious, weighed down by negative emotions or memories, or feeling like we lack security. As a licensed therapist, Kati Morton addresses this challenge: If we don?t have an understanding of trauma and how it?s defined, how can we work to overcome it? The urgency of meeting this challenge increases at a time when we are bombarded with a constant flow of frightening stories?about global pandemics, ecological disasters, riots, and mass shootings?that can trigger our emotional stress. Ultimately, you?ll learn how to identify and cope with your triggers, pay attention to how platforms and accounts can harm your mental health, and find the tools to manage what you can see online.

Everyone experiences trauma. Whether a specific harrowing event or a series of stressful moments that culminate over time, trauma can echo and etch itself into our brain as we remember it again and again throughout our lives. In Everyday Trauma, neuroscientist Dr. Tracey Shors examines trauma with a focus on its pervasive nature-how it can happen at any time, through big or small events, and how it often reappears in the form of encoded memory. Her research reveals that when we are reminded of our trauma, reliving that tragic moment copies yet another memory of it in our brain, making it that much more difficult to forget. Dr. Shors also explores the neuroscience behind why women in particular are more vulnerable to stress and traumatic events, setting them up to be three times more likely than men to suffer PTSD. With potential long-term consequences such as addiction, anxiety, depression, and PTSD, trauma can have a lasting impact on both the brain and body. Dr. Shors illuminates the effective tools that can reduce the repetitive thoughts that reinforce our traumas, including cognitive-based therapies and trauma-informed care such as her own groundbreaking program, a combination of mental and physical training called MAP Training. By understanding how our brain responds to trauma and practicing proven techniques that can train our brains and help us let go of our tragic memories-whatever they may be-we are better equipped to leave our traumatic pasts behind and live in a brighter present.

Have you ever wondered 'Why did I do that?' or 'Why can't I just control my behavior?' Others may judge our reactions and think, 'What's wrong with that person?' When questioning our emotions, it's easy to place the blame on ourselves, holding ourselves and those around us to an impossible standard. It's time we started asking a different question. Through deeply personal conversations, Oprah Winfrey and ... brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry offer a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking 'What's wrong with you?' to 'What happened to you?' Our earliest experiences shape our lives far down the road, and [this book] provides ... scientific and emotional insights into the behavioral patterns so many of us struggle to understand.

A pioneering physician reveals how childhood stress leads to lifelong health problems and what we can do to break the cycle. Dr. Nadine Burke Harris was already known as a crusading physician delivering targeted care to vulnerable children. But it was Diego--a boy who had stopped growing after a sexual trauma--who galvanized her to dig deeper into the connections between toxic stress and the lifelong illnesses she was tracking among so many of her patients and their families. A survey of more than 17,000 adult patients' "adverse childhood experiences," or ACEs, like divorce, substance abuse, or neglect, had proved that the higher a person's ACE score the worse their health--and now led Burke Harris to an astonishing breakthrough. Childhood stress changes our neural systems and lasts a lifetime.

Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman's coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder; Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father--an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist--who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame. Mailhot trusts the reader to understand that memory isn't exact, but melded to imagination, pain, and what we can bring ourselves to accept. Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story, and, in so doing, re-establishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.-- Provided by publisher.

People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are deeply affected by events such as a military conflict or a natural disaster, experiencing repeated thoughts about the events and increased anxiety. They face challenges in school, work, and daily life. Living with PTSD examines the causes and symptoms of these conditions, looks at the everyday realities of people with PTSD and explores the management and treatment options available today.

In this compassionate guide, you'll find skills based in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help you tackle anxiety and harmful avoidance behaviors; manage negative emotions; cope with flashbacks and nightmares; and develop trusting, healthy relationships--even if your trust in others has been shaken to the core. You'll also learn more about the diagnosis and symptoms of PTSD and understand what kind of help is available to you.

One of the most painful and tragic legacies of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the trauma suffered by those who served and the far-reaching consequences and after-effects of their scarring combat experiences. This very important volume looks at the issue of returning soldiers PTSD from multiple angles, examining skyrocketing suicide rates; the debates surrounding the quality and accessibility of health care; the nature of and stigmas associated with a PTSD diagnosis; the responsibility that government and society have to care for returning soldiers; how welcoming, protective, and supportive the environment is to which soldiers return; and the steep cost of war to the individual, families, and society at large.

An inclusive, research-based guide to working the 12 steps: a trauma-informed approach for clinicians, sponsors, and those in recovery -- Provided by publisher.