Crisis

A crisis is an internal or external response that may occur after a stressful event or a perceived event that has, is or may be happening to the veteran or person. Living through a period of time in combat zones, a sudden or gradual death of a close friend or relative, living outside of your realm such as a duty station or overseas, being homeless, being sick, among many other issues of everyday life, can cause a crisis in some sort of moderation and strength on a daily basis. Just thinking of these or other stressful situations can also make it so you perceive something as being stressful and cause a crisis. Some crisis responses are more difficult than others to overcome. Your individual responses may be unique to your situation, while others handle it in a different way. Your training and/or your lack of, will certainly determine your response.

What may be to some as a small crisis, can, and usually does, effect the veteran suffering from PTSD as a much larger problem. Comparing it to combat or perceived survival situations may be a major crisis, but losing control of an everyday occurrence can be just as stressful and become a major crisis as time goes by. A good example of this can be, in the past, commanding a squad or even a company of men in combat, but now in the present, you have difficulty dealing with the stress of picking up your grandchild on time. With me, it has become a compulsive disorder when dealing with on time arrivals. I will be an hour early rather than a minute late. Also I stress out when things do not go as I think they should, out of order, or "not by the book" as they say, and it becomes a crisis for me. But Compulsive Disorder is another topic for another time in this PTSD blog writing.

When a veteran, or a person, has symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress, their threshold for crisis is much lower than normal. You need, and at times rely on, support and communication between yourself and others who know and understand what you are dealing with. Others may just see you as an out of control "freak". To them, you are beyond understanding, and no matter what happens, they look at you as an outsider, someone to avoid.

Once again, as listed with so many other symptoms of PTS, you need to identify, avoid or control the triggers of anxiety which cause the crisis to escalate. You will hear this time and time again, avoid and/or control the triggers. This is a key step in getting your life back under control with PTSD, no matter which symptom you are experiencing at that exact moment of crisis.

You will learn to talk about how you respond to anxiety/stress/crisis, thus coming up with a safety plan to use in your everyday life. Breathing exercises may help, saying a mantra or phrase to calm yourself may work as well. Each veteran or person must find what works for them in their individual cases. For me, the only thing that seems to work, so far, is avoidance of the issue, which is not very constructive. Once I am agitated or at the point of unrest, telling me to concentrate on my breathing is like telling a cold person to get warm, it sounds good, but if it was possible would that person really be cold to start with? I am past the time that a breathing exercise will work to calm me down. But they tell me over time it will eventually come about that I will be able to do this. I doubt it from what I see myself going through right now, but anything is possible. That is what I keep telling myself, anything is possible. But when a councilor or doctor tells me to breath deep and slowly, I rather be taking off their head, shutting their mouth. Now that doesn't sound so relaxing to me. Another "plan" is to have someone to call on the phone. What am I in A/A? I am going to call someone and say what? I am losing control of a situation but I have enough control to place a call to you? Don't think so.

BUT I MUST STRESS, IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING A CRISIS AND LOSING CONTROL, AND YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT HURTING YOURSELF OR OTHERS, YOU MUST, MUST, MUST, RECOGNIZE THAT YOU ARE IN CRISIS, AND MUST CALL OUT FOR HELP. For the Vet, the VA Hospital has just that support center to call out to, and they justly named it "the crisis center". It is part of the mental health department but acts more like a daytime ER room or department for crisis situations. And if you are not sure where to call, or at night when everything is closed, everyone can dial 1-800-273-TALK (8255)or just go to an emergency room.

I know I am just writing about what is available and what steps they are telling me I must take in order to facilitate the medical and emotional treatment I need for my recovery from PTSD, but allot of it sounds like hogwash to me. I guess I am still trying to get past the denial stage, but some of what they tell you to try seems useless to me. After covering all the major symptoms of PTSD, then I will write more on my individual efforts and outcomes of the treatment. So for now, enjoy the day, stay calm and listen to your fellow vets and councilors.

Tomorrow may be a little better than today and may just be a lot better than yesterday.

If your spouse or friend needs help, don't let them go about it alone, be there for them to talk to, or find someone who can listen and understand. And never forget yourself, after all you are going through almost as much as the veteran. Being the spouse or close friend can be stressful, thus, over time, you may need some help or support as well.