We all in some ways have experienced some sort of traumatic events in our lives as growing adults. Trauma can be caused by sudden accidents, suffering or tragedy. These events are so impactful that it leaves your brain playing tricks on you. Flashbacks and nightmares are so triggering it hinders your ability to cope with relationships or daily routines.
Before going to the next paragraph, I must first clarify this is not a medical or professional advice post. The intend here is to share with you about a book titled “Understanding Traumatic Stress” by Dr. Nigel C Hunt and Dr. Sue McHale (2010), so well written it left me reading it again.
Unlike certain medical books or contents, this book is made simple and easy to comprehend. It provides an insight and history of Post Traumatic Disorder (PTSD) where the term PTSD was only introduced into the psychiatric manuals in the 1980s. Before I came across this book, PTSD term was a psychology condition which I only understood on a surface level.
The book chapter covers an introduction, an explanation of what are traumatic events, symptoms as well as coping with trauma or treatment of PTSD. Both the authors also included examples and different perspective of family or friends dealing with PTSD. After all, it is important to cover these aspects because mental stress also contribute stress amongst loved ones.
To quote from the book: “Traumatic memories are memories of terrible, frightening, horrific events where the person cannot control the memory, which is associated with fear, helplessness or horror”(Hunt and McHale, 2010). If you are searching for some basic understanding and studies of stress, please spare some time to read up this book. Perhaps it could help you shed some light and knowledge.
-Mistytoad-