Finally Medical Professionals get the new Definition of PTSD

In a recent article describing the results of the Boston Marathon Bombings, medical professionals are finally getting the new definition of post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD really is.  The Mayo Clinic Staff was the first to define it as a mental condition triggered by a terrifying event and now others may be getting the clue.

The article reported that “a little more than a year after the Boston Marathon bombings and the five-day manhunt that terrorized Watertown neighborhoods, the impact of the ordeal on local children and teens may have been more far-reaching than anyone suspected. About 11 percent of kids surveyed who were at the marathon finish line suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, according to research conducted within the six months after the bombings, trauma experts say. That’s about six times higher than the PTSD rate in kids who weren't at the site of the April 15, 2013 attack that killed three people and injured 264, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.  But in addition to such severe effects, researchers detected a range of other disturbing emotional and behavioral responses in kids who felt the impact of the manhunt close to home”. 

What does this reporting should be telling all who wishes to listen and learn?  It should be telling all of us that instead of trying to pigeon-hole this disorder for only those who served in a combat situation, it should now be treated for what it is.  No longer do we need man-made remedies like drugs to help those who suffer deal with this disorder.  What we need to do is help construct a procedure by which the mind can comprehend what has happened and put it into a proper category so that its only job of protecting the body can be done.  We need to give those who suffers from this thing an idea of compliance where they can calmly and collectively comprehend it and own it before it control them.

I would venture to say that PTSD may be the primary cause of so many other mental conditions which are still being treated with drugs and self-medication of alcohol yet still the issue persists.  We wonder why so many suffer in silence and why we have not made any gains in the drug problem.  Checking the history of those choosing to run and hide from their trauma instead of dealing with it, might just give all of us a clue that PTSD is controllable through  the very organ designed to handle it.  Giving them a place for the mind to go when terrifying things happen to them may just stop the cycle of violence this disorder can create.  Medical professionals have been seeking the answer as to why people resort to violence so quickly and it is my belief that the Mayo Clinic Staff and those combat veterans who returned to commit grave injustices upon the very people they were sworn to protect has given it to them.  Just my opinion, I could be wrong and if so ME CULPA.