I wonder how much of the disorientation aspect of PTSD is the result of the packaged habit behavior delegated to the basal ganglia being wiped out in an environment which does not reinforce it?
Veterans returning from the war will become overwhelmed at having too many choices of peanut butter. They can just about forget how to walk in a crowd of people whose recognition signs [Hello, I am a person — I see and acknowledge that you are a person as well] are all different from his. He is not a person and gets his ass kicked by peanut butter.
The internal autopilot that drives you to work in the morning is the result of habits. The human brain packages groups of related actions into clusters, so that the myriad small details of driving to work in the morning falls into a single thing. A single manageable thing. For many veterans, life outside of a combat zone becomes unmanageable. When your habits are deconstructed and everything must be handled anew, as an incoming round of reality which must be handled NOW because now is where you are, life is unmanageable.
Those who stop giving a damn have found an effective coping mechanism, but this is a bad road to travel too far. I read the spectacularly expensive TRIBE by Sebastian Junger, weighing it a $20 for less than three hours of audio. But overpriced is the wrong word, and there is a lot of great insight in the book. I also need to read The Power of Habit, which is supposed to go into the whole basal ganglia thing. I was watching a YouTube video HOW to quit Sugar & Unhealthy Habits which made reference to TPoH, and that gave me pause to jot down this little note.
Thank you Dime for the link to another interesting-sounding book, and MLH for the forward assist on the author’s name.
I read the “Time Paradox” and the same author wrote the “The Time Cure: Overcoming PTSD …”. In the Time Paradox it talked about how we see things through a time lens. BDB, you have peaked my interested to read the second book.
Our minds can be our servants and masters at times. I know there are techniques to change my thought habits but I get lazy and find comfort in old ways.
https://www.amazon.com/Time-Cure-Overcoming-Psychology-Perspective-ebook/dp/B00A69JZ1K/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1506156773&sr=1-10
Recently, I got a fitness tracker watch with a heart monitor. With a press of a button I can see my pulse go up in stressful situations. I also get a graph that shows what my pulse was during the day. It is good to have this number so I can see how my body is reacting. I think this relates some to PTSD because my reaction is not something I control.
I don’t know much about PTSD but I take it that it puts a person in the fight/flee mode. Are there warning signs or does it just happen? What are the usual steps to overcome it or manage it?
Tribe is by Sebastain Junger.
I believe there are different kinds of PTSD. The kind that combat soldiers feel I believe is different from that of “civilian” sufferers.
I believe soldiers have a combination of life-threatening stress combined with moral assault. On the life-threatening aspect, one is always, constantly, at risk of dying. You learn to not do things you always did because they might be connected to a booby trap (like kick the can). You are constantly watchful – about where you are, where an ambush. might come from, where you would move to, how you would react. You get quiet. You get distant. You don’t bond with anyone because they can be wounded or killed at any moment, and that would damage you too.
On the moral assault, I believe our society has conflated killing with murder. They are not the same, but the society doesn’t seem to be able to tell the difference. So we have mostly been brought up to believe killing is bad. Then you go to war and kill – and learn to do so easily. THAT weighs on you. Returning to the civilian world, IF there is acceptance of you, of what you did, of your inherent “goodness”, then you do … better. But there is always a separation between society and you. Other combat vets are OK; civilians are “separate”.
Lastly there is a sense of “life”. When you are at risk, you feel so alive – totally different from the regular world. There was a saying back in the day among the combat vets, “Those who have fought for it. have a different sense of freedom from those who haven’t”. It is a measure of that risk and the fact it becomes part of your day-to-day living.
Hope some of this makes sense.
I suffer from / enjoy some sort of lightweight administrative version of PTSD. I did have some of the noise/crowd/back-to-the-wall stuff earlier, but that went away. Not without a couple of amusing incidents.
But in general, there’s a re-integration piece that’s difficult for reasons that I have tried to understand and explain to some extent. The nice thing about Junger’s TRIBE is that it constructively explains why that can be so difficult. Veterans of a combat zone have become something the opposite of institutionalized, or right angles to it. It is famously described as having everything in life, upon return, turned down to about three, after months of living it all at eleven. More to the point, in my experience, I couldn;t understand why people themselves seemed to live at three. Sure, they would get fired up and irate that something in the office wasn’t right (wrong cover sheet on TPS report), but that thing itself hardly rated a three.
Anyway, it’s not like I was shelled or had anything to do with combat, so I don’t want to put myself in a higher category. I try to use my limited personal experience and my extensive vicarious exposure to do some good.
Junger’s book (pamphlet) was worth the money and has given me much to think about.
Beloved Admin., First, thanks for this post; Junger’s reflections helped me a lot, too. Especially in the area of belonging/cohesiveness and having to reframe that when circumstances change “new normal” to just plain “normal”.
It all makes a great deal of sense, Dev; particularly the ‘moral assault’ piece…Excellent to acknowledge the soul-wound that’s part of things here! Thanks and S/F!
Absolutely, Dev. I think there are several things under that label. More in a bit. Playing tanks with the boy!
Interesting post and some more books to add to my reading list.
I think many of us don’t realize what happens with humans who must exist in a life/death environment 24/7 for an extended period. It re-creates/re-wires a person. Literally.
I once asked an Army Chaplain I had a distant professional relationship with(I had to interview him a few times)if he was sure the military members returning were given all they needed, including smaller, safe-feeling environments to reside and work in while transforming back to civilian mode. He responded by telling me about the Wounded Warrior organization. Not sure it is today, what it once was, but I was left with the feeling, that at least efforts are being made at some level for those who are most at need. But still, it did not sound like enough.
One of the local VA’s up here have a Friday meeting of vets with “PTSD”. It is a humbling experience. I go when I can; a bunch of retired Marines from my old reserve unit go regularly. Some of the progress some have made is amazing. There were guys there who wouldn’t talk at all when they started and now will sing and play on the guitar for the group.
The word is always, “You are not alone. We are here to help. You don’t have to suffer.” With time it gets through.
But I don’t think there are that many of these kinds of programs. These guys all spend real time in group therapy in addition to the Friday get-together.
Cross-generational support is at the heart of healing, too. This is really cool.
TT – if you want to read a decent treatise on what happens in combat, consider reading Lt. Col. Grossman’s On Killing. It is a review of what all goes on in a fight, and a historical view of combat. Opened my eyes and made a number of observations I had had make sense.
Thanks Dev, I’ll put it on the list.
TempT, also check out “Warrior’s Return” and “War and the Soul” by Edward Tick, PhD.