Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - a result of something that directly affects you

We're all experts on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder these days. After the collapse of the twin towers most of us are shell-shocked, disoriented, frightened, and probably impacted in a number of other ways. Waking up from nightmares, reliving events in your mind, experiencing insomnia or its opposite, oversleeping, feeling numb, avoiding anything and everything that reminds you of the event, and feeling depressed are all symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and are normal reactions. Whether the events of 9/11 or an isolated trauma in your life triggered these symptoms, you need to know that PTSD is not a result of something you did; rather, a result of something that directly affects you.

On 9/11 we didn't choose to send planes crashing into buildings. A friend, who normally works on Long Island, was scouting office space across from the World Trade Center when the first plane crashed. Debris rained down from a crisp blue sky that, without warning, flooded downtown in a tsunami cloud of smoke. Without a choice, my friend's early morning walk-through became the longest walk of her life over 80 blocks in high heels, each step like a monumental step away from death. This was not supposed to happen. Wherever you were when you learned the USA was under attack, your psyche was paralyzed. No, we were not supposed to experience this. But we did. My own mind chants 'Everything has changed' yet in the days immediately following I couldn't quantify those changes. Something in me changed, but only time, the slow return to routine, reveals exactly what those changes are. And so as time goes on we realize that airports, building security, traffic regulations, identification measures, are changing. So, too, our behavior, our attitude, our goals, our relationships, and our spirit change. There is nothing usual about this event, not even our reactions to it.

If we expected to rise up the days, weeks, and months without the burden of 5,000 lives on our fragile hearts then many surprises await us. Yes, we will surprise ourselves as the good and the bad will emerge like storm fronts heaving waves and shoving blistery winds onto our already damaged shore. As you struggle to keep your head above water beware of the riptide quick to pull your hopes under the sea. The biggest war we face is internal, a hard-core psychological battle without boundaries.

Whether you live in Battery Park, on the Upper East Side, in Salt Lake City, or Brussels, we are all traumatized. Be gentle with your unsteady self. Live each hour slowly: we've rushed through enough of our lives. Seek professional help, spiritual help, and the community of friends and family. The effects of PTSD are much higher when experienced alone so talk and be present with one another. Seek, too, because you will find. It seems like the best-kept secret, but one of the greatest resources for comfort is the Psalms:

When I said, 'My foot is slipping,
your love, O Lord, supported me.
When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul.
        -Psalm 94: 18,19

Point your compass north and take it each step at a time. If your foot slips, God is there to support it.