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Let us begin a dialogue about the gift of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Gift?! PTSD?! Yes. I understand that some of us in our community of academy women could see this issue as potentially threatening or somehow undermining our strengths, ability to serve and records of achievements. Yet the time is come to blast some loving sunshine on the dark reality of this uncomfortable issue: the health effects of trauma. Let’s launch.
I am not a medical expert on PTSD and trauma. I am a survivor of military sexual trauma exacted as a cadet at West Point and have been in treatment for PTSD at the VA Long Beach hospital since 2002. I served in the nuclear Cold and Persian Gulf Wars, went on to get an Executive MBA, and birthed sons. I dance the crushing daily struggle of PTSD as a disability: the nightmares, panic attacks, flashbacks, cold sweats, suicidal thoughts, zoning out, numbing all emotion, and desperately avoiding triggers (reminders) such that I became a prisoner in my own home. I know I am not alone.
The latest 2006 DoD report on service academy “gender relations” broke new ground. For the first time in 31 years, the report cited at the very end of the bibliography, on the very last page, page 295 in small print: a 1998 published medical study that documented sexual harassment and assault as predictors of PTSD.
Outside of this nascent recognition, exciting breakthroughs in neuroscience over the last decade have discovered real neurobiological and physiological changes that result from trauma. Moreover, neuropsychiatric advances have codified a constellation of symptoms experienced in the spectrum of PTSD: early onset, delayed onset (sometimes decades later), chronic lifetime, and the greatest gift of all, complex PTSD. (See below for some resources.)
These are the facts: PTSD is real. It’s hell. It’s not just “in your head.” It’s not a character flaw (“I should be stronger, run faster, work harder, do better” as go our superwoman thought patterns). It is a natural reaction to an extreme experience that is outside the range of usual human experience. It is a medical condition with significant health challenges and behavioral changes. The good news is that there are treatments, medications and support groups now available to help survivors if not recover, at least manage the symptoms of PTSD. Through the courage and determination of the new poly-trauma veterans, I have come to embrace PTSD as a “gift”, in that the recovery process offers the opportunity to rewire one’s brain for health and discovery of new strengths and talents.
Trauma can stem from many life experiences, such as combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, natural disasters such as Katrina, terrorist attacks such as 9/11, accidents, and yes ---- military sexual trauma (MST). MST runs the gamut of sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape and other acts of violence. Men experience this as well. These traumas can be a one-time only, or of repeated nature. Some people experience traumas and recover, while others go on to develop full-blown PTSD symptoms that result in permanent and total disability. There are many factors involved, the nature, duration and intensity of trauma and the individual neurochemistry of the survivor. MST has an additional component, in that many survivors are often forced to experience continued contact with the perpetrator(s) after the initial stressor. Many survivors of multiple traumas have never talked about their traumas. It took me 20 years.
I am concerned that a segment in our community of academy women is particularly at risk, given potential initial MST stressors some may have encountered during their service academy experience coupled with the additional stressors all soldiers endure during combat. In the case of MST, let’s run some numbers: According to experts, 90% of sexual assault survivors develop PTSD symptoms within one month of the stressor, 30% of those display symptoms more than 6 months later, and 10% of those go on to develop chronic lifetime PTSD. Studies have shown that military sexual trauma is significantly underreported, due to shame, fear, stigma and command climate. So given this, what’s our community’s base line of MST survivors, over the course of 30 years, including all service academies and officer development programs?
Anyway you do the math, there are a lot of sisters out there suffering alone and isolated. It’s time to come home.
Tara Krause is a USMA’82 grad who is now an artist based in LA and the mother of 2 sons. She was a field artillery officer with nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and an intelligence veteran of the first Gulf War. She is a survivor of sexual harassment and sexual assault. She has been in PTSD treatment at the VA hospital in Long Beach since 2002 and has been rated by the VA as disabled. She credits her journey of recovery to the help of a brilliant team of doctors, the VetWow organization and love and support from her women classmates and family. Tara’s website is: http://tarakrause.com
Resource Links:
DoD Service Academy 2006 Gender Relations Report:
http://www.sapr.mil/contents/references/Service%20Academy%202006%20Gender%20Relations%20Report.pdf
Veterans Health Initiative: Military Sexual Trauma (MST): a 196 page
course on MST with over 100 medical journal references:
http://www1.va.gov/vhi/docs/MST_www.pdf
The National Center for PTSD
http://www.ncptsd.va.gov
Women Organizing Women Veteran Advocacy
http://vetwow.com
The Women’s Trauma Recovery Program
http://www.womenvetsptsd.va.gov
Complex PTSD articles by Dr. Besel A. van der Kolk, MD @
http://www.traumacenter.org/webarticles.html
The VA is mandated to provide mental health care to all MST veteran
survivors. Contact the VA Health Care Benefits hotline (877) 222-8387
or go to http://www1.va.gov to find out the nearest VA Medical Center
or Vet Center.
Naparstek, Belleruth. Invisible Heroes: Survivors of Trauma and How
They Heal. NY: Bantam Dell, 2006.
Matsakis, Aphrodite. I Can't Get Over It: A Handbook for Trauma
Survivors. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications, 1996.
Cohen, Barry M. et al. Managing Traumatic Stress Through Art: Drawing
from the Center. Baltimore: Sidran Press, 1995
What is PTSD?
General symptoms of PTSD consist of three clusters: re-experiencing the trauma (nightmares, flashbacks), avoidance and numbing (withdrawing or taking effort to avoid triggers of the trauma, forgetting the trauma, not feeling emotions) and arousal (being hypervigilant, startling easily, panic attacks). Depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and substance abuse/self medication often accompany PTSD.
Symptoms of PTSD may include:
Emotional Regulation
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