PTSD

This topic is so relevant right now. In case you're wondering what the initials stand for: Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. I learned about it a few years back and even used the theory in an English paper (that I really need to polish so I can take it to a conference and maybe get published). The descriptions are too long to put on here but out of all of the links that I have so far, the following will serve you well in learning more: Mayo Clinic and PTSD

(sigh) It's been a relevant topic this week for me. I haven't had an episode for a very long time but. . .well, below is a poem that I wrote earlier today to try and describe some of what I have been feeling since yesterday morning:

TRAUMA

Violence rips across my mind.
My throat clenches as I
Gag upon hidden thoughts that
Lay buried somewhere deep in the past.
No image plays upon the screen
As my mind flinches from the
Flickers it senses just on the surface.
My body remembers what my
Consciousness can not -- will not.
It cringes in upon itself as
Desolation wracks it with sobs.
How does the past have such a hold
Upon my sense of now and the future?
And can we ever be truly healed
Of wounds left deeper than even
We ourselves are scarcely aware?
Always moving two steps forward
Only to be wrenched back to one.
The cycle seems neverending but
It must cease one day in some way.

Copyright (c) 2006 by Lynn Kramer. All rights reserved. No unauthorized use in whole or in part, without prior written permission of the author.