PTSD FEATURE
A song, a smell or a photograph are powerful reminders of times gone by. They can give comfort, make us smile. But when that memory is painful we shut it out – or do we?
AFTER THE EVENT Peter Owens was 21 when he was caught up in the Hillsborough football disaster. The trauma he experienced in the years afterwards took him to the brink of suicide.
T
herapist Jane Walker supports people like Peter, who have post traumatic stress disorder. (PTSD) Although it’s often associated with the armed forces community, the condition can affect anyone.
Symptoms vary but include: avoiding situations that remind you of the incident, a need to constantly check that you’re not in danger, being easily startled, recurrent upsetting dreams and self blame.
PTSD happens when someone has experienced a situation where they felt a threat to life or intense danger to themselves or someone else. Road traffic accidents, childhood abuse, life threatening illness and traumatic life events can all leave people with flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts that never go away.
Jane, a high intensive therapist with Talk Liverpool, uses trauma focussed therapy to give people an alternative way of understanding and normalising their reactions.
“When we experience severe trauma we try to block it out, to repress it. But that memory gets stuck in your mind, then is triggered by music, something on TV, a news item maybe. With PTSD the memory comes back not in the past, but – often terrifyingly – as if it’s happening now.”
“People who have escaped a major incident or near death experience, or watched a horrific event and survived may have massive guilt. They may feel they shouldn’t have survived, or done more to help others. They may become convinced the event will happen again. “When the memories are unbearably painful people block them out and for years they can present a front that everything is OK. But it doesn’t work – they have nightmares, flashbacks, often triggered by sounds or smells, happening
when they least expect it and re-traumatising them. Flashbacks take you right back and focus on the scariest bits. You have no sense of reality. It’s incredibly distressing.” “In trauma focussed therapy we look at the person’s memory of their trauma, and their beliefs about their experience. We work with them to find a new way of thinking about what has happened, and help reduce feelings such as guilt and anxiety that the memories evoke.” Jane doesn’t promise an easy ride and successful therapy requires commitment from the client, says Jane. “It will only work if someone sticks with it, but it happens in a controlled environment and it gets easier. We can’t erase the memory but we can help them process it and learn to cope with it. They’ll still have the memory but it’ll be in the past.” Read Peter’s story on page 12.
11
