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By Charlene Rubush, November 23, 2012 5:44 pm

Here it is, the day after Thanksgiving, and I’ve been reflecting on the subject of gratitude. For some reason, I was taken back to a dark time in my life, in the late 80’s.

I had been attending counseling sessions at the Veterans Outreach Center, as I tried to adjust to my “new normal” of becoming an ex-wife of a Vietnam War combat vet. My counselor had introduced me to the works of Victor Frankl, author of “Man’s Search for Meaning.” One of Frankl’s quotes goes like this:

When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.

I’d also been going to Al-Anon and Open AA meetings for sometime, due to a family member’s alcohol problems. My life seemed to consist of constant stress and increasing feelings of hopelessness and despair.

Then, in the midst of all of my downheartedness, people in meetings were talking about how an “attitude of gratitude” could help us better cope with whatever problems we were facing.

Many evenings, as I sat silently listening to others relay their own struggles, I would think to myself, “But you don’t know how hard I have it! You don’t know what has happened to me.” Continue reading 'Gratitude- A Help in Healing PTSD and the Human Spirit'»

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By Charlene Rubush, July 21, 2010 4:01 pm

From Michele Rosenthal, PTSD Overcomer:

http://www.healmyptsd.com

Communication: Talk with people you trust.

I don’t know about you but the last thing I wanted to do is talk about my trauma, my survival, my PTSD or anything else for that matter. What I did want to do is crawl into my shell and never speak again.

After my trauma I felt overwhelmed by emotion, so it was better to shut down than ‘share’ or ‘express.’ I also didn’t have the words to explain my experience or what I was feeling. I couldn’t, wouldn’t and didn’t talk about any of it – for 16 years. And then PTSD brought me to my knees and I found poetry and finally a way to begin putting into words what was literally threatening to kill me. It was because I found words that I eventually found help.

Don’t let that be how PTSD mangles you. It’s true, struggling with symptoms of post-traumatic stress can make language hard to grasp, but it isn’t true that we can’t do it. Putting pain into words can help contain, relieve and lessen it. Be brave.

Communicating is the crux of surviving survival. Start talking! Continue reading 'Got PTSD? Michele Rosenthal Helps “Heal My PTSD”'»