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By Charlene Rubush, October 6, 2012 12:02 pm

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. So I’m posting a review of an excellent book which focuses on the damaging effects of verbal abuse on its victims. 

Unfortunately, I have personally been affected by severe verbal abuse, while in two separate relationships with combat veterans. This abuse eroded my self-esteem and left me feeling powerless. It is a pervasive problem in too many partnerships. And it is particularly very prominent in relationships where one partner is struggling with combat-related PTSD.

Thankfully, with education you can empower yourself  and either extricate yourself from the situation, or demand that your partner receive counseling for the problem.

Right now, I know of at least five women in long-term marriages, who are suffering from this type of abuse. All I can do, is provide emotional support and share my knowledge. Continue reading 'In Honor of Domestic Violence Month- Here’s a Good Book'»

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By Charlene Rubush, March 25, 2012 5:54 pm

There is a ton of great information to be found on The PTSD Forum website. They have an article there about the ways we can tell we are healing our PTSD. Here’s an excerpt from an excellent article that provides the signs that you are healing:

What does having our trauma healed mean? How do we recognize when we have sufficiently healed from trauma?

This is the list of seven criteria for having resolved trauma. It was created by Claudia Black, Ph.D.

1. The physiological symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been brought within manageable limits.

2. The person is able to bear the feelings associated with the traumatic memories.

3. The person has authority over his/her memories. He/she can elect to remember the trauma and to put that memory aside.

4. The memory of the traumatic event/s is a coherent narrative, linked with feeling.

5. The person’s damaged self-esteem has been restored.

I think healing in ourselves often goes unnoticed. It’s nice to have these concrete signs to let us ponder the ways in whcih we may be healing without conscious thought.

I hope you’ll check out the PTSD Forum. You can become a member for free, and post your own thoughts and feelings, as well as connect with others who face the same challenges as yourself. You’ll also find people who are truly “healing their PTSD.” It’s an inspiring and helpful site.

To read the full article, go to:

http://www.ptsdforum.org/threads/criteria-for-healed-trauma.13869/

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By Charlene Rubush, March 2, 2012 3:32 pm

Lately, I’ve been re-reading Vietnam Wives- Facing the Challenges of Life with Veterans Suffering from Pos-Traumatic Stress. (Second Edition, revised, 1996). Aphrodite Matsakis, Ph.D. is like a touchstone for me when it comes to trying to make sense of my own PTSD experience.

For our veterans and their families of today, I’m sure it’s impossible to think of a time when there was no public discourse about PTSD, no internet, few books or literature to turn to when one was suffering in silence.

Back in 1987, when I reached out for help from the Veterans Outreach Center, they handed me a pamphlet which gave me information about combat-related PTSD, as it affected the veteran. There was no literature focused on a spouse’s reaction or the effects on the family of living in proximity to a veteran afflicted with PTSD.

But sometime later, I came across Vietnam Wives (First Edition, 1987) while browsing in a bookstore. It felt like a miracle; a life-preserver. Here was a book written for me and all the other Vietnam veteran wives. My reaction was sheer joy and I felt like shouting out “Hallelujah!” At last, someone had recognized my plight.

Matsakis writes (pg. 39)

“Denial is a central feature of PTSD. Like alcoholism, drug addiction, and compulsive overeating, PTSD is a condition that tells its victims that they don’t really have a problem.” ‘That’s what I told myself for years’, explains one vet. ‘I thought if I’d ignore it, it would go away.’

Matsakis also notes that some vets even pretended that the war “didn’t really happen.” This denial serves as a major defense against feeling the extremely uncomfortable feelings that often went along with the Vietnam experience—specifically, fear, guilt, and rage, as well as moral confusion.

Isn’t it amazing how the mind can play tricks on itself, in self-preservation? It took me years to come out of my own denial of how dysfunctional my life had become. And it’s been comforting to learn from an expert such as Dr. Matsakis, that denial is a normal part of having PTSD.

Yet denial helps us stay stuck in our own misery. We cannot make changes if we don’t acknowledge that there is a huge problem. It often takes a major crisis to shake us out of our denial. That’s what happened with me, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

It’s something to think about…as they say in Al-Anon, If nothing changes, nothing changes.

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By Charlene Rubush, December 19, 2011 12:59 am

I’ve been going through The PTSD Workbook by Mary Beth Williams, Ph.D. and Soili Poijula, Ph.D.

Perhaps you’ve already been diagnosed with PTSD. If not, and you suspect that you might have it, this is a great book to help you understand if you have PTSD. If you determine that you have all the symptoms, or if you already know you have PTSD, there is much to be gained from this book.

I surprised myself when I turned to pg. 42, and began reading about Constructing a Trauma Inventory. I thought I’d addressed all the traumas in my life. But going over the list of possible traumas, I was shocked to see how many I’ve actually experienced.

We know that multiple traumas can cause Complex PTSD. And of course, we now know that Complex PTSD can cause digestive problems, chronic pain, cardiopulmonary symptoms, and sexual symptoms. The body remembers trauma.

Here are just a few situations that may cause PTSD, from the list:

• Surviving a natural disaster
• Witnessing a natural death
• Witnessing a violent death
• Being in an automobile accident
• Surviving an assault or mugging
• Being exposed to war
• Being sexually abused as a child

It is important to try and remember the events that have predisposed oneself to PTSD. While it can be painful and distressing, it can also be the beginning of healing. The authors note that you have survived the traumas and you have used many positive character traits to do so.

Going over this list was very enlightening to me. I believe recovery from PTSD is a life-long challenge, but it also offers us a way to truly get to know ourselves. Making a trauma inventory helps us see where we’ve been, what we’ve endured, and lets us put it it all into perspective. I highly recommend this workbook.

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By Charlene Rubush, December 6, 2011 3:28 pm

Recently, I’ve been re-reading Back From the Front—Combat Trauma, Love, and the Family, by Aphrodite Matsakis.

I became aware of her work way back in the late 80’s when she first published Vietnam Veterans Wives. I’ll never forget the shock and excitement I felt when I found the book in a bookstore. I remember thinking “Finally. Someone knows that I exist!”

That book was priceless to me, and has helped in my education of PTSD, as well as in  my recovery. The fact that Matsakis published the book, helped me to feel somewhat “validated.” Up until that time, I had felt invisible and alone.

I believe she is a national treasure. She has worked with combat vets and their families for many years and her insights are amazing.

In Back from the Front, on pg. 439, she offers advice for the significant others of combat vets.

•       Do not tolerate abuse of any kind. Under no circumstances should your veteran’s difficulties be used as an excuse for emotional, physical, sexual, or economic abuse of you or anyone else.
•      Educate yourself. Knowledge is power. Learn all you can about PTSD, clinical depression, dissociation, addiction or whatever type of traumatic reaction and symptoms your loved one is experiencing.
•      Develop a support system for yourself. There will be times when your vet will not be emotionally or physically available to you. Hence you cannot make him the only source of  affection, companionship or affirmation in your life.

                   And always try to remember. Your veteran is important, and so are you!

I hope all of you will become familiar with Matsakis’s work. She is one of the most knowledgeable psychologists working with combat vets and their families. She has been in the field for over thirty years and has many trauma-related titles available.

I have been studying PTSD for many years, and I still continue to learn about this most complex of illnesses. Experts like Matsakis can teach us so much! Her website has listings of all of her books, plus many wonderful, insightful articles.

Check out her website for more information:

http://www.matsakis.com

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By Charlene Rubush, May 13, 2011 11:06 am

The International Behavioral and Neural Genetics Society has just awarded the 2011 Young Scientist of the Year Award to Stephen L. Boehm, Ph.D.

Boehm is a behavioral neuroscientist and is being honored for his ongoing study of the impact of binge alcohol consumption on gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) neural circuits in the brain.

“Binge alcohol consumption has criminal, social and health implications. Current treatment approaches are not great. Our hope is that understanding how GABA interacts and changes with repeated alcohol consumption will help us develop therapeutic strategies that target GABA receptors, ultimately enabling us to treat alcohol abuse and dependence in humans.”

 “Understanding how the GABA system interacts with alcohol and is changed by repeated binge consumption is a critical step to the development of new treatments. The knowledge we are gaining in our lab is an early step in what we hope is the path to drug therapy which may be useful in treating alcohol abuse and dependence,” said Boehm.

The research study is done using mice. In mice as in humans, alcohol passes quickly into the blood stream and is transported to the brain where it affects GABA, an important neurotransmitter that inhibits mental activity. Boehm is also studying GABA receptor changes that occur over repeated binge drinking episodes.

To read the complete article, go to:

www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-05/iuui-ibn050911.php

As one whose life has been personally and detrimentally affected by a loved one’s binge drinking, I am looking forward to the day when research provides the answers we need. Too many combat veterans resort to binge drinking to dull their psychic/ and/or physical pain. Let’s hope we’ll see a day when the damaging effects can be mitigated in some way, and possibly be prevented.

What a different world it would be, without the heartbreak and trauma that binge drinking brings to the drinker and so many innocent others. People who have not experienced it cannot imagine how it makes life feel so unbalanced.

Being around a binge drinker means you can never relax. You’re always waiting for the “next shoe to drop.” Or looking forward to the end of the latest binge, or wondering when the next binge will begin. How bad will it be this time??

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By Charlene Rubush, April 29, 2011 12:34 pm

Progress is being made in understanding how Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder affects the brain. And with that understanding, come better treatments.

Today I came across an interesting article by Rick Nauert Ph.D. Posted on PsychCentral on November 1, 2010, he writes that researchers have discovered a correlation between increased activity among brain circuits and flashbacks among individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

This is considered to be a major scientific and medical discovery. The findings are something conventional brain scans such as an X-ray, CT, or MRI have failed to demonstrate.The research was led by Apostolos Georgopolos, M.D., Ph.D. and Brian Engdahl Ph.D., both members of the Brain Sciences Center at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center and the University of Minnesota.

The researchers used a technique called Magnetoencephaloraphy (MEG). It is a non-invasive measurement of magnetic fields in the brain.

Some major points of the study are:

•  MEG tests revealed differences between signals in the temporal and parieto-occipital right hemispheres of the brain among those with PTSD. 
•  MEG tests show a clear difference in activity among the circuitry in the brains of PTSD sufferers in comparison to those without the condition. 
• Besides diagnosing those with PTSD, the researchers are able to judge the severity of a patient’s suffering.

The trial involved 80 subjects with confirmed PTSD following military service in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.

 To read the full article go to:

 http://www.psychcentral.com/news/2010/11/01/new-findings-on-ptsd-and-brain-activity/20338.h…

 Note:

This certainly seems to be a much-improved, more definitive way to diagnose PTSD. The CAPPS interview process has been used for many years, and has its limitations.

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By Charlene Rubush, March 25, 2011 3:04 pm

Today I came across a treatment that I was previously unaware of. I’m always excited when I find something new on PTSD treatment. Actually, the article I found was written by Matthew Tull, Ph.D. and published in November of 2008.

From the website http://www.about.com I learned that Behavioral Activation was originally developed for the treatment of depression. It is based on the idea that people with depression do not come into contact with positive or rewarding aspects of their environment.

For instance, a person may be too depressed to get out of bed. Yet, by staying in bed, the person does not have contact with friends and family. This type of self-isolating (my term) only helps the depression deepen and get worse. (I’ve been there, done that.)

So in behavioral activation, the main goals are to increase activity levels (and prevent avoidance behaviors.) The patient and therapist come up with a list of activities that the patient values, such as spending time with friends or exercising. They also look at any obstacles that may keep them from their goals.

Each week the patient sets goals for how many activities he or she, may want to complete. Then they track their progress in achieving those goals.

The information from the article is based on a study from researchers who provided 11 veterans with 16 weeks of individual behavioral activation therapy. The researchers looked at differences in the veterans’ PTSD symptoms, depression, and quality of life from the beginning to the end of treatment.

 They found that:

• More than half of the veterans showed a reduction in PTSD symptoms.
• Four veterans had their depression reduced.
• Four veterans reported that their quality of life had improved.

Although the study was small, the findings were promising and showed that behavioral activation might be a useful way to treat PTSD.

I found the whole idea to make common sense. Sitting around staring at walls and feeling sorry for oneself, does no good. (I know. I’ve done that in the past. But when you know better, you can do better.)

Visit http://www.about.com for the rest of the article, and many more good ones on PTSD and other health issues. It’s an excellent resource.

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By Charlene Rubush, September 27, 2010 9:22 pm

There are many wonderful books available to help our returning combat vets. Here’s another of my reviews on an outstanding resource:

This review is from: After the War Zone: A Practical Guide for Returning Troops and Their Families (Paperback) by Laurie B. Slone, Ph.D and Matthew J. Friedman, MD, Ph.D.

This important work provides a broad array of information that will help returning soldiers, their loved ones, friends, and community to understand the challenges of reintegration to civilian life.

It provides education and advice for neighbors, coworkers, employers, and service providers who assist returning vets and their families.
Actually, the book is for anyone who wonders what to expect when a service member returns home from a war zone. It shows all of us how to help when the going gets tough (and it will).

For those like me, who were personally affected by the Vietnam War and its aftermath, we know how vital understanding and support is for our latest generation of combat vets and their families.

You’ll find eye-opening facts on p.25, about Operation Enduring Freeedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The authors point out that unlike the Vietnam War, when the draft meant that most Americans were directly affected by the conflict, the modern “all volunteer” military has left participating families feeling a sense of isolation from the rest of society.

Another fact: The top two reasons returning troops seek care at VA Medical Centers are pain from musculoskeletal problems and mental health problems.

This book addresses every aspect of reintegration one can imagine, such as:

• anticipation of return
• the post-deployment stage (honeymoon period)
• special issues for reservists and women soldiers
• reactions of children
• problems with PTSD
• communication problems
• what it’s like to be a loved one left at home
•  issues for the extended family, the need for social support
•  separating myth from reality, finances, relationships, and much more.

The Resource Section alone is worth the price of the book, plus there is an excellent index. Kudos to authors Laurie B. Slone, Ph.D. the Associate Director for Research and Education of the VA National Center for PTSD,and to Matthew J. Friedman, MD, PhD, the Executive Director of the VA National Center for PTSD and a Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmocology at Dartmouth Medical School.
This book is broad in scope, and will change lives for the better. Very highly recommended!