|
When you lose someone you love to murder, almost every aspect of your life is changed. Innocence is lost, trust becomes difficult, the world becomes a frightening place. Your mind and body suddenly must cope with unbelievable stresses and pressure. In just a split second, your familiar, ordinary life is gone. Your world becomes frightening and strange to you. You now are part of a world that happens to "other people". Your life now becomes filled with things such as "suspects", "accused", "allegedly", court dates, attorneys, sentences, victim advocates, defense, prosecutors and on and on. Once someone is murdered, the rest of your life is changed. If there is an arrest, from now until you too leave this earth, your life will revolve around this criminal. If there is no arrest, your life revolves around the search for this criminal. If the criminal commits a murder-suicide, your life revolves around trying to figure out the "whys". All this additional stress, other than "normal" grieving, can cause in many people severe emotional and psychological problems. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), is common with survivors of homicide. Below is a description of what PTSD is and how it affects you. Traumatic experiences shake the foundations of our beliefs about safety, and shatter our assumptions of trust. Because they are so far outside what we would expect, these events provoke reactions that feel strange and "crazy". Even though these reactions are unusual and disturbing, they are typical and expectable. By and large, these are normal responses to abnormal events. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the most common diagnostic category used to describe symptoms arising from emotionally traumatic experience(s). This disorder presumes that the person experienced a traumatic event involving actual or threatened death or injury to themselves or others -- and where they felt fear, helplessness or horror. Warning Signs of Trauma Related Stress Individuals who have experienced a traumatic event oftentimes suffer psychological stress related to the incident. In most instances, these are normal reactions to abnormal situations. Individuals who feel they are unable to regain control of their lives, or who experience the following symptoms for more than a month, should consider seeking outside professional mental health assistance. The American Red Cross is now working with mental health professionals trained in trauma. For information or a referral, contact the local American Red Cross chapter or the American Psychological Association at 202/336-5800. The symptoms to watch out for:
|
