A post Traumatic Stress Disorder( Her experience)

The first time I came across this term was when I was in junior high school. It was one of those late evenings when me and my dad wouldd remain in the sitting room and watch the aljazeera news/documentaries.Mom and my other siblings would have already gone to bed after getting the regular dose of their favorite Mexican drama.

After spending like another hour discussing issues in the news with my dad, i'd also retire to the other room, leaving my old man behind, whose attention would still be fixated on the news till around 2am.

That night, the documentary was centered around some young US soldiers who had just returned from the Iraqi war and were suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"What does that mean? ", I asked my pops

I was told that the soldiers had been through a lot during the war and this had made their minds to develop great fears even after the war was over. Dad tried to explain the illness as best as he could to the comprehension of his 13 years old girl.

At that age, I found it quite funny that a soldier of all people should be afraid. According to what I know and was told about combatants, they don't fear anybody or anything, it was always the other way round.

Years later, I came to understand fully what the PTSD means and how it affects everyone irrespective of age, gender or profession.

Just yesterday, i was watching a favorite feminist TV show and the guest speaker was naratting a harrowing experience that occurred when she was around 15 years old.

Their resident had been attacked by armed robbers. She recalled how she had hid behind her mother when the robbers had threatened to kill her if her father refuse to give them the money they came tor. Fortunately, non of her family members were hurt as everyone had surrendered and cooperated.

But the robbery incident really shook her paychologically since she had never seen a gun in her life before talk more of a gun being pointed at her face. In fact as the only child in a rich family, nobody had even scream or scold her before as she always enjoy all the love and attention she could get both at home and in school. So, the encounter with the ruthless masked men caused deep emotional trauma in her mind.

She literally was a shadow of herself ever since. No longer the boisterous, happy and exuberant kid that her parents wealth had brought her up to be. She'd always wear the mournful and hungry look of an orphan who was uncertainty about where the next meal could come from.

Sometimes, she would wake up in the middle of the night with a loud scream after a terrible nightmare involving images of the armed men chasing her on a lonely path. And by the time her parents gets to her room, they'd discover that she had wet her pants.

Her grades in school were seriously affected too. In some test and exams, she would experience flashbacks and when this happens, her brain would remain blank till the end of the exam. These occurrences continued till when she was 18years old after visiting a handful of therapists and behavioral scientists.

Her mother had already developed a high blood pressure as her daughter's condition became a great source of worry to her.

Unfortunately, the perpetrators were never apprehended by the police as they didn't leave any clue behind.

Post traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) is describe as the inability to get over an horrifying occurrence that had happened somewhere in your past.

Depending on the level of the traumatic experience amd pscological damage, it could last for week, months or even years. In some cases it might even be lifelong and the victim might never heal. Such a person would might regularly or intermittently becomes triggered into a panic or sober moods when they become eventually exposed to instances that bring back these old but terrifying memories. ......

Thanks for reading. 💖💖