The Most Offensive 4 Letter Word I Know
For all of you who tuned into this blog, just waiting to expand your vocabulary with the most offensive swear word I know, you'll be happily disappointed. The word is actually an acronym. So what is this offensive acronym? PTSD - or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a psychological injury, or condition of caused by experiencing traumatic event(s). PTSD is often found in military personnel and emergency service workers, although it is certainly not exclusive to them. Having PTSD does not mean a person is a cry baby, has their feeling hurt easily, someone who is weak, or has a disease of Bubonic Plague proportions. Although talk to someone who has experienced if for themselves, or worked in emergency services, and they will likely feel different.
I have extremely personal experience with both being diagnosed with PTSD, and treatment from colleagues that work in emergency services. Don't worry, this is not a story of someone complaining about what has happened to them, or how they were treated. Rather, it's a story of Trauma, enlightenment, perseverance and Triumph.
Granted we all face difficult times and task throughout our whole lives, sometimes those situations can be too much and can affect our present.
I was hired in 2007 in emergency services. Within the first couple of years I attended several horrific events:
An accident where the driver was scalped
A collision where people 19-22 years old where killed,
I had a 15 year old die in my arms from a collision
Watched a 19 year old die from a collision and later attended that autopsy (that's a whole other story)
Watched a co-worker die in front of me in a freak accident
Was put in a position to mentally commit to taking a life
Over the next few years I attended several more collisions and watched a few more people die in front of me at the hospital. I had a mother hand me a 2 week old baby that was dead, and I attended to many other situations where I saw death, or had to make choice to cause serious harm or death.
In a span of five years, I managed to see a lifetime of trauma. One day I just became overwhelmed and sought help. I got professional help, and this was honestly the best thing ever to happen in my life. I learned mindfulness, so much so I became a certified instructor. I learned I needed better fitness for my body and with that came some unique performance hypnosis ideas. I identified that I suffered from low confidence, so much so that I decided to become a master certified self confidence coach to overcome it. I also learned Tai Chi and found it so helpful I continue working towards instructor certification.
However, according to my colleagues, at some point I changed from a coworker to a cry baby. I had my feelings easily hurt, I was damaged goods. These opinions were held about other co-workers who had been in similar situations as well. I, and others in my category, were avoided by our coworkers. I had an emergency service refuse my application, until I could prove this type of injury wouldn't happen again, until I quoted from the Human Rights Act.
I was absolutely surprised to hear what coworkers thought about PTSD, how an emergency service would ever say they needed proof that PTSD wouldn't happen to me again. Add to that the fact they already knew I was diagnosed with PTSD because my coworker felt it was so dangerous, they had to disclose it without my permission to this emergency service once they had found out I applied.
As I thought about my personal treatment, the treatment of others with PTSD, I began to notice something that seemed to make no sense. If someone had a physical injury, like a dislocated shoulder or they required knee surgery, their injuries were never seen as being of weak body. They were not cry babies. The expectation was that once they had surgery, rehabilitated the injury, learned some techniques to strengthen the injury they were welcomed back with open arms.
So why was I not? Why was the fact that I saw a doctor, had the injury fixed, rehabilitated and learned some strengthening techniques to make sure it was less likely to happen again not the same? Was it because of one word that changed it from a physical injury to a psychological injury? Or realistically four additional letters (OLOG), that made this injury unrecoverable? The emergency service I applied to never asked about my dislocated shoulder, nor did a coworker feel they needed to tell this service that I had dislocated a shoulder. So why such a small difference then?
Well simply it comes down to a lack of knowledge. Although emergency services and management of those services are educating themselves at an encouraging and unprecedented rate, there is still so much mystery.
A psychological injury in the emergency services is not any less common than a knee that requires surgery, a shoulder that dislocates. A psychological injury is far less likely to be reported, and people will suffer years in silence for the fear of being ousted by a coworker. Coworkers oust those who do come forward; 1) because they don't see a psychological injury or, 2) don't understand a psychological injury. People often fear what they don't understand.
What can we do to change attitudes towards psychological injuries? There is no doubt that anyone who works in an emergency service, or knows someone who does, should educate themselves about what PTSD is and what it is not. Gain understanding that like any other injury, you can recover and not return to where you were before, becoming better and stronger than where you were before.
Another strategy is mindfulness. In fact, mindfulness is a huge weapon in relation to PTSD. When we really learn to be in the moment it's hard to be affected by the past. Another great strategy is to talk to someone, and don't be afraid to see a psychologist. You will not regret that decision.
My favourite strategy is one of the biggest foundations I believe all of us need in life - self-confidence. Self-confidence, if you are the one suffering, will help you to learn. The best and most successful people in the world seek help. You owe yourself the love and compassion to seek that help and become better. Gaining self confidence will help these people work through the fear of the unknown, being able to treat the co-workers based on their actions. If your coworker has gotten help and says they are better, there is a real chance they're not only better, but BEST.
By being self-confident as someone who has recovered, you have a real opportunity to inspire someone suffering in silence to get help. Professional help, or maybe just have you teach them the techniques you use to strengthen yourself, to help prevent a build up that causes harm.
By being self-confident as a coworker of someone who has recovered or suffered, you will be an excellent support. You can help your coworker have strength to seek help, have support while getting help, and have comfort that it's alright for everyone to stumble once in a while, it's how we get back up that truly matters.
Who knows, maybe your confidence will save a life! I often wonder just how many suicides of emergency professionals are related to silent suffering. There are enough true dangers in the world. We can do without fear of getting help, or fear of those who get help.
— Written by Jason Rorick (follow on Twitter)