What is the worst way to get PTSD?

The deepest dashboard

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
June 23, 2019

Why do responders suffer a deeper level of PTSD? Is it because they are exposed over and over again to traumatic events? Or is it because they have the "one time too many" hit them?

After decades of research, it became clear that for responders, it is more about the strength of their emotional core that makes causes the hardest hit.

It is the reason I became a Chaplain back in 2008. I trained to respond to responders knowing that the very thing inside of them causing them to take on those jobs, also caused them the greatest harm.

Oh, no, not all bad news, because that same emotional core holds the power to heal.

This video was done for National Guards and Reservist...the IFOC gave me an award for it because they were using it to help police officers and firefighters. It is called PTSD I Grieve for that reason.

It is nice to be proven right but it also grieves me to my own core. How is it that I was right all these years...but no one would listen?

A study on veterans and PTSD from Norway was released today and the evidence should be clear to anyone trying to change the road our veterans and reponders have been on for far too long.

“A lot of soldiers told stories of how witnessing someone else’s suffering, especially of children who became victims of the war, were tough to work through.” Andreas Espetvedt Nordstrand

For Veterans, Witnessing Suffering Can Mean Worse PTSD

PsychCentral
By Traci Pedersen
Associate News Editor
23 Jun 2019

A study of Norwegian veterans who served in Afghanistan finds that being exposed to the death and suffering of others tends to result in worse symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) than being put in life-threatening situations.

The study, published in the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, is part of a comprehensive survey of how veterans are faring after the war in Afghanistan. Just over 7,000 Norwegian soldiers participated in the war in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2011, and 4,053 of them participated in this research.

Trauma is roughly divided into danger-based and non-danger-based stressors. Both types of stressors lead to an increase in PTSD, an anxiety disorder which can involve being hyper-alert, jumpy, sleeping poorly and reliving events after they’ve happened.
read more here


To change the outcome, we have to change the conversation. #BreakTheSilence and tell them TakeBackYourLife

Changing parts is hard, but it makes the ride better

Moving parts

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
June 16, 2019

Today is a hard post for me to put up. We are leaving Florida. After 15 years, hundreds of events and countless veterans coming into our lives, it is time to move back north.

Our daughter moved a few years ago and the last trip we took up there, it finally felt like Christmas for us. I miss our family and all the memories we had, as well as the change in seasons.

The heat and humidity down here is not good for someone with my health filming for hours in the sun most of the year.

That said, my life is like any vehicle with moving parts. There are changes as we all get older and we need to be prepared to stop being comfortable complaining about them. 

Each of us know when it is time to change but the trick is actually doing it.

My husband needed to let some people we know about the move before I went public with it. In this video, the move is mentioned, so I figured it was the best time to let readers know why things have been a bit out of whack for a while.

Between getting this house ready for sale and trying to find the area we want to move, it has been really draining my energy.

I promise that I will keep posting as long as I can on both sites and when I cannot, I'll start as soon as possible.  After all these years, I won't abandon you now.

OK, that's done.

In this video, Sgt. Dave Matthews and I are again talking about the book For the Love of Jack, His War My Battle.

Living with PTSD sucks! It can beat the crap out of any positive thoughts you have and kill off dreams of what you thought it would be like.

You have a choice. You can stay trapped by it or you can kick it in the teeth and refuse it let it define how you live your life from this point on!

It is hard on families when they do not know what to do, but I can assure you, if you are willing to do the work and learn as much as you can, you can win this battle for those you love too!

Face it. If I can do it, anyone can!

PTSD Patrol, weapons of love fighting ghost of their past

When your battle begins after their battle was supposed to end

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
June 9, 2019

The PTSD Patrol video is late today because I was doing an interview with Sgt. Dave Matthews for KLRN Radio show Remember the Fallen. It is heard on Thursdays at 8:00 pm eastern time.

We were talking about my book FOR THE LOVE OF JACK. This is part of the interview. If you want to hear the rest, you'll have to wait until  Thursday.

Next week, I'll have more of this.

Lyrics

This mans a child, this man is old

Sometimes he's mild, sometimes he's bold

This man I love, sometimes in spite

I wish he would stick to his guns, or abandon the fight

But when he shines, oh when he shines

Yes when he shines, he shines so bright

Sometimes a tramp, sometimes a dude

He changes colour just like a cameleon, cant find the mood

He is a song thats not easy to write

He is a moon in the morning, and the sun out at night

But when he shines, when he shines,

oh when he shines, he shines so bright

This mans a gentleman, this man is strong

This temperamental man plays me along

But when he shines, when he shines,

oh when he shines, he shines so bright

Yes when he shines, when he shines,

oh when he shines, he shines so bright

But when he shines, oh when he shines

Yes when he shines, he shines so bright

Songwriters: D. BUGATTI / F. PALMER

When He Shines lyrics © WB MUSIC CORP

#BreakTheSilence and do the work to #TakeBackYourLife

You can break through to the other side of PTSD

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
June 2, 2019

It seems as if the stigma of PTSD is still being passed on to the point where veterans still do not understand it.

You are limited by what you imagine to be true instead of encouraged by what you imagine to be possible.

Imagine having a happier life! That is possible.

Imagine being able to overcome all the negative thoughts you have and replace them with achievable goals. 

It takes work but that work will only begin when you understand what PTSD is.

Post means after.

Trauma means wound.

Stress comes after surviving the shock of what happened.

Disorder comes when your mind and body are trying to adjust afterwards.

Any shame in surviving something that could have killed you?

No one walks away from that kind of trauma unchanged. The secret is, that you can change again. YEP! You are only stuck where you are because no one told you that you are in control over where you go. 

Just like getting into the vehicle you drive, (or getting on if you have a motorcycle) you control where you go from this point on.

You chose the destination and how you get there.

#BreakTheSilence comes when you are able to finally figure out that there is nothing within you that caused PTSD. IT HIT YOU! Any shame in being hit by a bullet? Any shame in getting blown up by a bomb? NOPE!

Time to stop finding all the excuses for using your right to remain silent because all that does is keep you suffering instead of healing.

Let's put it this way. Would I still be doing this after 37 years if I was ashamed of any of you?

I have seen the dark side of PTSD and if that was all I saw, I would have given up on all of you a long time ago. What keeps me going is seeing the smile on your face and life back into your eyes when you break through to the other side of PTSD.


We need to stop talking about PTSD the wrong way, and start talking about what it is. Teach how to break through to the other side of suffering...to healing! Yes, you can heal PTSD if you are willing to work at it. That begins when you #BreakTheSilence and do the work to #TakeBackYourLife

Lyrics

You know the day destroys the night

Night divides the day

Tried to run, tried to hide

Break on through to the other side

Break on through to the other side

Break on through to the other side

Chased our plea here

Dug our treasures there

Still recall, time we cried

Break on through to the other side

Break on through to the other side

Break on through, yeah

All right

Everybody loves my baby

Everybody loves my baby

She get

She get

She get

She get high

I found an island in your arms

Country in your eyes

Arms that chain us, eyes that lie

Break on through to the other side

Break on through to the other side

Break on through, yeah

All right

Yeah, made the scene

Week to week

Day to day

Hour to hour

The gate is straight

Deep and wide

Break on through to the other side

Break on through to the other side

Break on through

Break on through

Break on through

Break on through

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Songwriters: JAMES MORRISON / JOHN DENSMORE / RAYMOND MANZAREK / ROBERT KRIEGER

Break on Through (To the Other Side) lyrics © DOORS MUSIC COMPANY LLC

For those who serve this country, nothing will change if we accept what "is"

We cannot go on accepting things just because others do

PTSD Patrol
Kathie Costos
May 26, 2019

The Washington Post just put up the last Rolling Thunder Ride in Washington DC.

Seeing the video and pictures put me in a strange mood. Nostalgic for the times I made the trip out there for Memorial Day and the Nam Knights ride on Saturday, the day before Rolling Thunder. I was also angry. 

It should not be acceptable that after all these years, the organizers had to end the ride because they could not find enough money to pay for everything they needed to do.

There are a lot of things that are not acceptable...and one of the biggest reasons why I want to apologize for this video.

I should not have even tried to do a positive video when my head was ready to explode.

This is an apology video because earlier today, I put up the video for PTSD Patrol, that was far from inspirational. I needed to get things out before my head exploded. This is most of the stuff that has me in a very bad mood. It begins with people saying "Happy Memorial Day" because the meaning is about having fun instead of honoring those who risked their lives for this county. The list of other things we find "acceptable" goes on and as long as they do, nothing will really change for those who serve this country~