15. Sobriety may lead to post-traumatic stress disorder

By Tom O'Connell

People may block painful memories of physical and sexual abuse for many years through the use of alcohol and other drugs. Then, when they choose sobriety, they may find intrusive memories of this trauma surfacing.

When I served as communications consultant to Beech Hill Hospital in Dublin, New Hampshire, I sat in on a professional seminar during which Dr. Kathleen Bollerud provided insights on the important subject of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"In post-traumatic stress disorder there are intrusive memories of different events," she explained. Noting that people will go to great lengths to avoid thinking about such painful situations, she said, "Often they turn to drinking, getting high, or other addictions."

Being a Vietnam vet or an adult child of alcoholic parents (ACOA) can put recovering addicts at a high risk for relapse into their addiction, she pointed out. Haunted by a sense of shame and guilt, patients suffer from intrusive recollections of overwhelming events that come as recurring nightmares, flashbacks, or daydreams.

Trying to avoid painful memories of the horrible things they have experienced or observed, PTSD victims are likely to numb their feelings, and also tend to feel detached from others.

According to Bollerud, they have "a sense of a foreshortened future." Also, they feel "at fault for what happened or for not being able to forget it." As a result they may become alienated and isolated.

Another aspect of PTSD is that these people tend to be "hyper-reactive." That is, they have exaggerated responses to sound and touch. They remain "combat ready." To cope with such a state of awareness, such survivors try to learn helplessness or to identify with "the enemy," Bollerud explained.

This may help explain the mystery of why many people in clearly abusive relationships stay there even though they are suffering greatly. In their attempt to identify with the perpetrator they take on some of the responsibility for the abuse, believe that they are at least partially responsible the abuse being heaped on them, and continue to remain in life-threatening situations.

PTSD has often been diagnosed as borderline character disorder, and symptoms may include chronic depression, fits of rage, difficulty with intimacy, and being haunted by the question: "Why me?"

Bollerud explained that when people entered recovery from their addictions, both the PTSD and the addiction had to be treated. "To heal from being haunted by intrusive memories," she said, "patients learn to recall them at will."

To help this process along, Bollerud provided group therapy for patients at Beech Hill, along with one-to-one counseling.

Does this approach help? Dr. Bollerud said, "The group is powerful. If PTSD is the illness, words are the medicine."

It's important to note here that PTSD is a condition that can affect any one of us. In addition to war and addiction, other causes that may trigger PTSD are serious accidents, life-threatening diseases, abandonment, extreme neglect, divorce, betrayal, sudden unemployment, and virtually all kinds of abuse.

So, if we are among the vast population that has experienced unthinkable trauma, the words used by Dr. Bollerud are worth considering: "The group is powerful. If PTSD is the illness, words are the medicine." There are some problems that we cannot successfully deal with on our own. If you think you have PTSD, seek help.

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