Post traumatic stress disorder: (PTSD) is a severe anxiety (fear) disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that result in psychological or physical trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else. It can be someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's ability to cope. As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen post-traumatic stress (also known as acute stress response). Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and increased arousal—such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hyper vigilance (a state of heightened awareness and watchfulness; "on guard).
What
are the symptoms of PTSD?
PTSD can cause many symptoms. These symptoms can be
grouped into three categories:
1. Re-experiencing symptoms:
- Flashbacks—reliving the trauma over and over in your mind and
including physical symptoms like a racing heart, sweating, panic, attacks,
and many more.
- Bad dreams
- Frightening thoughts.
Re-experiencing symptoms may cause problems in a person’s
everyday routine. They can start from the person’s own thoughts and feelings.
Words, objects, or situations that are reminders of the event can also trigger
re-experiencing.
2. Avoidance symptoms:
- Staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the
experience
- Feeling emotionally numb
- Feeling strong guilt, depression, or worry
- Losing interest in activities that were enjoyable in the past
- Having trouble remembering the dangerous event.
Things that remind a person of the traumatic event can
trigger avoidance symptoms. These symptoms may cause a person to change his or
her personal routine. For example, after a bad car accident, a person who
usually drives may avoid driving or riding in a car.
3. Hyper-arousal symptoms: a state of increased psychological and
physiological tension
- Being easily startled
- Feeling tense or “on edge”
- Having difficulty sleeping, and/or having angry outbursts.
Hyper-arousal symptoms are usually constant, instead of
being triggered by things that remind one of the traumatic events. Meaning, many stressors are constantly
present and working continuously in our soul causing symptoms rather than
having one large trauma/stressor triggering intense symptoms. They can make the person feel stressed and
angry. These symptoms may make it hard to do daily tasks, such as sleeping,
eating, or concentrating.
It’s natural to have some of these symptoms after a
dangerous event. Sometimes people have very serious symptoms that go away after
a few weeks. This is called acute stress (fear) disorder, or ASD. When the
symptoms last more than a few weeks and become an ongoing problem, they might
be PTSD. Some people with PTSD do not show any symptoms for weeks or months,
but rest assured, it will surface eventually.
Spiritually
speaking, we must understand how the spirit of fear operates. Fear is mentioned in the bible over 365
times. Basically, God is telling us: Do
Not Fear. Satan will always focus on the easiest way to control us, destroy
us, and kill us. Fear is the number one
tool he uses to do this. God is telling
us how much of an issue fear is. Especially, fear that can lead to anxiety
disorders. Anxiety disorders that can
eventually lead to PTSD and it can affect anyone. Not just soldiers, policemen, paramedics, and
firemen.
We can be born
with fear from past generations (For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth
generations of those who hate Me Deuteronomy 5:9). Couple that with the stress, anxiety, and
fears from the time we are born to our present age. This could be tens of thousands of traumas/fears
over our life time. What I am saying
here is that PTSD can be a lifetime of large or smaller traumas leading to PTSD
in our later years. Not just one massive
trauma in our lives.
Where there is
PTSD in your life, you WILL experience depression or oppression. Oppression is a deeper form of
depression. The dictionary defines oppression
as prolonged, cruel, or unjust treatment or control. A similar word is persecution. Oppression is called a spirit of stupor in
the bible (“God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not
see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day” Romans 11:8). This verse tells us that we have an
unsound mind or existence.
Science, doctors,
therapists treat the symptoms. Yet,
people are still fighting fear and PTSD in their lives with little relief. Key to being healed from PTSD is treating the
cause. We must pray away the fears.
In conclusion:
Fear will try to create and dominate your present and your future. Fear projects into the future, based on your
past. It is important that you learn to
put aside everything you have been exposed to that controls you and tries to
create your future for you. That could
include recognizing what is in your family tree, your memories, philosophies,
idiosyncrasies (odd or peculiar habits), and any programming that causes
victimization.
Prayer:
Father
God, in the name of Jesus, I take authority over all fears in my life and the fears
from previous generations that were passed down to me. I pray away all fears in
me. I pray for healing of these fear
symptoms and I declare restoration, God’s peace, and His perfect love over me, (There is no fear in love; but perfect
love casts out fear, because fear involves torment, 1 John 4:18).
Everyone struggles with traumas, fears, and PTSD at one level or another and Satan will always try to remind you of your past traumas and fears tied to traumas. This is when we must repeat the above prayer. We are engaged in a spiritual war and we must pray every day and sometimes many times per day or we lose the battle. Tony Sanchez, 12-11-23
