We hear so much about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) today.  Some consider it a catch-all for the mental health problems so many of us encounter in the process of daily living.  For so long we didn’t take into consideration what trauma of the emotional kind could do in leaving its scars on an individual’s psyche (better known as our emotional, spiritual, and mental state).   Even those of us who have not experienced the trauma of battle in war can suffer from emotional, mental, or spiritual scars that have a direct effect on our mental health that in turn impacts our daily lives.  What constitutes trauma to one might not equate as trauma to another.  Feeling the impact of things that happen within our lives can affect our mental state in ways we sometimes don’t realize, depending on how we choose to deal with such events/situations.  If the individual internalizes hurt, anger, feelings of guilt or fear it can find its way to the surface when we least expect it in the form of ulcers, insomnia, sadness and depression, eating disorders, addiction, or anger outbursts that are outside of our control.  Sometimes traumatic happenings within our lives that we think we have dealt with can resurface as physical, mental, or emotional symptoms long after their occurrence.  We might secretly blame ourselves for things that happen that are actually outside of our control.

For thirty-six years my husband blamed himself for an accidental gasoline explosion on our pleasure boat on a hot summer day on Lake Shasta that landed him, our three small children and me in the hospital with burns.  He suffered second degree burns over 11% of his body, our two boys sustained minor first degree burns more akin to severe sunburn, but our two-year-old daughter and I sustained second and third degree burns over 22% of our bodies.  My husband beat himself up emotionally for years before it came to light in the past few years how remembering the accident caused him such emotional pain and feelings of guilt, as though the accident was his fault.  It has taken a lot of “talking” to him about letting go of things in the past, things that can’t be changed by dwelling on them, and assuring him that no one is at fault for an accident, that’s why it’s called an accident.  You can read about the boating accident in my nonfiction book titled Ramblings of a Mad Woman, Effervescence from the Soul, in a chapter titled Beans; Beans was the name our two-year-old daughter at the time had given one of her dolls.

There are so many things in life we have to learn the technique of letting go, it isn’t easy, but we have a choice; find a way to let it go, or let it simmer.  Sooner or later it will boil over if allowed to simmer, erupting as PTSD.