Confronted with trauma, the brain records every detail about the event — sights, smells, sounds, body sensations, even our thoughts and the strong emotions we experience at the time. Veterans often describe a heightened sense of awarness or of being alive during their combat experiences. These feelings are indelibly etched into our unconscious memories, and our bodies are conditioned to respond in a certain way to similar events in the future. DOD Photograph Triggered by something that consciously or unconsciously reminds us of a traumatic event, our bodies instinctively prepare to either fight or flee the situation. To have this response is a very stressful physical and strong emotional experience. What’s more, it’s a response that others around you may not understand: each of you hears the loud backfire of a car; with a startle you, the veteran, respond to it as if it is a gunshot; your friend hears it as just a noise from a car and unlike you he can smoothly forget about it.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 18:44:12 +0000
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