PTSD

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tradmanclimbs

Ice climber

Pomfert VT

May 30, 2017 - 11:23am PT

that is insane! you are a big cat specialist and that cat found you and fought you. that simply must be some kind of karma thing.....

Happiegrrrl2

Trad climber

May 30, 2017 - 11:30am PT

Or simply that because he is in their environment so much more often than the average person, the chance of an encounter was greater.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 30, 2017 - 11:58am PT

Them kitties don't like being outed, Q. ;-)

When you went back the next day I'm thinking you were still high on adrenaline?

Q- Ball

Mountain climber

but to scared to climb them anymore

Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2017 - 12:19pm PT

Reilly,
I had my pistol in hand the next day. I searched the area wondering if it had a kill. Found nothing. But was able to track it for a ways from my last sighting at my car. For some reason none of my buddies would join me, and I was a bit anxious still and left.

MikeL

Social climber

Southern Arizona

May 30, 2017 - 12:39pm PT

Guiness_Fuled_Climber: . . . I was able to actually help myself using mushrooms . . . .

I’ve heard this too. In particular, I’ve heard about funded research being done in a couple of places in the U.S. with MDMA, with supposedly impressive results.

skcreidc

Social climber

SD, CA

May 30, 2017 - 12:49pm PT

Interesting stuff Q-Ball. And I don't blame you for not taking the "man killer" gig. My first look at a tiger paw print made me think long and hard about going out at night while there. Thing was bigger than my hand.

Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

May 30, 2017 - 01:27pm PT

I had an experience in 1994 which gave me some insight into PTSD. My episode was caused by a single incident, and was easily treated by a professional.

I helped carry a badly mangled body down from the base of Tahquitz Rock. For several days after I kept getting that feeling you get when you drive past a bad car accident, where you keep wanting to look back to see more. Then, four days after, I was sitting in a meeting with a client. I looked up from my paperwork to ask him something and had a 100% full on hallucination. I was looking at the disfigured body of the dead man. I snapped out of it, but my client saw that something was wrong. We were friends outside of business, so I told him exactly what happened. He called his wife, a psychiatrist, I talked to her and she said "classic PTSD." She referred me to a Dr. who specialized in this.

I sat down in his office, he asked me to tell him what happened. I got in about two sentences and he stopped me. I was glossing over the details. For two hours per session he made me go through the entire experience frame by frame, pulling out of me all the details which I was repressing. It was hard, lots of tears and so forth, but when we were done I was over it.

I learned some things from this episode which affect me emotionally to this day. One, I could access the horrors I repressed with relative ease because the experience was fresh, and my case was also made easier because it was a single experience. Also, I didn't know the victim and there was no sense of guilt for me. But with this little bit of insight, I try to imagine the suffering that people – for example combat veterans – who are trying to deal with the co-mingling of many terrible experiences must endure. How awful it must be to carry the burden of a tangled web of horrible experiences, often buried for years, and often mixed with substance abuse either at the time or later in life, and guilt (survivor's guilt or otherwise.)

tradmanclimbs

Ice climber

Pomfert VT

May 30, 2017 - 02:00pm PT

It really helps to talk about it. Internalizeing just makes it fester. Self medication with alcohol or drugs never helps resolve anything.

Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

May 30, 2017 - 02:14pm PT

Internalizeing just makes it fester. Self medication with alcohol or drugs never helps resolve anything.

My birth father operated a flame thrower on Okinawa. He spent the rest of his life medicating. The marriage which produced me didn't last long. The one emotional outlet for him was his stunningly beautiful singing.

Q- Ball

Mountain climber

but to scared to climb them anymore

Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2017 - 02:55pm PT

Ksolem,
Thanks for the story and thoughts. I am still not trying to make this about me and understand many people deal with much more difficult situations.

Talking about some of my experiences helps me. Folks that know me think I have crazy stories and no emotions (or some superhero to laymen). I am a tough guy, but a heavy thinker on stuff.

Some instances that weigh heavy on me...
Struck by lightening 5 times
Avalanche
Hauling a German guys body down from 20,000
The mtn lion stuff
Divorce from an abusive spouse
Sinking a boat solo in 900 ft of water
2shark attacks

I guess I am just a mess! I got out of the high altitude stuff and stick to the rivers and jungle now.

Ksolem

Trad climber

Monrovia, California

May 30, 2017 - 03:57pm PT

Dang! That's an impressive list. Five times by lightning? That's crazy.

ron gomez

Trad climber

fallbrook,ca

May 30, 2017 - 06:45pm PT

Been reading this post most of the day. Great question Tami...why is that some can deflect or "deal" with trauma? I work with a large population of PTSD diagnosis and there is, at least in my work a list of symptoms and conditions that meet the criteria of PTSD. There is a lot of research out there to guide one in the right direction to deal with this condition, I think it is still in its infancy with treatment.
If you think you are suffering from PTSD..... seek the right type of help, there are qualified experts, get help it's a vicious condition.
Peace

Ghost

climber

A long way from where I started

May 30, 2017 - 07:15pm PT

I'm also curious about trauma that does NOT cause post traumatic stress.
Some people can experience trauma and detach from it or compartmentalize it so they don't experience the hallucinations or adrenalated state that is connected to the syndrome.
Can anybody comment on that phenomena ?

Yes, I think I can comment.

I once spent almost three full days believing I was about to be killed by Polar Bears. It was not a false belief -- one of them was within about 20 meters -- and escaping her only led to an even more desperate situation.

I've posted it here on ST (http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=2727226&msg=2729094#msg2729094);.

But there was no aftermath. I can still see her, starving and protecting her baby, almost upon us. But that vision carries no horror, and has never haunted either my sleep or my waking life.

Why? Why not? What generates endless nightmares in one of us and not the other? No idea.

Lynne Leichtfuss

Trad climber

Will know soon

May 30, 2017 - 07:17pm PT

Really great question, Ghost.

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 30, 2017 - 07:46pm PT

I was gonna posit the same question on a variation of the theme. I think it boils down to too much Anglo Saxon blood in us.

"Oy! Keep calm and have a tipple!"

Q- Ball

Mountain climber

but to scared to climb them anymore

Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2017 - 07:50pm PT

Jim,
I have often wondered why some people freeze up and others go into action mode when sheet hits the fan. Everyone can talk the talk but I have always seen a very different reaction from some people when an incident occurs.

I have had both reactions.

Some incidents I have been involved in don't bother me at all, others still piss me off wondering what I should have done different. ... Be safe everyone!
Qball

Reilly

Mountain climber

The Other Monrovia- CA

May 30, 2017 - 07:58pm PT

Well, Q, that's cause for a whole nuther thread. Coming from the military and aviation world a lot of it is just training. But, as you wonder, when you get into a situation you've not trained for I think there is a cross-over of mental coolness. I also think, having sat at the foot of a genuine swami, one can learn to quickly quiet the raging western mind and crack on! :-)

Q- Ball

Mountain climber

but to scared to climb them anymore

Topic Author's Reply - May 30, 2017 - 08:29pm PT

Reilly,
Thanks for the thoughts. On a fun note still dealing with this....one week later...
I was fumbling with my camera after trying to get some under water trout shots... A chill went through me and I wheeled around and ended up charging out of the river at some guys dog. Both dog and hiker were terrified and ran off! It happened in an instant, but we ended up talking for a while.

My response as he looked at me funny in a black wetsuit in no mans land..." You ain't ever seen a rubber n$&@r? " He had sneaked up curious about the black thing swimming around this alpine creek. I know it is not the comment I should divulge but I speak facts. My heart was still racing.