USA, U. Stress.A, Unbelievably Stressed Americans

  So what a week.  The YAAAAAAANNNNNKKKKEES win!  All out throw down in the Canyon of Heroes.  Major Dr Nidal Malik Hassan walks in to the Soldier Readiness Center and opens fire. He kills twelve people.  Another person dies from their injuries the following day.  Thirty one people wounded including Hassan.  Jose Rodriguez walks into an office building in Florida and opens fire. One dead, several injured.

   As the economy tightens on a personal level, while people keep hearing that things are getting better more and more people are becoming frustrated.  I have long believed that for a certain portion of the population, just everyday survival can and likely lead to PTSD.  Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.  We are more frequently hearing of people just "snapping".  This is a drama that will unfold many more times in many more places until, we as a nation, heal our pain.  Soldiers are fighting and dying in two wars across the world.  Their families are here trying to manage day to day existence under the pressure of bottom dollar home prices, top dollar food prices, climbing gas prices and shrinking numbers of places and people you can turn to for support.  Throw in on top of that not knowing whether you will have a job in six months.

   All in all, even if you have excellent coping skills to start with--and most don't--the prolonged nature of the stress can be too much, and that is your basic definition of PTSD.  In my work, I deal with people who are living in their pain, and with the byproducts of it.  I have always believed that the only thing that separates one person from another are the series of choices that they make.  One person chooses therapy, another drugs.  One person chooses to reach out and another chooses to get out. 

    I have gone through tough times with the economy myself, and working on a grant that's closing, my future is uncertain also.  I have something that many don't have though.  I believe that at the end of the day no matter how difficult it gets, the ship will right itself.  As someone pointed out to me, I have a wonderful set of problems.  One child in college, another on the way to college and a very bright preschooler and how to pay for it all.  He pointed out that I could be spending money on bail and restitution as opposed to uniforms and college applications. Sometimes, all you need is perspective.  There but for the grace of God go I.