I/O Psych and Leadership

In the TEDtalk, Dr Seahorn covers PTSD and some of its effects on the brain, body, and emotions from a scientific as well as personal experience perspective since she is married to a Vietnam War Veteran. She mentions that you can’t tell if a person has PTSD and how it’s referred to as the hidden wound or silent screams. (Seahorn, J 2016) This was eye-opening as a sufferer of PTSD; I wish my hidden wound and silent scream were more noticeable/apparent or at least known. Making my “strange over the top behaviors” (Seahorn, J 2016) perhaps easier to accept rather than misunderstand.

Dr Seahorn continues to explain that despite the training her husband received, it in no way helped protect him from PTSD. (Seahorn, J 2016) I was an Infantryman, a trained and previously tested combat Soldier of 18 years with two tours under my belt before I succumbed to PTSD. The text explains the developmental psychopathology perspective and in Figure 6-3 Multifinality and PTSD how similar negative variables may wind up with different clinical outcomes. (Comer, R, J, 2021 p.167) This, in part, lends to the explanation of how I had previously gone to combat twice and emerged without PTSD. It wasn’t even a thought that I might be suffering from PTSD that I began to question whether PTSD was a legitimate issue and not just some made-up reason to evade service.

So, what was different this third time? Well, I believe I found my answer in a second video, Seeing Invisible Injury, Chapter 6, by Dr Taylor. She discusses how traumatic brain injury is also a factor found to be relevant to PTSD contraction. (Taylor, M 2014) I also suffered a traumatic brain injury, an injury I only received on my third combat tour. As Dr Taylor explains, the traumatic brain injury combined with the traumatic combat events were both the perfect storm, combining the right amounts of stress and physical harm (Taylor, M 2014) that may very well have caused my PTSD this third go around.

As a PTSD sufferer, and as Dr. Seahorn explains, throughout comes challenges from this disorder or rather reordering of neural networks, pathways, and sensory pathways. (Seahorn, J 2016) There is the fight between the feelings of sanity and insanity that occur in my head as my “red (toxic) zone” is activated and my pre-frontal cortex begins to shut down. (Seahorn, J 2016) It is a challenge to process what feels like a fight or flight situation, but it’s just a loud outdoor eating area with a waiter frustrated with a table’s complex food order.

Dr. Seahorn continues to mention many of the issues that plague a person living with PTSD, such as short-term memory problems controlled at the hippocampus, the “red (toxic) zone releasing stress hormones held at the amygdala, glucose released to prepare for action, sensory overload forcing a state of hypervigilance and awareness, and increasing anxiety. (Seahorn, J 2016) All these complex and simultaneous issues affecting a person living with PTSD will eventually also have biological and physical effects on a person, such as Insomnia, flashbacks, nightmares, and chronic hypertension leading to strokes and or heart attacks. (Seahorn, J 2016).

Dr. Seahorn walks you through a comprehensive review of what PTSD is and how it affects a person. The video gave me vital information in understanding the why’s of my condition. It was informative, engaging, and compelling. The use of scientifically backed information in unity with her personal experience with a person living with PTSD gives a clear perspective into what science says and what it looks like in practicality.  

References

Seahorn, J. (2016, March 14). Understanding PTSD’s Effects on Brain, Body, and Emotions. [Video] YouTube. URL  https://youtu.be/BEHDQeIRTgs?si=21P5zcGESXZURemFLinks to an external site.

Comer, R. & J. (2021). Abnormal psychology. (11th ed., p. 167). Worth Publishers.

Taylor, M. (2014, November 3). Seeing Invisible Injury. [Video] YouTube. URLhttps://youtu.be/0Bhk65bY_I0?si=9btbmMEzMzWmMsR2Links to an external site.