On today's inspire, we turn our attention to the issue of traumatic events and post-traumatic stress disorder.

None of us can ever plan for tragedy to strike.

But what can we do to help our family and friends who may experience this in their lifetime?

Don't miss this serious conversation coming up on the next Inspire.

♪ Inspire is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Anne Goldsmith.

The Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation and the Louis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust.

♪ Thank you for joining us for this important episode of inspire.

Glad to be here with my amazing inspire sisters, Danielle Norwood, Amy Kelly, and thank you for joining us.

About half of the adults in the United States will experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime, creating a variety of mental and emotional issues, including PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder.

People who experience PTSD may have recurring thoughts focusing on the memory of the event, experienced sleep issues, and may have trouble coping with everyday life in severe forms.

PTSD can hinder a person's ability to function well at home, at work, or even with friends and family.

Here to talk to us about the impact of traumatic events are our guests.

Patricia Bryan, outpatient team leader for the Family Service and Guidance Center, and Charlotte Purcell, trauma survivor, and also who happens to be our very own membership manager here at KTWU.

You ladies, thank you very much for being with us today.

Okay.

So I'm just going to ask the baseline question.

Can you describe what is trauma?

What is PTSD?

I know that is a term that is used overused so much.

Oh, I have PTSD from all the laundry I have to do, you know, and it's it's it's it's unfair.

Can you describe what this actually is?

Yes.

Trauma is any distressing event that's experienced by a person that they feel unable to cope with that event that has happened, which is different from PTSD, which is a mental health diagnosis.

Oh my gosh.

You know, when you think when I hear of PTSD, course I was in the Vietnam era.

I immediately think of veterans.

Anybody who's been in any war.

But it can be.

It is so much more than that.

But you used to hear of it as shell shock or, you know, some of that fatigue.

There you go.

Combat fatigue.

And so that's a you guys.

And this is something else.

Charlotte I work with Charlotte.

I had no idea that she had been through that.

Charlotte, would you be willing to just say, a little bit more about it?

Because that's a lesson to us all.

We never know who is experienced and what we've not.

Walked in your shoes.

Will you explain since it is so very different from war?

So I have, trauma and post-traumatic stress from events that happened in my childhood.

But I also have, events that happened, in my, teens and my early 20s, some unwanted, encounters, with men, that left me, with some PTSD and, symptoms.

But the main one, I think that people identify most with PTSD, is that I was, in a bombing.

So in, London, I just happened to be overseas.

I have degrees in art history and anthropology from Washburn, and, I went there to do a summer program with Southern Peace, and, I really enjoyed it, but, on seven, seven, of 2005, I believe, there was a bombing, and they, there were bombs on three trains, three subway trains, the tube and on one bus.

And, so I was supposed to take the subway that day, but my flatmates and I had decided to go on the bus.

Neither were a great decision, but the bus did turn out to be better.

But, some of my other classmates weren't, quite as lucky because they chose the tube.

And so they were, in there when some of the trains pull up.

But none of them, they were okay.

They weren't injured, but, it did blackout.

And there's just a lot of, visceral sensory memories, of that day.

Because when the bus blew up, we were on another bus, so we got to hear all the announcements, and then we were, locked into this other base for the remainder of the day.

Yeah.

And so, the whole city basically, shut down, after.

And so everybody had to walk back, to their places, even if it was like a suburb.

So it was very odd to see a very busy part of London.

And when I did finally make it back to the States, because I, I still had to stay there for another week and a half.

And so we still had to use the subway.

Which was not great because there were announcements saying that you should look at everybody, to check on their bags.

Make sure that you report, see what you see.

So everyone was quite nervous.

Something that was different between the states and America or sorry, was going overseas and America.

And I don't know if it's different now, but at least, back then, it the media is very, very graphic there.

Wow.

And so, that's something I would recommend is if you do go through a tragic event that it's totally okay to disengage from the news, because seeing those images and having that as at the same time as everything else, really added to it.

So, yeah, I would say definitely take a pause from media and come back to it when you're comfy.

So yeah, thank you for your vulnerability and sharing all of this.

I know this has got to be difficult.

What are some of the symptoms or some of the signs that you feel yourself going into a moment or however you would perceive that to be?

So there's a lot of different symptoms.

Me, for example, I had a lot of trouble with very vivid nightmares.

I had a lot of trouble with sleeping.

PTSD often doesn't come in isolation.

And so oftentimes you're going to have things or that, at least in my experience, and other people I know with the condition, you're going to have things like anxiety, which can result in, you know, panic disorder.

And, so me, I have, panic attacks.

And so I will feel, my fingers going numb.

I'll feel my toes going numb.

And you actually go through therapy and you learn, you learn that your body is doing basically fight or flight.

And so your blood is moving more towards your heart.

And so if you kind of tell yourself, you know, logically, this is what's happening, that can help.

Not always, but it's one of the things that can help.

You can some people will hyperventilate.

That used to be an issue for me.

It's not any longer.

But I would say something that people don't like to discuss with PTSD and that I've experienced personally, is you can also have things like disassociation.

And so that is like, let's say you're driving, right?

Is happened to me where I'm driving and I completely forgot where I'm going.

Wow, I forgot who I am.

I forgot what I'm doing.

I forget how to work my cell phone.

And I would highly recommend not driving if you're going through those symptoms at the time.

But but usually when it first happens, you don't know that it's going to happen.

So, but and there's ways that you can work around that.

So, I would call it almost like grounding yourself.

So you just think about, you know, who you are, you pause, you think about things around you that you can see it's called like the five, four, three, two, one that you learn in, cognitive behavioral therapy.

So those are just things you can see, things you can smell, touch, stuff like that.

You just kind of reground yourself and reorient yourself.

Another thing that people don't like to discuss, and I would say is possibly a reason why people don't seek treatment is because they will sometimes, hallucinate.

And so you can have, audio hallucinations.

You can also have visual hallucinations.

And so I have only had that happen once personally.

But I had it happen on the way to the 9/11 memorial, with my now husband.

And it was, you know, I was stressed and, so I saw something that wasn't there.

And people don't like to talk about that because they feel like they're going to be perceived as being crazy or less than or unstable, but is something that can happen.

And it's and, you know, you talk about it in therapy, you get treatment.

And so yeah, there's so much more.

Thank you guys.

Oh my gosh.

You want to stay right there.

Because we have more from Charlotte and Patricia.

And hopefully this will be very helpful to you.

Please stay there.

We'll be right back.

Welcome back.

We're back with our guest, Patricia Brian, who's the outpatient team leader for the Family Service and Guidance Center, and Charlotte Purcell, trauma survivor.

And you may know her and another role as our fabulous membership manager here at KTWU.

And Patricia and Charlotte, let's continue our discussion.

One of the things that you mentioned during the break is that sometimes you feel guilty talking about your PTSD because you think that other people may have more impactful moments of PTSD than you do.

Although with that story, I'm thinking that that's pretty impactful for a lot of people.

Talk about your thoughts about that.

I think it's a worry because other people passed away and were injured or lost someone, and so I know there was a lot of guilt, even still.

And, I feel bad that, emotionally, I feel that way.

Because I feel like, oh, it's almost like you didn't, like, earned the right to feel that way.

But I would say, like, definitely to others who are going through the same symptoms that you definitely have earned the right.

I just know it's something that I continue to struggle with, and it's definitely something, you know, if you go to therapy, then it really benefits yourself and your family, and, it can make you feel, you know, a lot better and more confident.

So, one of the things that we talked about also before we started is that there shouldn't be any guilt or shame in discussing it from the standpoint one person's issue could be relatively light, one person's issue could be relatively painful.

I suffer from it.

Two as of the 4th of July, I had a car accident involving a deer.

And so, there are plenty of times that I'm driving around, especially because I do a lot of commuting and I'll see deer and automatically, you know, that triggers something in me.

I have not gone to get treatment for it necessarily, just because, you know, I'm of the idea.

Well, it'll eventually correct itself, but sometimes it doesn't talk about that.

Right.

When we experience a situation and a traumatic event like that, that is very severe where we're threatened, our lives are threatened, or the perception or we see that, we witness a death or we witness, like a serious car accident or in a car accident, then, you know, that can be very difficult for us, obviously.

Some people kind of believe that.

Oh, I should I should have gotten over that.

Even parents whose children's have been abused might say, well, that happened ten years ago.

Why are they having symptoms now?

And I think in our society it's like, okay, get over it.

Let's move on.

Let's go to the next thing.

But that is, you know, that is unfair.

Because everyone's experience is different and I can't tell you how you're going to feel, either of you, how you're going to feel, or what or when you should be sort of like moving past it or feeling better.

Are the are the symptoms different between adults and children.

I mean there may be some of our viewers who are listening to charlatan and can identify or as a parent, what would I look for in a child.

Would that be different?

Probably not too different other than kids tend to express themselves differently.

Some kids don't have access to, like, language skills, so they might be acting out a little bit more externalizing behavior, such as lying or having tantrums.

So that that might be a little bit different.

The symptoms are the same.

Children would have nightmares as well, potentially, just like adults do.

Efforts to kind of avoid the situation that they were in.

Anything that looks like it smells like it feels like it.

We don't want to remember the bad things that happen to us.

We would rather forget those things.

So when we're faced with, something that reminds us of it, we want to just, like, don't want to think about it.

We, you know, you hear about the school shootings, that and then they say they'll be personnel therapists there at the school the next day.

How important is that to seek some kind of treatment or understanding fairly quickly?

It actually is very important, for us, for children and adults, it's like, seek out your, you know, your people.

Seek out those that are close to you that can provide you the support, and that allow you to maybe talk about it if that's what you want to do.

And for parents, it's allowing the same thing.

If your kids want to talk about it, be there for them.

That's probably the best thing that I can say that parents should do.

And, the peers around the adults that go through trauma as well, it's like, be there.

And then you're looking for like, if there are symptoms, you're looking at, okay, in a month, are things progressively getting better?

Are the nightmares fewer or the tantrums fewer?

If they're if it's not better in about that time, that's probably time you should consider seeking help for yourself or, getting help for your children.

Like going to therapy, getting evaluated to see if, they're in need of treatment.

You've been with Family Service and Guidance Center for how many years now?

34, which is amazing.

Right.

Well thank you.

Yes.

Great.

What's the youngest patient that you've treated with PTSD?

The youngest is probably seven, but we have, therapists in our facility that have treated three year olds and two year olds and how does that manifest with someone who was a two year old or a three year old?

There would be, like I mentioned before, like the tantrums, the nightmares, wanting to be with mom and dad, maybe wanting to sleep in the same bed, being scared.

Those are some of the things, some of the symptoms that they would be.

And how would parents know that this is something that is deeper than just a little?

Johnny having a moment?

If it lasts, if it lasts like longer, if it does, it progressively get better.

If you can't in that month's time, can't see that.

Okay.

We're better than we were two weeks ago.

Okay, okay.

Are there any things that get in the way of treatment, some of the roadblocks or things that can prevent treatment from happening?

Yeah, sometimes it's financial.

I mean, it cost to go to to go to therapy, costs to go to therapy.

As much as you may need to attend therapy.

So that's one.

One is like thinking that, you know, this should have this should go away like this happened a long time ago.

So maybe just not being, not having an understanding of trauma and, even PTSD symptoms.

Is there something that Charlotte could do, like, for example, like, give yourself some grace or.

Yes.

Yes, definitely.

Self-care and giving yourself to, like you mentioned, giving yourself some grace, recognizing that you know, not everybody is going to experience things in the same way.

There are children in the same family who went through the same kinds of situations, but one is struggling a great deal, and the other one is not.

Just like you mentioned, there probably were people that that seemed to not experience symptoms or seem to maybe even like walk away.

And, and after this first initial shock of what happened and talking about it went on and said, okay, yeah, yeah, I'm doing okay.

So this has been really an incredible conversation.

And Charlotte and Patricia, we cannot thank you enough for your strength and sharing your, your experiences and your stories with us and doing all the great work at the Family Service and Guidance Center.

So thank you for being with us on today's inspire.

But stay tuned because we'll be right back with more of this very important topic.

Welcome back.

We understand some of the impacts of PTSD, but what can we do to help those we care about who are struggling with this?

I tell you what, Patricia and Charlotte, we've got to get into this because we know there's so many.

And like with Charlotte's case, we didn't even know that she had this going on in her life.

So, Patricia, as far as the family Service and guidance center, what are some self-care things we can do?

Well, I think as, as individuals, we can support those who have experienced trauma and a lot of different ways.

One of those is by having an understanding that not everybody will experience the same thing, and that we should validate what they're feeling.

We should be there for them.

If they want to talk, we should be allowing them to do that.

Is there a certain time period that most people think, okay, this traumatic thing has happened and maybe you should have this moment like a little after, but maybe 5 or 10 years later you're experiencing this PTSD.

The people give grace because the mind is not logical when it comes to feelings and certain things shared with us about that.

I think that people, you know, the symptoms may be starting immediately after the traumatic event has occurred.

So it can go up to, from right after to about even three months.

But then also, if you've experienced traumas like in childhood, you know, those can kind of accumulate and then you experience more trauma and more trauma.

So that can last, you know, quite a while or kind of if we call them triggers, which are kind of like how are responding and reacting to things that happen to us, based on that initial trauma, then those triggers can last for a good long time.

For years, even, you know, that happens in animals too, but it's just like, you know, the does it does it really does a trigger.

But I know you were going to ask a the brilliant question.

Oh, no, I'm just I guess I'm from, from the, from the outside.

I am very fortunate that I have not had any anything significant like that.

That is that has impacted me.

So although people in my life have and, and it's from the outside, it is tricky to kind of go.

I mean, that was a while ago and, you know, it was just a deer, you know, it's something like that, you know, how are you?

I mean, you know, get out, snap out of it.

I mean, that's kind of how what, other than to sit in, you're enlisting again and again.

What can we do to be more supportive?

We can ask them if they need anything.

We can.

We can listen, just like you said.

We can, be a support to them.

We can encourage them.

Sometimes people with trauma as listed in PTSD will have thoughts, negative thoughts about themselves or about the world, such as the world is not a safe place, or I'm damaged or I'm bad.

And children might even think of things like if they were sexually abused or, experience some other kind of trauma.

It was my fault, or I should have done this, or I should have done that, or I should have, stopped it.

You know, a lot of these things are the thoughts are either maybe they're not true or they're just not helpful thoughts to have in your life.

Charlotte, you've mentioned that, that those are some of the things that you have felt.

What has helped you?

A lot of therapy.

A lot of therapy, some medications.

They have changed over the years.

You know, your your medications can change, and that's okay.

Right.

Go up and down or stop it.

Just work on it with your provider.

You know, being able to say that a certain therapist maybe isn't working for me.

That was a hard one.

Because I, I'm an overly polite person, and I did not want to offend them.

And so that's something where you can learn, that it's okay.

They're not going to get offended.

It's just not working great for you.

And that's why you can move on to the next person.

Something that really helped me, was mantras, which were good might sound silly, but, so basically mine was, you know, I've done it before.

I can do it again and you just repeat something, and it's kind of soothing.

So some CBT, cognitive behavioral therapy, techniques worked for me, some didn't.

And that's okay.

People have different, success with it.

And for me, exposure therapy has been really.

What's that?

What is that?

So, exposure therapy for me.

What I did, and then maybe you want to explain the definition.

For me, it's you take little small steps.

So for me, I still have anxiety.

For example, around driving, especially highways.

I'm not a fan.

But.

So even driving locally.

Right.

So, you know, you drive up a block, right?

Then you drive up another block, you know, and you just do each day you do a separate step, and it can be as big or small as you want, right.

And my therapist always describes it like, you want to get to the point where.

So on a scale of 1 to 10, your anxiety is on like a five, right?

You know, at least that was our practice.

Right?

Right.

And then, you know, go up to there and then the next day you keep trying.

And part of it, too, is getting comfortable with some of those panic symptoms.

Because something you have to realize too, is a lot of people love to say, you know, I don't have anxiety, but the problem is, is everybody has anxiety and you don't want to have no anxiety.

That wouldn't be good because there's some things running at you.

You want to.

So, so that's another thing to come to grips with.

The fact that that's okay, to have some anxiety and that it serves you and to get used to those symptoms.

Yeah, I applaud you that you're continually working through your issues.

That's that's a beautiful thing.

What was the thing that she was mentioning about experiential exposure?

It's exposure therapy.

She described it very, very well.

And one of the things that I do with, and I, I work with a lot of children.

And so what I'm asking them to do is I'm asking them to, write about what happened to them or draw pictures or write a poem or a song about that, and then I'm directing them and guiding them about, I want to hear about what happened to you, but I also want to hear about it using the five senses.

So if you had thoughts during what was happening, you know, were you did you hear anything?

What kind of sounds were you hearing?

Did you smell anything?

So taste, all of that and having them, write all of that down and asking questions about, what cognitions, negative cognitions they had about themselves.

And then rereading that, that story over and over.

So, they will, get used to that and understand that they can hear it and get through it.

Which is really kind of what exposure therapy is.

It's like you can get through it, like you can live through it.

You can manage yourself during that.

Those exposures.

Perfect.

This has been such an enlightening conversation.

I know.

I appreciate you so much for sharing your thoughts and and for you giving us knowledge on what we can do to kind of navigate some of the things that we're going through, because I'm sure more people are dealing with it that are not talking about it.

They're the ones who are.

So this has been a really beautiful discussion.

So thank you for taking the time to actually look at the issue of PTSD after tragedy with us and inspire, and we're so grateful to our guest today, Patricia Brian, who's outpatient team leader for the Family Service and Guidance Center and Charlotte Purcell, who is trauma survivor and who we have the pleasure of working with us as our wonderful membership manager here at KTWU.

Thank you for joining us.

And as a reminder, you can watch this program again watch.ktwu.org.

Inspired by our guests and want to see what's coming up on future episodes, visit our website at ktwu.org/inspire Inspiring women, inspiring support and patience.

Also compassion for those in need.

Inspiring you on KTWU.

We thank you for watching.

♪ Inspire is sponsored by the estate of Ray and Ann Goldsmith, the Raymond C and Marguerite Gibson Foundation, and the Louis H. Humphreys Charitable Trust.