PTSD

Many Faces of PTSD: Does Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Have a Grip On Your Life?

gwen — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This small, compact book is a treasure. I don’t mean that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is great; on the contrary, it’s a long-term battle once you’ve been diagnosed with it. The book itself, though, is a good read, considering the subject matter, and Many Faces of PTSD is much bigger than its 124-page size.

Therapist Susan Rau Stocker presents various case studies in a nonjudgmental format that tugs at the reader emotionally while at the same time offering coping mechanisms for PTSD. Through the case of “Olivia,” we are given the example of a person with PTSD who suffers from anxiety and generational family abuse. This causes Olivia to question her sanity and self-esteem. The reader is given Olivia's PTSD symptoms and the effects they have on her body and mind. As one of Stocker’s patients, she is trying to come to grips with how to function on the day-to-day, and become as stable as possible. It is a work in progress, and there is no quick fix.

Despite the grim reality of the recovery process, Stocker’s offerings of healing are very positive. It may be a lot of work, but it is all worth it. From initially accepting that the sufferer has PTSD (which is the most difficult step towards healing) to recognizing personal maladaptive behaviours and coming up with alternative solutions, the path to recovery can be overwhelming. Many Faces of PTSD patiently shows that the path can eventually lead to better lives.

Part of the challenge in accepting life with PTSD are the limitations it comes with. As Stocker notes, the disorder is neurological; the brain malfunctions. Each patient is different and the book covers many different factors, including medication. One of the elements of recovery that was not covered, however, was the diet of the person with PTSD. What we eat is crucial not only because of the old saying, "we are what we eat," but because sufferers must pay attention to caffeine and sugar intake, which can affect symptoms like anxiety. It can’t be held against the author, though, since she presents her findings and tips derived from therapy sessions.

In the end, as Stocker notes, it really is up to the person with PTSD to take control over her or his healing process. While some of the case studies are uncomfortable, reading through them is therapeutic. I was only able to read one a night, instead of sitting down with the book all at one time, and found that the goal of transitioning from victim to active survivor is possible for those willing and able to put in the effort.

Written by: Nicolette Westfall, October 19th 2010

Dark Hunger

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 09:16:00 +0000

By Rita Herron

Forever Publishing

Although this “paranormal romance” is the first of Rita Herron’s books that I’ve read, it’s the second in the Demonborn series. I expected something that was fresh, original, and erotic—boy, was I disappointed. The story line was, however, easy to follow. There were too many elements of this story that turned me off.

The lack of research that went into this story is appalling. Yes, we have demonic people like vampires and shape shifters; however, the backdrop for these characters is the real world. The author takes the lazy approach and as a result, creates many glaring guffaws that irritated the crap out of me. St. Louis, New Orleans’ oldest cemetery is mistakenly presented as only one of the oldest.

The most grating unchecked mistake is her constant referral to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as PTS (Post Traumatic Stress). The bad guy, a cartoon character named Zion, who reminded me of the bad guy “The Master” from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, utilizes war veterans who have PTS in his bid to take over the world one American city at a time.

PTS is temporary and only lasts from weeks to a number of months—such a minor error wouldn’t matter, if she didn’t repeat it over and over, like her use of “innocent” to describe anybody who isn’t a demon. The author also references a fictional online PTSD group to tie the veterans’ legal names to the ring leader—yet the most popular PTSD online support group is anonymous—as are most—to protect sufferers’ identities.

Then there’s the premise of reporter Annabelle Armstrong hunting down Quinton Valtrez, the quintessential 'bad boy'. She easily tells police officials she’s a reporter and hey, they tell her anything she wants. By the way, our innocent heroine is pale skinned, blonde, and blue-eyed, like an angel. Bad boy Quinton, like his evil daddy Zion, has a dark complexion—no surprise there.

Another absurdity is the vulture element. An endangered species, these vultures—demons in disguise—start flying over each place that’s going to be bombed. Their numbers increase exponentially after killing innocents. Nobody seems to mind except for our innocent damsel and her brooding Dark Lord heartthrob. It creates a problem because the paranormal is purposely set within contemporary reality. I kept wondering why the army or the National Guard didn’t come in and shoot them all down—or why animal conservationists didn’t try to rescue the hungry birds.

I know—who cares about the plot and accuracy and believability, because it’s all about the sex scenes. The erotica is terrible—words like “pebbles” describe nipples and yes, in a ‘heated’ moment, the dreaded ‘penis’ appears. We also get lots of the hero jerking off, but oddly enough, no real descriptions of our heroine, unless you count “inside” her; it’s almost as if the author is uncomfortable describing the female body. Even with a threesome (two girls and the hero), it’s all about his dick. The sexual encounters are minimal and bland, yet the author continually refers to “wicked” longing and “wicked” dreaming and “wicked” lusting.

There is decent erotica out there, but you won’t find it in this book of clichés and boring sex. Inaccuracies and bland writing can be excused in this genre, but not the lackluster attempts at sex scenes.

Written by: Nicolette Westfall, July 4th 2009

Dreamer

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:20:00 +0000

Directed by Phillip Forsyth

Shut the Door Productions

From the beginning, Dreamer appears to be a film about a man traveling backwards in time. Daniel, the main character, is a 30-year-old white man living in Chicago. As he struggles to make sense of this reverse sequence of events, Daniel’s awareness and motivation falter. He is unable to follow-up with a needed job opportunity. He wakes up beside a woman he does not recognize. Another morning, he finds himself bleeding profusely from a wound on his side without apparent cause. At the end of the film, we learn that Daniel is a war veteran who served for three years, and is presumably suffering from PTSD.

In terms of technical highs and lows, the strength of Dreamer is the film’s visual landscape. The shots of Chicago’s cityscape—as Daniel stands on a bridge over the Chicago River, or walks past an outdoor sculpture—are beautiful and eerie in the evening darkness. The camera work was well done and a cut above most other aspects of the film. On the flip side, the primary technical issue that interfered with my viewing was the audio content. Due to the high level of background noise, many of the scenes were inaudible to me.

From a feminist perspective, I was disappointed that Dreamer does not subvert or challenge gender norms. This portrayal of a modern-day war veteran did not deepen my empathy for Daniel and was, in fact, quite problematic. The main character is a portrait of normative masculinity throughout the film, without sufficient character development. When Daniel catches up with an old friend, small talk turns to the subject of “pussy.” When he stumbles upon a dodgy character, the stranger and Daniel get into a fistfight in an alley. Perhaps most disappointing is that the movie ends with Daniel making a rapid escape following the second night spent with a woman who has already given him a second chance.

After this closing scene, there is a dedication to American veterans who served in the armed forces. However, by the end of the film, I felt less compassion for the veteran than the woman he has disrespected yet again. Furthermore, was this closing to suggest that if Daniel had not been traumatized by the war, he would have behaved otherwise? I am not entirely convinced. Instead I wondered: how has the war actually shaped who Daniel is? How did this affect his expression of masculinity? What potential has Daniel been unable to realize since the war left him with a debilitating mental illness? Portraying the main character in a one-dimensional manner makes it difficult to answer these questions. Dreamer is a film that normalizes oppressive constructs of masculinity, albeit in a society that fails to provide adequate support to war veterans.

Written by: Kathryn Berg, June 22nd 2009