Every night, just before he slept, Armando Vasquez wrung out his brain.  He found it the only way to stop the nightmares.  He’d gently lift it out, dripping, and look it over.  Late at night Armando’s brain was always bigger and more discolored than it was in the morning.  It vibrated, full of the day’s activities and anxieties.  Gripping each end, he’d let out a little sigh, and thoroughly wring it.  Sometimes small objects squeezed through the folds.  Once, a small carp plopped out and flopped on the bedroom floor, attracting the notice of Armando’s calico cat.  It all depended, really, on the kind of day he’d had.  A rare good day and not much manifested itself, a normal bad day and the bedroom floor resembled an over-stocked manger (sans messiah).  Most days fell in between.  Usually it was just small bits of broken glass, a tooth, a nail.  In the morning they’d be gone. [click to continue…]

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Having PTSD is like living in a science fiction story.  “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” is a classic SF story.  The pods come from outer space and take over our bodies until the entire planet is run by the Pod People, who still look like normal people.  Normal people wonder why Fred now acts so differently compared to his former way of life.  Surprise! Fred has been taken over by a pod, he has been snatched!  PTSD can make us feel as if we have been body snatched by the Pod People.  [click to continue…]

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PTSD Spirituality: Art and Craft Can Heal PTSD Soul Wounds

August 22, 2010

Artwork enables the healing of PTSD soul wounds.  The process of craft allows for the continued polishing of our souls.  PTSD inflicts blemishes and fractures upon our soul.  Those wounds to our soul are meant to force us into isolation and then kill us.  Those soul wounds are meant to make us sever healthy relationships [...]

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PTSD Spirituality: Jesus on the Cross and PTSD Soul Wounds

August 21, 2010

Jesus helps us to heal from PTSD soul wounds.  Understanding how Jesus is the Christ can help us better engage Jesus as a healer.  The fact that Jesus is fully human and fully divine enables us to receive healing and solace from our trauma.  This is true regardless of how we were traumatized, or even [...]

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PTSD Spirituality: Jesus and Christology

August 21, 2010

Jesus offers much for the soul afflicted by PTSD wounds.  Indeed, the traditional Christian understanding of Christology enables us to understand PTSD on the mortal physical level.  It also enables usto receive solace and healing on the spiritual level of our souls.  Academic theology categorizes the broad field of Christology into several types.  Fortunately for the [...]

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PTSD Spirituality: Military Grapples with PTSD Wounds

July 18, 2010

Take a look at this article by Greg Jaffe,  Military Reckons with the Mental Wounds of War, in today’s online Washington Post.  While it is meaningful from several angles I am struck at how useless some of the military doctors chose to be.

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PTSD Spirituality: Operation Overlord, PTSD, Hope, and 66 Years Later

June 7, 2010

Here we are 66 years after D-Day, Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy, and those men and women, soldiers and civilians, widows and orphans, still struggle with PTSD. 

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Dr Z: PTSD Spirituality Moving Towards Website Format

March 10, 2010

Frequent PTSD Spirituality visitors noticed our test drive of the new website format.  The goal is to upgrade PTSD Spirituality from a strict blog format to a “Content Management System” or CMS.  In the old says we just called that a website.  The plan is to have an ongoing blog to discuss latest news on [...]

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Dr Z: PTSD Turns Normal Upside Down

February 23, 2010

Why desire to go back to war?  Why volunteer for another tour?  Why avoid your family?  The PTSD-Identity often turns the concept of normal upside down.  People who avoided alcohol start drinking heavily.  People who avoided porn and were faithful to their spouses become porn addicted and step outside of their marriage for sex and [...]

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PTSD Spirituality: PTSD HyperVigilance and Alertness

February 20, 2010

Hello,  Just a brief note I have written and posted an essay on PTSD and Hypervigilance and Hyper Alertness on the Hubpages website.  Semper Pax, Dr. Z

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