How to deal with post-traumatic stress
Oct 07, 2007
PAMELA was five months pregnant when she was slashed in the head to death by her husband on June 28 in Kirombe, Gulu district.
By Caroline Ayugi
PAMELA was five months pregnant when she was slashed in the head to death by her husband on June 28 in Kirombe, Gulu district.
John, who is rumoured to be a former Lord’s Resistance Army rebel abductee, purportedly called his wife who was sweeping the compound at 7:00am, locked her in the house and killed her.
Failure to substantiate claims that his wife was a witch, and his inconsistent statements in court, made angry people thirst for his blood.
To a lay man, such people deserve to be killed in the cruelest manner.
But, according to Kizito Wamala, a clinical psychologist at the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture victims in Gulu, John could be experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
PTSD is a psychological reaction to an event that is perceived by a person as threatening to his or her life and/or integrity, associated with intense fear and horror or helplessness.
Traumatic events like the loss of a loved one, surviving a terrible accident, witnessing mass killings, abduction and rape, Kizito says, are just a few events that can cause PTSD.
He, however, says development of PTSD depends on one’s coping strategy. For instance, two people might be involved in an accident and one person considers it normal and moves on with life, while the other suffers.
And, if one has had many traumatic past experiences, they might also develop PTSD because their coping strategy will re-awaken.
Kizito says for one to be diagnosed with PTSD, they must have first experienced that event which they perceive as threatening, coupled with intense fear and horror.
Any subsequent symptoms, even if similar with other symptoms, will definitely show that the person is not suffering from PTSD.
Symptoms of PTSD
Dr. Thomas Oyok, a psychiatrist at Gulu Mental Health Unit, says one who experiences PTSD always avoids any situation or persons under which the event occurred.
For instance, a person who survived an accident in a taxi might decide not to travel by taxi again.
Oyok says sometimes, men lose the urge to have sex and fail to erect.
Kizito says one who suffers from PTSD re-experiences the traumatic event, either while asleep or awake.
The person feels as if the event is happening again, for example through reveries (absent-minded day dreaming) and nightmares. The person loses memory of important parts of the event.
At times they might not even remember any word the perpetrator said (in case of bodily harm done to them), or how they were dressed or even where the event took place.
Hyper arousal/vigilance: The person is on guard all the time. Incase a woman was raped at night, she will hate going out at night.
Kizito, however, says all these signs generally occur within a period of six weeks after the event. Before the six months elapse, a person can only be diagnosed as having a condition known as Acute Stress Disorder.
Treatment and control
Kizito says when taken to health experts, a victim is given pharmacotherapy, which is medicinal treatment for all symptoms of PTSD, including the damaged nerves in the brain.
The sufferer should be given psychological treatment, basing on the assumption that the condition is psychological.
He says the sufferer should be helped to understand what they are going through, so that they can learn how to cope with it. Leaving a sufferer ignorant, aggravates their condition, Kizito says.
The victim should be encourages to take up brisk activities like football, or digging (for farmers) everyday, depending on the person’s abilities.
The activity is intended to make the person get so tired that they can relax and sleep better.
Sometimes, one is required to re-live the event, for instance a rape incident. This, Kizito says enables the person to thoughtfully react. This helps the sufferer relate it to the current feeling, and consequently identify which part of the body is most stressed.
Treatment would then involve telling the person to clench the body time and again for not more than 30 minutes, till it is tired. This is followed by proper relaxation and sleep.
However, Dr Oyok says this technique should be avoided incase a victim has as relapse. For example in the case of former abductees.
The person might also be given problem-based therapy to aid in managing certain symptoms. For example, a person who avoids people as a result of PTSD, is made to rehearse what they would do if they met the person.
This gives the sufferer courage to meet either the perpetrator or someone who reminds the victim of them.
Kizito says people who experience flashbacks should positively reflect the traumatic event.
If a person blames herself for an incident like rape, the person should specialise on the contribution of the rapist to avoid depression.
One who shouts at night should sleep with both mouth and teeth closed, so that his/her voice is suppressed incase of nightmares. This enables the person to sleep peacefully, without fearing to wake people at night.
Kizito says spending time doing productive activity like reading, is also curative.
Dr. Oyok prescribes anti-depressants, because if left untreated, PTSD can develop into depression and psychosis (madness) and alcohol addiction. Anti-depressants help in counteracting the excessive adrenalin; hence feelings like fear and palpitation go down.
Things that should be avoided
Dr. Oyok says the victim should avoid other social stresses like worrying about depression. He says the person needs to avoid irrational coping strategies like use of illicit drugs and over indulgence in alcohol.
Though such drugs render temporary relief, they subsequently lead to social isolation, uncontrolled anger, unregulated or overeating and other self-destructive behaviours.
He says the victim should not be isolated, but instead integrated into the community and his or her wellbeing improved financially and spiritually.
PAMELA was five months pregnant when she was slashed in the head to death by her husband on June 28 in Kirombe, Gulu district.
John, who is rumoured to be a former Lord’s Resistance Army rebel abductee, purportedly called his wife who was sweeping the compound at 7:00am, locked her in the house and killed her.
Failure to substantiate claims that his wife was a witch, and his inconsistent statements in court, made angry people thirst for his blood.
To a lay man, such people deserve to be killed in the cruelest manner.
But, according to Kizito Wamala, a clinical psychologist at the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture victims in Gulu, John could be experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
PTSD is a psychological reaction to an event that is perceived by a person as threatening to his or her life and/or integrity, associated with intense fear and horror or helplessness.
Traumatic events like the loss of a loved one, surviving a terrible accident, witnessing mass killings, abduction and rape, Kizito says, are just a few events that can cause PTSD.
He, however, says development of PTSD depends on one’s coping strategy. For instance, two people might be involved in an accident and one person considers it normal and moves on with life, while the other suffers.
And, if one has had many traumatic past experiences, they might also develop PTSD because their coping strategy will re-awaken.
Kizito says for one to be diagnosed with PTSD, they must have first experienced that event which they perceive as threatening, coupled with intense fear and horror.
Any subsequent symptoms, even if similar with other symptoms, will definitely show that the person is not suffering from PTSD.
Symptoms of PTSD
Dr. Thomas Oyok, a psychiatrist at Gulu Mental Health Unit, says one who experiences PTSD always avoids any situation or persons under which the event occurred.
For instance, a person who survived an accident in a taxi might decide not to travel by taxi again.
Oyok says sometimes, men lose the urge to have sex and fail to erect.
Kizito says one who suffers from PTSD re-experiences the traumatic event, either while asleep or awake.
The person feels as if the event is happening again, for example through reveries (absent-minded day dreaming) and nightmares. The person loses memory of important parts of the event.
At times they might not even remember any word the perpetrator said (in case of bodily harm done to them), or how they were dressed or even where the event took place.
Hyper arousal/vigilance: The person is on guard all the time. Incase a woman was raped at night, she will hate going out at night.
Kizito, however, says all these signs generally occur within a period of six weeks after the event. Before the six months elapse, a person can only be diagnosed as having a condition known as Acute Stress Disorder.
Treatment and control
Kizito says when taken to health experts, a victim is given pharmacotherapy, which is medicinal treatment for all symptoms of PTSD, including the damaged nerves in the brain.
The sufferer should be given psychological treatment, basing on the assumption that the condition is psychological.
He says the sufferer should be helped to understand what they are going through, so that they can learn how to cope with it. Leaving a sufferer ignorant, aggravates their condition, Kizito says.
The victim should be encourages to take up brisk activities like football, or digging (for farmers) everyday, depending on the person’s abilities.
The activity is intended to make the person get so tired that they can relax and sleep better.
Sometimes, one is required to re-live the event, for instance a rape incident. This, Kizito says enables the person to thoughtfully react. This helps the sufferer relate it to the current feeling, and consequently identify which part of the body is most stressed.
Treatment would then involve telling the person to clench the body time and again for not more than 30 minutes, till it is tired. This is followed by proper relaxation and sleep.
However, Dr Oyok says this technique should be avoided incase a victim has as relapse. For example in the case of former abductees.
The person might also be given problem-based therapy to aid in managing certain symptoms. For example, a person who avoids people as a result of PTSD, is made to rehearse what they would do if they met the person.
This gives the sufferer courage to meet either the perpetrator or someone who reminds the victim of them.
Kizito says people who experience flashbacks should positively reflect the traumatic event.
If a person blames herself for an incident like rape, the person should specialise on the contribution of the rapist to avoid depression.
One who shouts at night should sleep with both mouth and teeth closed, so that his/her voice is suppressed incase of nightmares. This enables the person to sleep peacefully, without fearing to wake people at night.
Kizito says spending time doing productive activity like reading, is also curative.
Dr. Oyok prescribes anti-depressants, because if left untreated, PTSD can develop into depression and psychosis (madness) and alcohol addiction. Anti-depressants help in counteracting the excessive adrenalin; hence feelings like fear and palpitation go down.
Things that should be avoided
Dr. Oyok says the victim should avoid other social stresses like worrying about depression. He says the person needs to avoid irrational coping strategies like use of illicit drugs and over indulgence in alcohol.
Though such drugs render temporary relief, they subsequently lead to social isolation, uncontrolled anger, unregulated or overeating and other self-destructive behaviours.
He says the victim should not be isolated, but instead integrated into the community and his or her wellbeing improved financially and spiritually.