October 26, 2020 – In my recent interview with Dr. Roger Pitman, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and practitioner at Massachusetts General Hospital, we discussed many issues including PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which has as its hallmark, debilitating memories, flashbacks, and intense emotions that traumatized women, children and combat veterans experience often experience. As a long-time researcher on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Pitman found there is a treatment for those experiencing debilitating and painful memories – for those who cannot move past their all too often debilitating physical reactions when reminded by “stressors.” Such stressors can be rooted in either actual combat, or in the private war known by all too many women and children – Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse.
Pitman’s PTSD Research Illuminates the Human Toll of Untreated Painful Memories
With decades of research to his credit, Dr. Pitman once explained in 2006 to Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes, the lasting and often haunting effects of psychological trauma and promising drug therapies. In my interview in 2020, he relates how both Veterans of War and Abused Women & Children suffer from similarities in their painful memories now recognized as PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. While there is treatment for those who seek it, he warns if symptoms are left untreated, sufferers can needlessly live unfulfilled lives of relentless suffering and emotional pain. He points out, that while survivors grapple with unbearable memories and emotions, they need a community to lift them up. Communities which are often there for Veterans of War, but not so much for victims of Domestic Violence. He stressed the importance of community – whether friends or family to prevent survivors from substance abuse which can further tear them apart. But community support looks different for different survivors.
Types of Help Available to PTSD Survivors
Because PTSD can be so debilitating for so many, investigators have tried myriad approaches to quell the pain, literally working to “Conquer the Enemy – the Memory Within.” In practice, Dr. Pitman has found, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, can be a lifesaver. Yet, even though this type of therapy may be a lifesaver for many, some have found the use of “propranolol” – an “anti-adrenaline” drug, can help sufferers of debilitating PTSD. The goal – is to improve the quality of life for survivors still suffering from PTSD, this is accomplished by learning to live in the present, not in the past.
Survivor Statistics – How Community Matters
Dr. Pitman recounts that 50% of rape survivors suffer from PTSD, as do a large number of domestic violence victims and soldiers of war who were actively engaged in combat. The statistics are more than shocking – they are alarming. Not only do sufferers often suffer in silence, they often suffer alone distant from those to whom they were once the closest – their families and those in their community. While having a social support network is “crucial” to the recovery process, Pitman noted that many victims of familial/domestic violence have ‘no’ support system built in – in fact, and most often – it the family itself that is the source of the pain and abuse. Unlike Veterans who are heralded as heroes when they return – domestic violence and sexual assault victims are treated much differently – oftentimes with contempt, scorn, or ridicule. In fact, young girls who have been assaulted, often feel shame, blame themselves, or leave their schools, friends and self-isolate – sometimes even committing suicide.
Abuse & Trauma and Epidemic on the Rise During COVID
We have reached an epidemic in this nation of sexual assault and domestic abuse – which is skyrocketing with the COVID lockdowns where children don’t go to school to be seen by their teachers on a regular basis, and abusers who are working at home, or have lost their jobs, are making it harder for women and children who often are literally within “arm’s reach” of their abuser. This ongoing proximity, for hours on end – makes them easy targets for the perpetrator’s pain, which is often marked by insecurity, and dissatisfaction with his own work or personal life which he projects onto his victim(s).
Because this month is Domestic Violence Awareness Month – we must acknowledge the anguish and pain of so many victims – mostly women and children – and bring to light that there is help available, and it is just a phone call away.
If you or someone you know is being abused, contact the National Domestic Violence Help Line at 800.799.SAFE (7233), if you call, clear your call history, and if you view the website, clear out the cache: https://www.thehotline.org/ – most importantly – devise a plan, both physical and financial – but know there is help if you look for it. Living with abuse, or the pain of PTSD is not a life sentence – there is a way out. You just need to reach out and get it!
To learn more about taking-back your life, watch our interview with Dr. Pitman on YouTube – and learn the signs, symptoms and treatment of PTSD: https://youtu.be/2mGt80gndNI
Also see our program with Veteran Attorney and Victim Rights Advocate, Wendy Murphy on her discussion on Sexual Assault, and the Justice System – What Every Woman Should know!
Upcoming in our Trauma and Victims of Violence Series: Harvard Medical School Professor of Psychiatry, Judith Herman, MD, author of the riveting book, Trauma and Recovery – the Aftermath of Violence – From domestic Abuse to Political Terror. Dr. Herman is our upcoming program guest in our Abuse & Trauma Series: The Sound of Silence – The Hidden Epidemic of Domestic Abuse and Trauma.
Dr. Herman is the Co-founder and former Director of Training of the Victims of Violence Program, at Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Victims Can Get Help – Survivors – You Can Stop the Pain…
You Don’t Have to Be Silent Anymore…
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Copyright 2020 – Mary Kay Elloian, MBA,JD,Esq. All Rights Reserved.