Shipton Kaserne – On Our American Stories

I’m back doing things for Our American Stories and here’s the link for the latest and greatest story. It’s a podcast and ties in nicely with my third book, Broken People. you can hear it by clicking here.

Now, if you read my first novel, The Cross and the Badge. It might sound familiar. The entire incident is told through my protagonist’s eyes and is as accurate as I recall it having happened. One thing I hadn’t done until recently was start connecting the dots. a lot of what I went through alter can be traced back to not only that night, but everything leading up to it.

It was the beginning of a descent into a lot of pain and misery I could have done without.

In this podcast, you’ll hear me list out a few questions regarding PTSD that might be asked. They are:

The Big Questions are have you ever experienced the following.

• A serious accident or fire.
• Been the victim of physical or sexual assault or abuse
• Been involved in a natural disaster (hurricane, tornado, flood, etc)
• War or civil disturbance
• Witnessed the serious injury or death of another
• Had someone you were in close relationship assaulted, murdered, or die of suicide.

If you answer yes to one or more of those questions, start answering the questions below, If not, then don’t bother.

In the last month:

1 – Had nightmares or found yourself thinking of the event(s) when you didn’t wish to.	Yes	No
2 – Tried not to think of the event(s) or went out of your way to avoid anything that might even remind you of it (think fear of driving or crowds.)	Yes	No
3 – Been constantly on guard, watchful, or easily startled.	Yes	No
4 – Feeling numb or detached from people, events, or surroundings.	Yes	No
5 – Felt guilty or unable to stop blaming yourself or others for what happened or the problems those events caused.	Yes	No
Add up the Yes’s

This is something that might be asked by your doctor. The higher the score, the higher the probability you have PTSD. In the interview, you’ll see I hit most of the points.

I finish with an appeal to seek professional help. A few resources open to you are:

If a military veteran goto VA.gov. While most think this is just for military service trauma, they’re happy to talk about other things.

Your spiritual leader. Most minister, pastors, priests and so on have a good background in psychology.

Google “Mental health – Insert your community here.” Most are covered by insurance or may even be free or low charge.

Check out: https://tetheredtoptsd.com/symptoms-and-diagnosis