Who Is Affected by PTSD?
When we say PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, most people will automatically think of traumatized war veterans. However, in reality, not everyone who goes to war and experiences a traumatic event or events gets PTSD. In fact, only a small percentage of people who struggle with PTSD are war vets. According to PTSD statistics, 70% of adults in the United States have experienced some kind of traumatic event or events. Of that percentage, 20% of those people develop PTSD. Usually these people are told that it will be a life-long challenge for them. At Be in Health, we want to teach you how to overcome PTSD and the surprising root cause behind it.
But I thought that trauma caused PTSD!
It is clear that trauma alone is not the determining factor of whether or not a person experiences PTSD. So what is actually behind it? Is it something that can be overcome or has that person been sentenced to a life of just coping with it? Is there a cure for PTSD?
At Be in Health®, we have successfully helped many people overcome PTSD without medications, therapy, or any other modality. All of our teachings and insights are based on the solid Word of God from the Bible. You too can receive the insights and real solutions that you need in order to overcome PTSD! You no longer have to be a statistic, or a victim of PTSD. you can be an overcomer!
A startling revelation
The psychiatric community has discovered that people who develop PTSD are actually predisposed to it. They have been programmed from childhood to respond with an excessively fearful reaction to a stressor. What they found is that all victims of PTSD have experienced one or more of the following five events in their childhood: verbal abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and drivenness and performance to meet the expectation of a demanding parent in order to receive love. A further contributing factor could also be abandonment in childhood. With this background in place, it may only take a traumatic event to trigger a PTSD response.
What is fear?
Fear is commonly referred to as stress and anxiety and most people would define it as an emotional or psychological issue. At Be in Health, we understand according to the Bible, that fear is actually a spiritual issue. In the absence of a loving, safe, and nurturing environment as a child, a spirit of fear has an open door to cause torment.
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV
And in Romans 8 it says:
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Romans 8:15 KJV
Dr. Henry Wright says this in his teaching on PTSD:
“The foundation of the Bible; the foundation of all creation, the foundation of all sanity, the foundation of all health, the foundation for all mankind, for all of eternity is embraced in being reconciled to the Godhead: the Father, the Word who is Jesus and the Holy Spirit. And you being reconciled to yourself about yourself and being prepared to be reconciled to others.”~Dr. Henry W. Wright
The foundation to every disease and disorder is the breakdown of this commandment:
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40 KJV
What is the root cause of PTSD?
The root issue is that many of us have been raised in families who for generations did not know how to care for each other and be a safe place – they did not understand or represent Father God’s love. This is where fear has an open door. In the absence of love, fear comes in. It will cause a person to not be able to trust, to feel easily overwhelmed, they may feel unsafe, and insecure.
This leads to separation in relationships. This person might begin to feel like they need to protect themselves from others. They may struggle to connect with others and succumb to feelings of isolation and rejection.
We are most vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy when we are isolated and disconnected. ~Dr. Henry W. Wright
Developing PTSD – the trigger
From this foundation of fear that the enemy has built into a person’s life, he will use a traumatic event and the conversion of short-term memory to long-term memory to his advantage.
Short-term memory is the processing of whatever we experience, sense, hear, see, etc. Long-term memory occurs when we repeatedly return to or sustain a specific thought or thought pattern. A process called protein synthesis will develop this thought pattern into a permanent pathway of thought using an element of RNA and DNA.
Processing trauma
What the enemy wants to do when a traumatic event occurs is to cement that trauma into a long-term pathway in order to create the maximum possible bondage for a person. He will intercept the processing of that event in that person’s mind immediately causing a memory distortion. This will create an excessively fearful association with that memory.
Then he will use recall and replay and cause that person to rehash that distorted memory over and over and over again. However, no matter how many times they try to process and reprocess this event, because fear is present, it will not let them come to a healthy conclusion about it. It will cause that person to develop a phobic connection to that event and anything thereafter that might trigger the memory of that event. Fear has just created a permanent, long-term memory pathway in that person’s life and produced the symptoms of PTSD.
The physiology of PTSD
The biological manifestation of this occurs in a part of the brain called the amygdala. When this fear and projected fear into the future becomes a long-term pathway of thought, one of the two sections of the amygdala becomes enlarged causing it to respond hyperactively. This, in turn, triggers the hypothalamus to respond in a state of fight or flight continually.
The hypothalamus is the gland responsible for secreting the hormones for a fight or flight reaction in the body in response to a dangerous situation. If it is releasing these stress hormones continually, it only takes a small trigger of thought or an outside stimulus to trigger an excessive secretion of these hormones that will produce the feelings of panic and phobic realities. This is the physiological phenomenon of PTSD; there is actually nothing wrong with the brain.
We are so easy!
The enemy can control our body through this one gland if he can control our spirituality and our soul- or mind where we process thought. If we don’t understand our own minds, we are nothing more than a puppet on a string.
Fear will have us meditate on the failures of our past and project them into our future. The enemy doesn’t want us to receive the forgiveness that the Father has freely offered us, or to be able to forgive others. The enemy wants everyone and everything else to appear to be our enemy so that we cannot feel safe no matter where we are or what we do. It’s time to quit living in the past.
We were not called to be victims
If we have been victimized, we were not called to stay there. It requires no faith to live in the past. Flush it! ~Dr. Henry W. Wright
Blocks to freedom
In order to be freed from the effects of PTSD, a person needs to come to a place where they can feel safe again. This place of safety is in relationship with Father God. There may be many blocks to a person being able to feel safe with Father God that need to be removed before they can move forward into healing and freedom.
They may be afraid of Him if He has been misrepresented in the past. They may have blamed God for whatever happened that victimized them or caused trauma and they might have accused Him in their heart. Or if they have carried unforgiveness in their heart towards themselves or others this will be a block to their relationship with God as well.
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Mark 11:25-26 KJV
Rising up out of PTSD
It is important that we establish in our heart that God is love, He is entirely righteous, just, and Holy. He is not capable of being anything else. Therefore, if we encounter fear, hatred, unrighteousness, injustice, or any other form of evil, there is no way that it could come from Him. It’s important to seek His heart and learn who He really is through His Word: His love, His grace, and His mercy.
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. James 1:13 KJV
Trauma does not have to define the rest of your life!
The traumatic event or victimization was not from God, it was a result of living in a fallen world where evil can influence us and others. The excessive fearful effects of the trauma were due to a spirit of fear joining a person in that instance and they were unable to go to Father God for help to properly process and heal from it.
At any point in life, we may find ourselves in an adverse situation. We may have the initial response of fight or flight in order to protect ourselves in that instant but we do not need to agree with a spirit of fear that wants to join us long term and allow it to project evil into our future.
In fact, when we are renewed in our minds and begin to walk by faith and trust in God rather than fear, we will find that previously stressful situations will not affect us the same way. When something bad happens, we will have a greater presence of mind to deal with it rationally and move on.
This comes by maturing in our relationship with Father God as we continually take our hurts, pain, and frustrations to Him. Through this, we can become stronger as a result of trials and tribulations instead of folding under them!
We need to solidify in our hearts who we are and who our Father is.
We are the beloved sons and daughters of God and He is our Father and the King over all things. He is so much bigger than any evil or trial that we may face in this world. No matter what happens – or has happened, He can turn what the enemy intended for evil in our lives for good and for His glory. He can rebuild what was broken. He can even heal broken hearts and give us new courage and strength.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. Romans 8:28 KJV
[The righteous] cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The LORD [is] nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many [are] the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. Psalm 34:17-19 KJV
You can overcome!
If you are struggling with PTSD, God can help you properly process and overcome that traumatic event. Talk to Him about it. It will still be a memory from the past, but when you have received healing in your heart, you will no longer have all of the feelings of hurt and fear attached to it.
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 1 Peter 5:7 KJV
There is no time limit for recovery
Be patient with yourself and with Him in your recovery process. There isn’t a time limit for healing, it may be instantaneous or it may be a journey. Continually cast your cares on Him but also renew your mind by immersing yourself in His Word. Also, learn how to praise Him and give the glory to Him rather than to the enemy’s kingdom. (How do we give glory to the enemy’s kingdom? find out here)
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-20 KJV
It is also important to come out of isolation and back into Godly fellowship in a body of believers who can be a safe place for you to recover and to grow in your faith.
It’s time to take ownership of your life
You need to take ownership of your own life. It’s time to lay down the need to blame someone or something else or even yourself. You need to quit running from your problems or looking to others to fix your problems. It’s time to cast down fear and make fear your enemy.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. Ephesians 6:12 KJV
Ministering Healing for PTSD
Fear needs to be dealt with; it needs to be recognized, repented for, and cast out in the name of Jesus. A person can then lay hands on the one who is afflicted with PTSD and command the amygdala to come back down to its proper size in Jesus’ name and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Creating new pathways of thought
Now is the time to start creating new, long-term pathways of thought based on God’s Word. We need to establish the Word in our hearts as absolute truth and mix it with our faith. Let God be true and every man a liar. If we hold this foundation in our hearts, we will have firm ground to stand on. If, however, we allow fear to wash us around in doubt and unbelief, we will be unstable in all our ways and unable to recover ourselves out of the snare of the enemy.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man [is] unstable in all his ways. James 1:6-8 KJV
Choose who you will believe
Did you know that you get to choose what you believe? You can choose today whether you are going to believe the thoughts that fear has projected into your life or the promises that God has prepared for those who will seek Him and love Him with all of their hearts.
If fear represents the breakdown and separation of relationship with God, others, and ourselves, the ability to give and receive love will be the restoration of all things. This will be a process:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make [you that ye shall] neither [be] barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:4-8 KJV
With God, all things are possible.
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things [are] possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23 KJV
You are not alone! God will join you by His Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you through the journey of recovery. He has given us at Be in Health the tools and resources necessary to help you on your overcomers’ journey. We are here to serve our brothers and sisters in the Lord and to help you be restored to the fullness of life that He has prepared for you. We want to see you be all that you were created to be for His Kingdom and for His glory.
Blessings,
The Be in Health Team
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