PTSD as a societal disease
People are often afraid of emotional or so called ‘mental’ symptoms. Such symptoms, which represent invisible characteristics of the human nature, are regarded as demons that can endanger the social structure. As is the case with most symptoms of PTSD, these emotional symptoms in most cases, paradoxically, can be found separately in any normal person. Emotional symptoms are often the sign of a societal disease. This is especially true for PTSD victims. PTSD victims that were involved in military activity or rape are not responsible for their pain. They are the victims of a social activity in which they were forced to be involved. Social systems never like to expose their weaknesses, and it is conventional to blame the victims for the societal disease.
The attitude toward PTSD victims may reflect the nature and intensity of this societal disease. A negative attitude concerning PTSD victims expresses a high degree of social anxiety, while strong and secure societies are more tolerant to such weaknesses. A post-traumatic society, like that which exists in Israel (which has been exposed to traumatic events for more than sixty years), develops the same symptoms as PTSD victims: anxiety, violent behavior, xenophobia, and a tendency toward racism and fascism.
This means that post traumatic victims, whose trauma is common in wide parts of society, will not receive the help and support these victims need. As sad as it may sound, in areas where the trauma is widespread, less effort will be made to learn and to develop methods of rehabilitation. Post-trauma is not a mental illness but an injury as any physical damage or a limb amputation. It is an amputation of the sense of security, which is essential for adaptation to reality. Furthermore, it is a deep damage of the emotional skills that create the sense of a ‘safe place’. Post-trauma does not require therapy (psychological or psychiatric). It requires, instead, a restoration of the emotional skills that are required in creating a ‘safe place’. This can be made by learning and training, which is the essence of Emotional Training (an approach that coaches can use and that is described in Dror Green’s book, Emotional Training: The Art of Creating a Sense of a Safe Place in a Changing World). A brief overview of this approach follows. A fuller description is provided in Emotional Training which is now available on Amazon and Kindle. It is also available by contacting Dr. Green directly (see his biographical description below).
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