Rethink PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder does not exist. It bothers me that the mental health profession perpetuates the idea that our behavior is a disorder, abnormal, weird, inexplicable.

If you have faced significant trauma that you are struggling to make sense of, you don't have PTSD. You have PTS. Post Traumatic Stress. While we are at it, let's get rid of the Post because so much trauma is ongoing & present. You have Traumatic Stress Response.

For every traumatic situation, there is a wide range of understandable responses. How you respond to your trauma depends on dozens of factors, including but not limited to: your trauma, when it happened, how old you were when it happened, where you were when it happened, and countless facets of your current situation.

I prefer understandable to normal because what might be normal for one person might not be normal for another. Normal is relative, not definitive. If a 5 year old and a 35 year old are bitten by a dog, their responses will be different. Neither is normal or abnormal, but simply different.

Understandable also implies there is an effort to understand your trauma response. Most "abnormal" human behavior becomes understandable if viewed in the context of one's life.

If I tell you a former student used to crawl on the classroom floor pretending to be a bug, you'd likely think that is abnormal. If I tell you he was a product of an abusive home & spent years in foster care, you get a better picture of how he came to see himself as something dirty and less than human. You start to understand his behavior.

We have to throw away the notion that our behavior is some random disorder completely detached from our past and who we are. Your Traumatic Stress Response makes sense. It comes from some place.

Stop thinking of your behavior as a disorder. 


For information on individual counseling, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com

If you are a mental health professional and need creative consultation on your business literature or Psychology Today profile, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com

Rethink changing your life

Chad lost 37 pounds in 5 months. He started to exercise regularly. He learned to cook a chicken breast. To hear him tell his story, he hadn't done a thing because he was only looking at everything he had not yet done. He then said he wanted to see some change in his life.

If losing the weight equivalent of a 4 year old isn't change, then what is?

He doesn't see the dedication it takes to exercise every day.

Or the discipline it takes to wake up at 530am to take those walks.

Or the motivation it takes to maintain that discipline and dedication.

Or the wisdom to incorporate chicken and vegetables into a diet that previously consisted of pizza & junk food.

Chad's life was awash in the very change he wanted to see, and he wasn't even looking for it.

Most people are like Chad. They are doing far more in their life than they realize.

They downplay their accomplishments. Anybody can do that. I'm no big deal. Why do I deserve credit for doing something I should already be doing?

They want to see change in their life. They want to see some tangible evidence that they are making progress.

If you want to see change in your life, you have to change the way you see your life.




For information on individual counseling, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com

If you are a mental health professional and need creative consultation on your business literature or Psychology Today profile, contact me at bradleyjabel@gmail.com