Post Traumatic Stress and Addiction Written by Ted W.
Post Traumatic Stress and Addiction The consequences of Child Maltreatment: “early use of drugs/alcohol and substance abuse/dependences”* Despite my parent’s attendance at church, my home environment was not godly. There was a war between Mom and Dad and I became a casualty. One morning when I was 5 years old, my younger brother and I were playing with wooden blocks in our bedroom. Mom and Dad had been fighting. Dad went to work and we continued playing. Mom came into bedroom screaming, “I told you kids not to play with those blocks”. My brother said, “run” and we both ran into different parts of house. Mom cornered him in service porch and I heard screams as she beat him. Then she came flying into living room in a rage “Now, its your turn” she said. She held me tight with one arm and hit me with full force as I looked into her face. And it was a look of hatred I saw there. The beating seemed like it lasted forever. Every time she hit me my hate started to grow .Her face was burned into my memory with hate. Finally, it was over and I crumpled to ground.That evening Dad came home. Mom met him at door and said: “The children have been really bad today”. Dad pointed to my bedroom and shouted,” Go to your room”. In my room I thought of injustice and I was filled with a consuming hatred toward my father.In one day Mom had introduced me to injustice, corrupted me with a spirit of hate, and turned me against my father. These traumas change a persons life. This is not blame but an understanding of causes. The traumas were repressed out of my conscious mind in order to cope.In later years drugs would obliterate all memory. I was 15 when I first started using drugs. It was weekends first and got progressively worse. At age 18 one judge said to me,” I don’t know where you’re going but your getting there fast” On reflection I think traumatic incidents in my life, especially root trauma with my mother, set me up for addiction/acoholism.I explain it like this: If you have a burnt finger and place it in a cool glass of water it feels “good”. Similarly, my conscience had been burned by hate and felt “good” when immersed in chemical high of drugs and alcohol. My drug use eventually led to heroin.I was arrested and sentenced to a 7 year civil commitment to California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, California. While there I wrote an autobiography. I could only see that my desire for acceptance was cause of my addiction.The early traumas were completely buried in my subconscious .Psychology calls this repression.I believe incidents were so traumatic ,especially root trauma, that I coped by blocking it out of my conscious mind. After release I started using drugs again and was sent to another program: Family Program at Tarzana Psychiatric Hospital (Therapeutic Community).I was shocked when I arrived. My first view of “Family” was in cafeteria and it looked like a line of carnival sideshow freaks. The men had shaved heads and wore dresses. The women were wearing men’s clothes. Some were wearing paper bags over their heads. All were wearing cardboard sandwich signs with crayon marked messages on them.It was a weird menagerie of bizarre design. It is amazing what can be done to human beings in name of “Therapy” The first therapy was to stand on wall. If you were ever punished with your face against wall then you understand. Sometimes it was for 10 minutes, sometimes 20 hours. This is cruelty and not therapy.Honestly, I don’t know if this goes on at Tarzana now, but it certainly did then. Sleep deprivation, shaving heads, wearing dresses for men, standing in uncomfortable stress positions: all this was considered “therapy”.If you are wondering what all this had to do as “treatment” for drug Addiction, you are not alone. 30 years later I’m still wondering
| | How to Feel Safety, Not TerrorWritten by Paul Griffitts
At present time our nation continues in war on terror. We recognize, of course, that both 'war' and 'peace' during a time when world largely rejects Son of God can be but relative terms. There was much real enmity during days of so-called 'peace', and, conversely, there may be enjoyed, in middle of this war, a peace which world can neither give nor take away. It would never be my intention to 'meddle' with political ideas of those who are so inclined to have theses thoughts (Deut. 2), or consciences of you reader, but my work is to pursue truth which when discovered will belong to a realm entirely removed from things of earth, leaving reader with Word as sole director for his or her actions. Nevertheless it is mostly true that we may learn from things around us. The government because of threat of terrorist attacks has provided, among other things refuges for protection of people, this in form of new laws like Patriot Act and various other security changes at airports, courthouses and even schools. It is this fact that provides theme of this study. God also has foreseen and provided refuges, and He has set forth Himself in Word in this capacity. I would normally have felt compelled to present you with a structural analysis and other commentary, but as this article is intended to minister to 'present necessity', I will in this case approach our subject more directly. The refuge is, so to speak, intended for immediate use, not to be examined in pieces. Deut. 33:27 The eternal God [is thy] refuge, and underneath [are] everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy [them]. This takes us to beginning of all consolation, comfort and protection. Moses must have had a reason for using adjective 'eternal' here. He could have said, as in Psalms, 'God is our refuge', or 'The God of Jacob is our refuge', but he obviously intends to direct our attention, not only to God, but to some type associated with God's character that is of particular importance when connecting need for a shelter, and providing it. The Word 'eternal' represents at least four different ideas in Scriptures, and we will acquaint ourselves with these wonderful uses in Bible. The Hebrew word Qadam, translated here in Deuteronomy as 'eternal', means 'to precede, to go before', and so at times conveys thought of 'anticipating' something before it happens, as may be seen in Jonah 4:2, 'Therefore I fled BEFORE (qadam) unto Tarshish', which Gesenius Hebrew grammar scholar translates: 'Thus I anticipated (the danger which threatens me) by fleeing to Tarshish.'
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