PTSD & Resiliency genes

When people first really heard the term PTSD it was associated with soldiers, police officers, fire fighters and occupations that were exposed to crisis or being in the line of fire.

Traumatic events may include crimes, natural disasters, accidents, war or conflict, Post- Traumatic Stress, involves exposure to trauma involving death or the threat of death, serious injury, or sexual violence. It may not be isolated to one event it can be a series of repeated events or an accumulation of different events.

At 18 my sister was helping mum on the family ranch. They were changing out the grapple attachment on the tractor to the bucket. The grapple was sitting in the open position poised above our mum. Not thinking, my sister disconnected the hydraulics to the grapple and the apparatus slammed down on top of mum scalping her head like a peeled orange then crashed into her left ankle pinning her to the ground.

Suddenly realizing her near fatal error, surged with adrenaline my sister reattached the hydraulics to lift the attachment off mum. Our mum bellowed out, not in pain but for help and our youngest sister of 15 rushed over with the pick up and eventually got mum to the hospital.

This event did not evoke PTSD in any of these women. Yes there was a traumatic event and my sister had a felt guilt but she realized the duties of running the ranch were on her shoulders now and she redirected her mindset. To this day, all three still run farming operations and raised children and grandchildren in this industry.

However our youngest brother who was raised in the same environment was scouted to play for a Junior A hockey team and one day during a pile up in front of the net snapped his ACL. His lifelong dream was to get to the NHL and when that injury happened it broke him physically, mentally and spiritually. He was convinced death was a better fate. He had extreme PTSD. Despite his injury I personally know people who have lost limbs and went on to compete in para Olympics and win. I could not rationalize his behavior.

Where does our resiliency come from? 

Seven different events put me at near death situations all very different scenarios. The last incident I barely escaped my house fire. The company I worked for obligated me to see a psychologist and hearing my history of events asked, “How are you not: institutionalized, incarcerated, in rehab or a morgue?” I had no scientific answer. AT THAT TIME.

What then makes me tick?? I wanted answers.

I disciplined my research to understand the mind, what better candidate to probe than myself. As much as I should have done a formal degrees, my learning style was an academic handicap. Besides Psychology, DNA has also always fascinated me. Neuregulin 1(NLGN1), plays a significant role in our mental health. So.... yes we are born with it.

As I connect the dots, my philosophical approach believes at this time that our resilient core essence is built from optimism and faith. Post Traumatic Growth is knowing that deep in the invisible & unexplained we have a contract to fulfill on this Earth. Sometimes the road of chaos is part of the path and embracing the knowledge that by doing our best, we are our own soul heroes.