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Neuroscientists and therapists pontificate on the brain’s ability to rewire itself.
They say we can either rewire around the damage or create new pathways to healing.
The literature is optimistic, plasticity avails us the opportunity to heal childhood abuse.
I question their stance and rhetoric.
Reality looks different.
Kaiser’s ACE study says we are more prone to disease, mental illness, cancer, incarceration, trauma, and early death.
Soldiers’ daily suicide rates average double digits.
The military should be the front line for healing trauma.
Why have they failed so miserably?
We can train them to kill but struggle to help them cope with the consequences.
I wish we had statistics on PTSD, who heals, how fast, and what percentage?
How many of us heal?
PTSD is out of control in America and the world.
The current climate of divisiveness, violence, hate, and vitriol makes the world even scarier for PTSD people.
PTSD is far more prevalent than reported, so many are undiagnosed.
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Look at the trauma inflicted on Ukraine.
That’s real life and death events, scarring a whole country.
Let’s not forget the Russian soldiers and their acquiring PTSD?
What percentage of seriously abused kids do you think heal?
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PTSD - A Way Out.com 
Posted by melissalafontainetheblog on May 11, 2022 at 2:55 pm
This brings up two thoughts for me. One is that I don’t think you can heal in a vacuum and society really offers no approach to repairing or rewiring that would be needed. There is no way to make new pathways. The second thought is what does healed even look like? If we had a measurement, based on what my experience has been, they’d call you healed if you didn’t bother anyone else with it. Even if you really weren’t healed. Do you know what I mean? If it doesn’t impact your ability to work and feed yourself, no one seems to really care about actual quality of life stuff. We don’t have a good understanding overall, as to what constitutes quality of life stuff. The majority of society isn’t even built in an aesthetically pleasing way. There aren’t places built for serenity and recovery and bliss states. There is still a whole lot of competitive and judgey social dynamics that need to be replaced with nurturing and trust. It isn’t going to change while people still benefit so much, even regular old people benefiting so much on the backs of childhood trauma. If we live in competition with each other, turning a blind eye to your competition getting taken out by those ACEs is logical. This, to me, is the problem no one is really willing to address. Because in order to address it we actually have to do a complete overhaul.
Posted by Marty on May 11, 2022 at 3:56 pm
Quality of life, yes first things, we need to function, feed ourselves etc.
I try not to use the word healed
It is so subjective and serious PTSD does not heal. You can improve and get quality at times however PTSD will erupt from time to time or get worse later on.
Places for serenity, the ZEN center I frequented for five years was not serene, it was highly charged and political
Let’s get to what happiness looks like
This will be a subject of a post
For me happiness would be me
First trusting people, how could that happen befuddles me
I have never trusted so I do not know what that looks like.
How about feeling free before, during, and after we engage socially
Having my subconscious not dwell on danger or even have the feeling of danger reach my consciousness
How would feeling worthy change my life?
In all my improvement I never reached happiness or quality of life
I have learned to dwindle my desires and reset my expectations to accommodate surviving my PTSD
happiness is a mirage, an ideal in my life
Triggers would disappear, intrusive thoughts would be gone, and anxiety would be replaced with a calm confident demeanor.
Our desires would return, we could feel pleasure without fear or anxiety
We would have a slew of trusted friends and great support
Posted by melissalafontainetheblog on May 11, 2022 at 4:57 pm
I agree! Those are mine too. For social interaction not to be confusing or fear provoking. And to walk around freely knowing I’m not the only one who cares how I’m doing.