anthony
Founder
I often read in PTSD news stories about studies in regard to genetic defects, childhood issues, teen peer pressure and so forth, and the effects these basic factors can have on our adult lives in conjunction with adult trauma. Does childhood growing up have an impact on adult PTSD, whether trauma happened at childhood or adulthood?
The study of genetics are still quite newly researched to adult PTSD, though I can see similarities from my own family structure, in that one of my older brothers suffers quite severely from stress, ie. he is easily stressed under normal working conditions. So if he was exposed to trauma, would he be a prime candidate for PTSD? I was always a very layed back person, with very little that ever actually bothered me, but when exposed to the nature of trauma I was, I now have PTSD. Coincidence or fact?
The funny thing is, is that one of my sisters was in the Navy for the same duration as I was Army, though she doesn't have PTSD as she never physically deployed into a war zone or operational area, only normal ship duties and land based postings. The thing is though, is that she still endured long periods of isolation upon a ship for months on end when sailing, which has been known to cause PTSD in itself. The funnier thing is, is that she is married to someone with PTSD, who got it from the Navy on operational service.
Anyway, remembering back to growing up, I remember that most of my brothers or sisters if confronted into a hostile situation (fighting) would fight, whether win or lose, where myself, I hated fighting from such a young age, and would generally allow someone to punch me once, and do nothing, but if they continued, then beat the hell our of them. I don't know why, but I would always give people the benefit of the doubt that they just needed to release frustration they had with me, or something like that, instead of actually hurting them myself.
I say that because in some situations where a person punched me, I would apply that thinking, talk to them and walk away; but sometimes when I knew a situation wasn't going to get any better, then I was left no choice but to fight. I never like fighting as I had done martial arts from such a young age, and knew enough to defend myself quite well, but worse, knew when I saw sheer rage, I always hurt the other person. It was like adrenlin just took over, and I wouldn't stop hurting them until I was pulled off them. This type of aspect within myself is what always made me think, and give people the benefit of the doubt, that maybe I was bit of a smartarse, and did deserve a smack in the mouth for something I said at the time.
It is this type of childhood reaction and stress, that makes me wonder whether we actually develop early mild symptoms of PTSD from the way in which we grew up. Basically, I left school because of a fight, but not because of the fight itself. It was the fact that I had realised that school yard pressure was not my scene, and I really didn't like the way pecking orders and such silly adolescent tactics where always at play just to go to school and learn. I can't actually remember ever having an actual fight again once leaving school until joining the military, where it is encouraged, but discouraged at the same time. You probably need to be military to understand that logic. (I think I will actually make a post on that aspect later, as it has its own identity for PTSD within military personnel)
Basically, there is a seven year gap where life simply proceeded along, taking its turns and twists, with no real violence as such. Basically, regardless what type of person you are, 90% of children are exposed to some sort of bullying or violence within their schoolyard days, whether it be provoked or your simply a quiet person, who a bully decides they just don't like you anymore, so they will pick on you. Does this 90% of the population that is exposed to these normal growing peer pressure antics actually begin to form some mild symptoms of PTSD?
Is it these initial growing up challenges we face, that help decide whether we gain PTSD from later life trauma? I think it most certainly has a role within the overall scheme of things. This is obviously vastly different from actually being abused as a child, as that in itself is more traumatic as such, especially at a younger age where the mind can't fully understand, nor process what actions to take, and especially if that trauma is inflicted by a family member whose role it is to protect us during childhood, at the time in our lives when we are quite weak to the overall impact of the world itself.
I'm not sure whether an accurate study could be done or not, as people lie, or people don't always tell everything is there is to tell, thus impacts on the results, which could make a conclusion inaccurate from initial perception, but I think our childhood lives certainly play some role in how we garnished PTSD as an adult. Obviously this isn't a direct association with say being raped as an adult, or going to war, or being in a car accident, but reflective off how much trauma we can handle within our lives before our body says, "enough is enough, I'm shutting down and you can have this PTSD stuff."
The study of genetics are still quite newly researched to adult PTSD, though I can see similarities from my own family structure, in that one of my older brothers suffers quite severely from stress, ie. he is easily stressed under normal working conditions. So if he was exposed to trauma, would he be a prime candidate for PTSD? I was always a very layed back person, with very little that ever actually bothered me, but when exposed to the nature of trauma I was, I now have PTSD. Coincidence or fact?
The funny thing is, is that one of my sisters was in the Navy for the same duration as I was Army, though she doesn't have PTSD as she never physically deployed into a war zone or operational area, only normal ship duties and land based postings. The thing is though, is that she still endured long periods of isolation upon a ship for months on end when sailing, which has been known to cause PTSD in itself. The funnier thing is, is that she is married to someone with PTSD, who got it from the Navy on operational service.
Anyway, remembering back to growing up, I remember that most of my brothers or sisters if confronted into a hostile situation (fighting) would fight, whether win or lose, where myself, I hated fighting from such a young age, and would generally allow someone to punch me once, and do nothing, but if they continued, then beat the hell our of them. I don't know why, but I would always give people the benefit of the doubt that they just needed to release frustration they had with me, or something like that, instead of actually hurting them myself.
I say that because in some situations where a person punched me, I would apply that thinking, talk to them and walk away; but sometimes when I knew a situation wasn't going to get any better, then I was left no choice but to fight. I never like fighting as I had done martial arts from such a young age, and knew enough to defend myself quite well, but worse, knew when I saw sheer rage, I always hurt the other person. It was like adrenlin just took over, and I wouldn't stop hurting them until I was pulled off them. This type of aspect within myself is what always made me think, and give people the benefit of the doubt, that maybe I was bit of a smartarse, and did deserve a smack in the mouth for something I said at the time.
It is this type of childhood reaction and stress, that makes me wonder whether we actually develop early mild symptoms of PTSD from the way in which we grew up. Basically, I left school because of a fight, but not because of the fight itself. It was the fact that I had realised that school yard pressure was not my scene, and I really didn't like the way pecking orders and such silly adolescent tactics where always at play just to go to school and learn. I can't actually remember ever having an actual fight again once leaving school until joining the military, where it is encouraged, but discouraged at the same time. You probably need to be military to understand that logic. (I think I will actually make a post on that aspect later, as it has its own identity for PTSD within military personnel)
Basically, there is a seven year gap where life simply proceeded along, taking its turns and twists, with no real violence as such. Basically, regardless what type of person you are, 90% of children are exposed to some sort of bullying or violence within their schoolyard days, whether it be provoked or your simply a quiet person, who a bully decides they just don't like you anymore, so they will pick on you. Does this 90% of the population that is exposed to these normal growing peer pressure antics actually begin to form some mild symptoms of PTSD?
Is it these initial growing up challenges we face, that help decide whether we gain PTSD from later life trauma? I think it most certainly has a role within the overall scheme of things. This is obviously vastly different from actually being abused as a child, as that in itself is more traumatic as such, especially at a younger age where the mind can't fully understand, nor process what actions to take, and especially if that trauma is inflicted by a family member whose role it is to protect us during childhood, at the time in our lives when we are quite weak to the overall impact of the world itself.
I'm not sure whether an accurate study could be done or not, as people lie, or people don't always tell everything is there is to tell, thus impacts on the results, which could make a conclusion inaccurate from initial perception, but I think our childhood lives certainly play some role in how we garnished PTSD as an adult. Obviously this isn't a direct association with say being raped as an adult, or going to war, or being in a car accident, but reflective off how much trauma we can handle within our lives before our body says, "enough is enough, I'm shutting down and you can have this PTSD stuff."