POST TRAUMATIC STRESS: NOT ONLY A MILITARY ISSUE

contributed by

Rev. Lowell Dean Allen

retired United Methodist pastor

PTSD is a very real concern for service personnel in the Military and their families. There is increased awareness that PTSD in not limited to the trauma occurring to fighting men and women. It affects their families and is also present in non-military segments of our society.

Finally, the Defense Department is giving more attention to this issue and the short comings in the ways it has been handled in the past.  The impact on the families of those serving on the battle lines is part of the situation, especially when men and women return from the battle zones with PTSD. Families just don't and cannot pick up where they were when personnel left to go to War.

Consider the trauma that occurs when women are battered or raped. Consider the impact of continual verbal abuse of parents or spouses/partners. What happens to teens when peers decide to use Facebook and Twitter to communicate very nasty things over and over about and directed to them? 

As a faith community, we must become aware of persons in our congregations suffering PTSD.

VISITS OF LOVE

contributed by:

Leroy K. Pickett

First United Methodist Church

Downers Grove, Illinois

Early in 1995, I experienced difficult challenges in attempting to satisfy requirements for transporting agricultural machinery on European roads.  I thought that I was doing all right personally, but found myself in deep depression by August. When the doctor failed to prescribe the correct medication for me to recover, I left my apartment in the Quad Cities, at the west edge of Illinois, and returned to my home in Downers Grove, Illinois. 

My recovery took nearly five months, but health returned quickly after my wife and I convinced the doctor to prescribe the medication that had previously worked well for me. While at home, I rested much of the time and sometimes took long walks through one or more of the nearby parks. 

A retired pastor, associated with my church, and his wife lived just a few blocks away from my home. From time to time, he took walks in the community and sometimes stopped to visit with me. Our conversations usually were centered on family, the lovely tree-shaded community where we live and occasionally something special one of us had read in a newspaper or book.

Even though I do not remember the details from any single visit, I frequently remember the sharing and love experienced at a time that I needed it most. It was certainly a blessing to have someone care enough to give me a lift by a visit of love.  The visits of my caring and loving friend have influenced my thoughts and actions in positive ways during the more than 15 years since his visits, a time in which I have generally experienced good health.