June is Trauma and PTSD awareness month, so I decided it would be a great topic to discuss today. New insights are still being learned about trauma, how it impacts the person and what PTSD is. (PTSD – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Somewhere in the vicinity of 7%-8% of Americans will have PTSD sometime in their lives; about 8 million adults have PTSD in any given year. (www.ptsd.va.gov). This is amazing and such a small percentage given the number of people who experience a traumatic event each year. Think about the number of people affected by the floods in Texas…or the number of people affected by hurricanes…or the number of people affected by wild fires each year…or even smaller – the number of people in serious car accidents. Any one of these (and more) could trigger the body to have PTSD reactions. Think about adults and their capacity to cope with things that happen in their lives. We learn coping skills as we grow up; we learn from our environment and those around us how to respond to situations. Think then, about children. They do not have the same coping capacity adults do. Things we may think are so trivial as adults are so meaningful for children. For example, how many of you know an adolescent who became suicidal over a relationship breakup? As adults, we move on, but as adolescents this is traumatizing! For kids, even seeing something scary on television can be traumatic to their sense of safety about the world. This week I hope you will go out there and learn a little more about PTSD. Do some research on it, or talk with someone about it. The VA is a great website to start with. Observe children and teenagers and think about yourself as a kid…what would have been traumatic to you then that seems so trivial now? Open yourself up to understanding what sorts of things, events, etc can be traumatic to a child as well as to an adult.

As with any medical disorder, to answer this question, you want to weigh the risks and benefits. Does taking medication outweigh the risks of not taking it? Medication for mental health is just like medication for physical well-being…there can be side effects. Sometimes these side effects are minimal and don’t bother people and other times they can seem worse than the disease itself. For example, many antipsychotic medications have side effects that affect people physically (tremors, shuffling gait, restlessness or the need to move, etc). Anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications, sleep medications, every medication out there has the potential for side effects. It is important to talk with your doctor about your medication and if there is a side effect that is unbearable, see if there is a different medication. Often depression and anxiety can be treated without medication using exercise, diet, and coping skills, but not always. Furthermore, other illnesses such as schizophrenia and bi-polar cannot be controlled without medication. I am a big proponent of talking with your doctor about whether medication is necessary for your illness, and when it is possible, I am a big proponent of trying without medication first. If you do need medication, there is nothing wrong with this. All it means is your illness needs a little help – it may or may not be permanent. Sometimes people just need extra help for 6 months or so as they pull back together. Medications that are available through your doctor are generally safe and it is just important to talk with them about other medications (including herbal, over the counter, vitamins, etc) to ensure there are no potential interaction problems between them. So, my advice – first, talk with your doctor. Second, whatever your doctor says, try exercise (with doctor’s permission of course!), engaging with friends and activities you like, and keeping to a healthy diet. Third talk it out in therapy (or do this along with my second point). If none of this works, go back to the doctor and discuss options for medication. Always remember, though, it is not a failure if you need medication! It just means your body and brain need assistance.

Job stress is a major contributing factor to mental health. Studies have repeatedly shown that job stress contributes to mental illness, especially depression and anxiety. We often bring home stress from our jobs. This can impact our families and our personal lives in many ways. You may notice being more irritable at home, you may notice you are not sleeping as well, you may notice you are not doing activities you once enjoyed as often, etc. Thankfully there are a variety of ways to help alleviate this stress. First, make sure you get enough sleep. Without enough sleep, our bodies cannot function optimally. When we get enough sleep, we are able to keep better balance in our lives which will help us be able to handle stress better, thus not taking it home in the evenings. Second, give yourself a little extra time in the morning. It is much easier to tackle the day when you are not getting into work and immediately setting to work, but are able to give yourself 5-10 minutes to settle in. Organize your desk and area – with an organized work space, we are able to have an organized and less stressed mind to focus on what we need to. Create yourself a “to do” list for tomorrow at the end of every day so you can get it off your mind. Break projects down into more manageable tasks. Do some sort of ritual that closes your day to leave work at work (for example in the car on the way home, utilize mindfulness techniques or tell yourself “that part of my day is over; I am focusing on the next part of my day.” I read a story about a man who would drive home from work and touch a tree before coming into the house. On the way to work in the morning, he would touch the tree again. His point in this is to leave work outside of his home/not bringing work home, and picking up where he left off after he leaves the house again in the morning). Whatever you choose to do, it is helpful to leave work outside the house and separate it from your personal life to ensure you maintain balance in your life of work and play/personal time. Try something new on the next business day to let the day go before you walk into the house!

Sometimes people worry that they are going to “pass on” an illness to their child…or that someone else will pass on their illness and make their child “suffer” with the illness. The fact is, there is a genetic component to mental illness. Especially studied have been autism, ADHD, depression, bi-polar, and schizophrenia. The risk of the child inheriting this goes up exponentially if both parents have the disorder. This is not to say that it is “bad” to have a child if you have one of these diagnoses, or that your child will be doomed to suffer either. There is also a role environment plays. I remember reading a study of identical twins who were separated at birth. There was a family history of schizophrenia. As the twins became adults, one developed schizophrenia and the other didn’t. Why? It is not 100% known, but environment also seems to play a factor in the development of mental illnesses. Another very cool fact is that if one family member reacts well to a certain medication, the likelihood that others in the family diagnosed with that illness will respond well to the same medication. So if you spent 15 years trying to find the right anti-depressant, your child will not necessarily have to go through that same “guinea pig” feeling. There are always new advances in treatment also. If you believe your child has a mental illness that was potentially inherited or not, bring your child to the doctor. Inform the doctor of any mental health history in the family and ask questions of the doctor. Do not be afraid to stop the stigma of mental illness and bring the issue to the surface to get treated early.