Mary Ann's Story
In 2017, Mary Ann Henker was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a result of her relationship with an individual who developed PTSD with Extreme Anger during combat deployment. At 46, newly divorced and with a 4-year-old child, this would be her new normal.
Mary Ann had to dig deep to find the will to live and navigate the complexities of her young son's questions about his family, which was no more. Many days were spent explaining to him, “Mommy’s brain is broken today.”
Over the next few years, Mary Ann successfully worked through managing her PTSD symptoms with counseling and prescribed medication. Along the way, she got to know others who have or exhibit symptoms of PTSD. This helped her gain a deeper understanding of the impact PTSD has on so many lives.
Whether from their own experiences or as witnesses to domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, violent crime, horrific accidents, life-threatening illnesses, bullying, childhood abuse, workplace safety issues, combat, and more, Mary Ann learned PTSD does not discriminate.
She saw the ripple effect of one person's PTSD as significant and far-reaching. A spouse, life partner, family, friends, colleagues, children, healthcare providers, caretakers, and even strangers are - and will be - directly impacted or somehow touched by PTSD.
During her PTSD journey, she recognized multiple issues related to PTSD care and knew she could make a difference by developing the solutions.
PTSD - An Overview
Overview
Caused by an extremely stressful, terrifying, or traumatic event, whether experienced, witnessed, or heard about, such as disasters, violence, and military combat.
About 20% of the population will develop PTSD.
It can develop soon after a traumatic experience or years later.
PTSD can’t be cured, but it can be resolved; instead, one undergoes treatment and manages PTSD symptoms through recovery.
Clinical
Categorized as a Serious Mental Illness (SMI), which are mental, behavioral, or emotional disorders resulting in severe functional impairment, substantially interfering with or limiting one or more major life activities, like PTSD, schizophrenia, and eating disorders.
It can be rated as severe, moderate, or mild.
Life expectancy for people with a SMI is about 20-25 years shorter than that of the general population.
Labels
There are current efforts to change the name of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome to one of the following:
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Post Traumatic Stress Injury
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Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome
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Post Traumatic Stress
Brain Impact
Following trauma, areas of the brain linked to the fear response (fight, flight, freeze) become hyperactive, while areas responsible for calming this response become underactive. The result is the emergence of PTSD symptoms.
PTSD can’t be “cured” because there is direct physiological damage to the brain.
Not everybody with PTSD has the same brain changes.
Life Impact
Having PTSD is like stomping on the accelerator of your car, only to find out the brakes don’t work.
PTSD can severely impair daily
functioning, comparable in impact on quality of life to that of
schizophrenia. In the U.S., 10.5% of men and 15.8% of women
with PTSD are unemployed, compared to lower rates of
unemployment among those without PTSD.
Symptoms
Symptoms vary between individuals and can range in severity.
Symptoms can include flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia, short-term memory loss, physical symptoms, disassociation, hypersensitivity, suicidal thoughts, avoidance, concentration issues, and more.
Diagnosis
Caused by an extremely stressful, terrifying, or traumatic event, whether experienced, witnessed, or heard about, such as disasters, violence, and military combat.
A mental health condition that can be rated as severe, moderate, or mild.
Treatment
Treatment can help with recovery and management of symptoms, but outcomes vary and no one treatment is effective for everyone.
Treatment success rates:
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30-35% of patients achieve full recovery
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40% - 50% show significant improvement but retain residual symptoms
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20-30% either show minimal improvement or, no change or worsening
Recovery
80% of people with long-standing PTSD develop additional mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.
Physical ailments are tied to PTSD, e.g., heart disease or chronic pain, both of which are more common in sufferers due to sustained stress hormones like cortisol running amok.
SlayPTSD's Value
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SlayPTSD’s social marketing campaigns will engage and educate the public, direct individuals to the website, and reduce the PTSD stigma. The eye-catching social marketing campaigns empower those in need to Slay their PTSD.
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SlayPTSD’s new web portal and social marketing campaigns will enhance the economic potential for PTSD service providers to increase and maximize the resources available to those in need.