Solving the Post Traumatic Stress Puzzle – Linda Green pt 1
Solving the Post Traumatic Stress Puzzle Linda Green pt 1
PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a common term nowadays. But, what exactly is PTSD and who is affected by it? Almost 8 million people are considered to have PTSD. It is a severe mental health condition that is caused by a traumatic event or a series of traumatic events.
Normally, today, we think of war veterans having PTSD. They have seen things, repeatedly, that most of society cannot even fathom. And they had to suppress their normal reactions in order to continue and complete their assigned missions. After repeated exposures to this type of environment, it develops into PTSD.
But our veterans are not alone in this. Many people do not realize that police officer, fire fighters and EMS personnel, as well as doctors and nurses, deal with things most people never see or rarely see. And, just like our military brothers and sisters, they must suppress the natural tendencies of avoidance in order accomplish the assigned job that they are responsible for.
Fire fighters have seen the same things – and probably worse. They are the ones charging into burning buildings and finding smoldering bodies. I could go on and on… I think you get the point.
And the suicide rate among military veterans and first responders is significantly higher than the rest of society.
My guest is Linda Green. She is a retired fire fighter and Assistant Chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in, of course, California. She spent 30 years on the front lines and, if you think about it, every single year, there have been headlines of massive fires in California.
That was her job. When everyone else was being evacuated and running from the fires, she was leading people into the fires. She was responsible for their safety and welfare, as well as the community. All of those stresses built up over time and, you guessed it, it resulted in PTSD.
Linda has written a book titled, “Solving the Post Traumatic Stress Brain Injury Puzzle: A First Responders GPS.” We will be talking about her book as well as some aspects of PTSD and ways to begin coping with that injury.
Help me welcome to the program, Linda Green! Linda, thank you for taking the time to join us today.
First question. Other than that brief introduction I just gave, tell us in your own words, “Who is Linda Green?”
First, tell us about your career. What made you want to become a fire fighter to begin with?
As you were going up in the ranks, did you observe the changes in your fellow fire fighters that concerned you?
What kind of symptoms do people exhibit that have PTSD?
As a cop, I have seen where some people could not deal with it and actually quit. I remember one guy, after the situation was over…he returned to the station in the middle of the shift, walked into the duty office, took off his gun belt and badge and left them on the duty sergeant’s desk and said, “I can’t do this anymore.” He just walked out. We never heard from him again.
For those afflicted, were they ostracized? Ridiculed? Thought of as being weak? Or anything like that?
Tell us about the fire in 2015 and how you identified that as the trigger for your PTSD…
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Website: https://www.encouragegreen.com/
Book: “Solving the Post Traumatic Stress Brain Injury Puzzle: A First Responders GPS” – on Amazon.
Mentioned in this episode:
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