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Stress disorder transcends battlefield By Bill Kettler A battered woman turns to drinking; a child from a violent family creates problems at school; an emergency room nurse wonders why she doesn�t care about her patients the way she used to. All three may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a psychological condition that was once thought to affect only soldiers in battle. A series of "Trauma in the Life Span" workshops that begins on Friday will address PTSD in the Rogue Valley and suggest ways to help people heal. Seven workshops offered at RVMC�s Smullin Center The "Trauma in the Life Span" series will include seven programs at the Smullin Education Center at Rogue Valley Medical Center, 2825 E. Barnett Road. Each presentation costs $40. Registration includes continental breakfast and lunch. It�s too late to register for meals at Friday�s introductory program, but there is still some space for people who want to hear the program. For registration information, call 772-3300. Jan. 19: The Cost of Trauma in the Workplace, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 6: Coping with Trauma: Essential Skills from Mind-Body Medicine, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 31: Vicarious Trauma and Secondary PTSD, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. March 31: Resilience to Trauma: Developing Healthy Coping Strategies, 1 to 4 p.m. April 30: Children Changed by Trauma: Healing the Heart, Mind, and Soul, 9 a.m. to noon. April 30: Youth and Trauma, 1 to 4 p.m. May 31: Cognitive Trauma Therapy for Battered Women with PTSD, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Doctors first recognized PTSD during World War I and called it "shell shock." By the 1950s, psychiatrists had given it the name we know it by today, but it took the Vietnam War to make PTSD a commonly known ailment. As psychiatrists and psychologists learned more about PTSD, they realized it can affect anyone who has been exposed to an event that involves death or serious injury. "It�s nothing new," said Karen Darling, who helped organize the series of seven programs. "It�s just that we�re beginning to understand that it affects many segments of our population." Symptoms may vary from drug use and irrational anger to having trouble keeping a job or getting enough sleep, said Darling, who coordinates the domestic violence program at Rogue Valley Medical Center. "Trauma changes your brain chemistry," she said. "And when your brain chemistry is changed, it takes professional help to change it (back) again. It�s a physiological change." Friday�s workshop will address the cost of trauma in the workplace. Dr. Mark Levy, an attorney and psychiatrist from San Francisco, will talk about the history of trauma and how one person�s psychological stress can cause problems for co-workers. Other programs in the series will discuss therapy for battered women suffering from stress; traumatic stress in children; and "vicarious" trauma � the stress that may come to people in the helping professions who work with PTSD victims. Speakers will include local physicians and mental health specialists as well as regionally recognized workers in the field of PTSD. Darling said it�s important for society to help people recover from PTSD because it has long-term social and economic costs. Recovery usually involves some kind of therapy or counseling to "defuse the charge." The workshops are sponsored by Adult and Family Services, Asante Health System�s Domestic Violence Program, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, The Job Council and Southern Oregon Goodwill. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.