The book , Conduct Unbecoming,  will be coming soon. It is a book for military sexual trauma survivors written by a survivor. Also a daily reader for those soldiers and veterans suffering from Post traumatic Stress Disorder will  be out soon.

My other website goes into detail about MST but I will briefly cover some of  the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

You have experienced a trauma or traumas outside the range of NORMAL HUMAN EXPERIENCE THAT WOULD BE MARKEDLY DISTRESSING TO ALMOST ANYONE  ie serious threat to your life or fear for your life, serious threat of harm to your loved ones or friend's, seeing someone who is being or has been seriously injured or killed as the result of war, accident, or physical violence.

A touch on the arm or bad joke doesn't qualify here! If the above didn't happen no PTSD or MST,Certainly rape, war, witnessing death and gore.

Next You also have to reexperience the trauma in some way.Ie recurrent or distressing recalling of the event, nightmares of it,a sense you are reliving it at times,(we call these flashbacks in the most  terrible form), these can even occur when you are wide awake.

You must also have at least 3 of the following:

You must experience avoidance behavior by numbing out your feelings or responses to what happened. You might use more alcohol,  avoid situations, have a markedly diminished interest in former activities, feel detached or estranged from others, unable to have tender or loving feelings, inability to recall a significant part of the event, or a sense of a shortened future.

If that isn't terrifying enough you must also have at least 2 of the following

difficulty falling or staying asleep. irritability or outbursts of anger, trouble concentrating,exaggerated startle response ( my favorite,you jump for no reason because someone speaks you didn't expect to talk), usually goes along with hypervigilence ( I'm scanning my area), then there is the psysiologic reactivity upon exposure to events that symbolize the trauma. You break out in a sweat in traffic stops, a woman who is raped in an elevator can't ride elevators without breaking out in a sweat and breathing hard.

If this isn't bad enough to drive you to the therapist or VA for help you have to have experienced these symptoms at least a month. You can also experience these symptoms delayed over 6 months after the event occurred.

Some of us experienced all of these, the degree of symptoms and intensity, duration etc determines how ill you are. The important thing to remember is: YOU ARE NOT CRAZY ALTHOUGH YOU MAY FEEL CRAZY. YOU WERE IN A CRAZY SITUATION BEYOND YOUR CONTROL. YOU DID NOTHING WRONG, THIS WAS OUTSIDE THE RANGE OF NORMAL HUMAN EXPERIENCE AND WOULD DISTRESS MOST PEOPLE. DO NOT LET THE MILITARY'S TENDENCY TO MINIMIZE BOTHER YOU.TRY NOT TO MINIMIZE YOUR SYMPTOMS YOURSELF EITHER OR PRETEND THEY WILL GO AWAY. THE LONGER YOU WAIT THE HARDER IT IS TO HEAL. YOU ARE NOT ALONE. MANY OF US HAVE GONE BEFORE. HELP IS AVAILABLE. IT CAN AND WILL GET BETTER, DON't GIVE UP. GET HELP. GOD BLESS.

to be continued. this site is under reconstruction please check back soon. meanwhile go to

 http://www.diane-and-friends.com