Re: Nutritional Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Quote: "I agree completely with your posting of why some people experience PTSD and others don't.  Deirdre Fay's article is outstanding.  Much of it is what I've learned and experienced.  Yes, you need to have sound nutrition but that's only one small contributing factor in present time and has nothing to do with what happened in past time."

"This is where I depart from you. Nutritional disorders or biological disorders is a major part of PTSD and this needs to be addressed BEFORE addressing any other issues!"

The more you stick with that line the more you reinforce my long-held belief that it is spirit (not mind or body) that cures all ills.  If you read an earlier post of mine on this thread (http://www.curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=1550398#i) you will note that an ex-Marine suffering from PTSD for 30 years who lost jobs, became alcoholic and a street drug user and was living a miserable life, cured his disorder and all his symptoms in four months (18 sessions) of Cognitive Behavior Therapy aimed at treating PTSD.  He had previously been in all types of counseling, used prescription drugs - the works, and nothing had worked.  On enrolling in this "new" therapy he figured it would be just another failure.  However, at the end of his four month CBT sessions WITH ZERO MODIFICATION OF NUTRITION, he said that he felt better than he had ever felt in his life.  Please explain how that happened.  I don't remember the length of time that it took me to get through my PTSD but it was less than six months using mindful meditation supplemented by worthless counseling which I quit.  I did nothing - zilch, to alter my diet or nutrition during this period of time.  I know it was less than six months because I became very empathetic with the survivors of child molestation both male and female and became a volunteer counselor in that arena at that time.  How do you explain that?  I've linked many, many times to the story of a woman who suffered from several mental illnesses including PTSD and had been on prescription drugs and was actually incarcerated for her condition for three years who at age twenty three threw out all her meds, learned meditation and CBT (without a counselor) and cured herself of everything with that and going on a healthy diet.  By her own description it was her meditation that saved her butt.

I do personally know others who have cured their PTSD with meditation alone and no change in nutrition.  Psychology/psychiatry is in its infancy in the treatment of PTSD but are headed in a very good direction.  (The ex-Marine enrolled in a CBT program for PTSD at the University of Pennsylvania.) 

One has to face their PTSD issues in order to heal them.  That in no way means that those who don't are cowards because the condition can be extremely disturbing to the individual who in most cases believe they can't heal themselves.  If this belief can be changed (the prime component of CBT) then the individual has achieved a major step to healing.

PTSD and the denial of feelings or emotions such as anger or hate also cut off the feelings of joy, enthusiasm, and love.  One has to deal with all of their emotions including hate and anger on a daily basis and nutrition has nothing in the world to do with it.  If you deny you have hate or anger, you are lying to yourself and that alone can cause depression and anxiety and blocks to the fulfillment in life that is available to everyone.  An excellent read in that area is "Compassion and Self-Hate" by Rubin (past president of the American Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Karen Horney Institute for Psychoanalysis).  It doesn't address PTSD per se, but it is an outstanding source for getting in touch with all of the emotions that everyone has - daily, and ridding one's self of hate - which is something everyone also creates, daily.

I have to feel all my emotions from the depths of depression (long-term, which I healed) to the irrational sky highs of a new automobile in order to heal.  I learned many, many years ago that if I can't feel, I can't heal, and that's exactly why I refused medication during my bout of suicidal PTSD. 

There is no way in the world that you with your narrow view of PTSD can explain how people cure it without a change in nutrition.  As I've said before, to even think that nutrition if the first step in healing PTSD is a great big slap in the face of everyone who is experiencing it.