“Post Traumatic Stress Disorder”. It may be hard to find anyone in the US who hasn’t heard the term. Ryan Dowd from homelesstraining.com wrote a beautiful essay in a recent newsletter. The early part of his essay describes an interaction he had with a friend from his youth. When I hear the term PTSD, I think of many past and present residents at Oasis Housing Inc. PTSD is often part of their complex mental health illness. 

Part of Ryan’s essay starts here. “What about you? Who do you think of when you think of PTSD?

Do you picture a friend or family member who returned from war a different person?

Or perhaps you think of a movie like American Sniper, The Deer Hunter or The War at Home (a beautiful movie made by my friend, Emilio Estevez, who—coincidentally—plays a soldier named Jeremy).

When thinking about PTSD, most people think of war.

According to research, 29% of soldiers returned from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD.

A traditional tour of duty for soldiers is one year.

That means one year of war will cause PTSD in nearly 1 out of 3 people.

Homelessness and PTSD

According to research, nearly 100% of people who have been homeless for a year or longer suffer from PTSD.

That means one year of homelessness will cause PTSD in nearly 3 out of 3 people.

Did the gravity of what I just said hit you yet?

Let me try again:

• One year of war will cause PTSD in nearly 1 out of 3 people.
• One year of homelessness will cause PTSD in nearly 3 out of 3 people.

My point is not to minimize the horrible experiences of Jeremy and other soldiers.

I have seen the misery caused by war-induced PTSD firsthand.

It is a hellscape.

So, what is my point?

War has always caused PTSD, but it took us decades to realize it:

• After World War I, people first started paying attention to soldiers who were “shell shocked.”
• After World War II, in 1952, the first modern psychiatric manual (DSM-1) talked about “gross stress reaction.”
• Finally, after the Vietnam War—in 1978—the term “post-traumatic stress disorder” started to get traction.

We learned about PTSD through war.

Most people realize that war can cause real damage:

• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Anger management issues
• Destroyed relationships (friendships and marriages)
• Lost employment
• Arrests
• Anxiety and fear

Does some of that sound like the worst consequences of homelessness?

It should.

Homelessness is war.

We just haven’t realized it yet.

Peace,

Ryan”

Ryan is offering a free training on homelessness that you can learn about here. I highly recommend it if concern about homelessness is part of your world.

https://www.homelesstraining.com/free-training/