Hidden Signs of PTSD and How to Care for Your Loved One This 4th of July

Hidden Signs of PTSD and How to Care for Your Loved Ones This 4th of July

The Fourth of July, with its fireworks and celebrations, can be a triggering time for individuals with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This condition can affect anyone who has experienced a traumatic event, and the sights and sounds of fireworks may bring back distressing memories or exacerbate symptoms. As we approach this patriotic holiday, it's important to recognize the hidden signs of PTSD and understand how to support those who may be struggling.

Recognizing the Hidden Signs

1. Increased Anxiety: Your loved one may become noticeably more anxious as the holiday approaches. They may anticipate fireworks displays with dread or have difficulty relaxing due to heightened alertness.

2. Social Withdrawal: Individuals with PTSD may withdraw from social gatherings or avoid public events where fireworks are likely to occur. They may prefer to stay indoors or isolate themselves to minimize triggers.

3. Irritability or Anger: Heightened stress levels can lead to increased irritability or anger outbursts. Your loved one may seem more easily frustrated or agitated, especially in situations where they feel unsafe or overwhelmed.

4. Insomnia or Sleep Disturbances: Difficulty sleeping is a common symptom of PTSD, and this may worsen around holidays like the Fourth of July when fireworks can disrupt sleep patterns.

5. Hypervigilance: Constantly scanning the environment for potential threats or triggers is a sign of hypervigilance. Your loved one may appear on edge or excessively alert, unable to fully relax. During the Fourth of July festivities, this particular response may not be as hidden as the sounds of the fireworks amid large crowds.

How to Care for Your Loved One

1. Plan Ahead: Discuss plans for the holiday in advance. Find out what events will include fireworks and strategize ways to minimize exposure if necessary. Offer alternative activities that your loved one may find more comfortable.

2. Create a Safe Space: If celebrating at home, create a quiet, safe space where your loved one can retreat if they become overwhelmed. This space should be free from loud noises and distractions.

3. Validate Their Feelings: Acknowledge and validate your loved one's feelings and experiences. Let them know it's okay to feel anxious or fearful, and reassure them that you're there to support them.

4. Limit Alcohol and Substance Consumption: Alcohol can exacerbate symptoms of PTSD. Encourage moderation or abstinence from alcohol during celebrations to help maintain emotional stability. Substance use comes with the highs and lows of the substance alongside the temporary relief of the hypervigilance that comes back in full force when one is sober again. Avoiding all intoxicants will support the long-term regulation of emotional responses. If you need extra support, consider contacting one of our US and Canada clinics. We can refer you to our partner clinics nationwide even if we are not in your area.

5. Be Mindful of Triggers: Pay attention to potential triggers and be prepared to intervene or offer support if your loved one becomes distressed. This may include using noise-canceling headphones, playing calming music, or engaging in grounding techniques.

6. Encourage Self-Care: Remind your loved one to prioritize self-care during this time. Encourage activities that promote relaxation and reduce stress, such as deep breathing exercises, yoga, or spending time in nature. For more information on self-care, check out this article by the Veterans Association.

Conclusion

As we commemorate Independence Day, it's essential to be mindful of the challenges faced by those with PTSD. By recognizing the hidden signs of PTSD and taking proactive steps to support your loved one, you can help them navigate this potentially triggering holiday with greater ease. Remember, your understanding, patience, and support are invaluable in their journey towards healing and managing PTSD symptoms. Together, we can ensure that everyone can participate in holiday celebrations in a safe and comfortable way. For more support as a veteran, save the following in your contacts in case you need extra support this holiday:

Veteran's crisis line: 800-273-8255, press option 1
Text: 838255
Webchat: veteranscrisisline.net

If you would like to support yourself, your peers, or your loved ones in a deeper way while learning about Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy, consider one of our stand-alone courses in our Numinus Training Program called Psychedelic Harm Reduction and Integration. You will learn the basics of preparation and integration after a psychedelic session. Email us for personalized support at training@numinus.com. Our clinics in Utah and our partner clinics throughout Canada are wonderful resources to begin healing from PTSD. We also have robust Clinical Trial offerings for those seeking support through their healing in PTSD and other mental health challenges. We wish you a beautiful and peaceful holiday. A special thank you to Kellie Forziat Pytel, Ph.D., LPC-PA, NCC, ACS, Clinical Mental Health Counseling Educator, for sharing her resources for the Veterans with the Numinus Team.

A Guide: How To Read Published Psychedelic Science Research

How to Read Published Psychedelic Science Research

by Matt Wall

About the Author: Matthew Wall is a Psychologist, neuroscientist, & fMRI specialist at Invicro and Imperial College London. He works closely with Robin Carhart-Harris, supporting their research into the effects of Psilocybin, Cannabis, and other novel compounds on the brain through brain imaging. Matthew is a friend of Numinus but is not affiliated directly with our team. This guest blog is his generous contribution to the Psychedelic Ecosystem so everyone, regardless of background, can understand the research emerging in the field of Psychedelic Sciences. A sincere thank you for your time and contributions to the Psychedelic community!

Introduction: Diving into a New Landscape in Science

The current wave of research on psychedelics is notably different from the previous wave in the 1950s/60s in lots of ways, but one of the most important ones is that we now have research methods and technology that just weren’t available back then. A lot of modern psychedelic research has taken advantage of this and focused on understanding the details of how psychedelics act on the brain and how these brain effects translate to the acute, subjective, and longer-term clinical effects of these drugs. There’s a huge amount of public interest in these results, but unfortunately, the research methods used are often highly technical and use a large amount of scientific jargon. This means readers without a strong background in neuroscience, biology, statistics, psychology, or related disciplines can struggle to understand the primary research literature.

Fortunately, there are strategies you can use to extract what you need from a paper, even if it’s not in your field of expertise. Most scientific papers follow a pretty standard format, so it’s fairly easy to focus on the important bits without getting bogged down in all the technical stuff.

Begin Here: The Abstract of the Paper

First, read the abstract. This is the summary at the beginning that normally contains a brief outline of the methods, results, and conclusions. If this gives you all the information you need, then great – you’re done! However, if you want to start digging a little deeper or be able to evaluate the results critically, you’ll need to read at least a few more sections. Rather than reading straight through the paper, it’s better to flip back and forth and read the following sections:

The introduction sets out the background to the research question, and often references previous studies that have looked at similar or related questions. The final paragraph of the introduction is worth taking a close look at, as it usually sets out the precise aims of the study and the hypotheses.

The first paragraph of the discussion section is usually a summary of the key results, often in simpler language than in the results section, so that’s an important part to read carefully as well.

Often towards the end of the discussion there will be a paragraph or two which outlines the strengths and limitations of the study. This can give really important information about how to critically evaluate the study’s conclusions.

The final paragraph of the discussion is usually a fairly plain-language summary of the key conclusions.

The figures in neuroscience papers are often the most important part of the results section. These might be images of brains with colored blobs that indicate areas of significant increased or decreased activation, or if it’s a pre-clinical (i.e., work on animals) paper, they might be images of cells. There are also usually a number of charts, graphs, tables, or other kinds of diagrams. The figure/table captions are usually helpful in understanding them but can sometimes be quite technical.

fig 1: Whole brain voxelwise changes. Significant clusters showed increased (hot colors) or decreased (cool colors) responsivity after therapy (cluster corrected, z > 2.3, p < .05). **

If you really want to dig deep into a particular paper, then you’ll need to tackle the methods section. This sets out exactly what the researchers did in a fair amount of detail. In neuroscience papers, this usually contains a large amount of technical jargon, which can be really hard to get through if you’re not familiar with the research field. You may need to look up particular words and phrases as you go or even do some background reading of other papers to understand exactly what the researchers did. If you’re lucky, there’s sometimes a figure or diagram in the methods section that summarizes the methods used.

Other Sections to Look Out for While Reviewing the Details:

In clinical trial papers, there is usually a CONSORT (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) diagram. CONSORT is actually a whole set of detailed guidelines for how to report randomized clinical trials, but what’s normally referred to as a ‘CONSORT diagram’ is a flow-chart-like figure with arrows and boxes, which details the recruitment of subjects, how they were allocated to particular treatments or trial conditions, how many dropped out, how many were excluded from the analysis, and the reasons why.

Often hidden away at the end of the paper, there is usually some kind of statement about how the study was funded and the potential conflicts of interest of the authors. This is important because studies funded by commercial interests report favorable results more often than those funded by independent sources, which may be evidence of bias. In addition, the individual authors may disclose that they act as consultants for or are employed by commercial interests.

Pre-registration. Most clinical trials will be pre-registered on https://clinicaltrials.gov/. This means the author will post a fairly detailed summary of the trial protocol, what they expect the main outcomes to be, and other details online. This prevents people from being able to selectively report trial results or change the outcomes halfway through the trial so as to get a more positive result. There’s a general movement to pre-register more kinds of studies, so you may see that even some basic science studies have pre-registered analysis plans and outcomes, often on websites like the Open Science Foundation (https://osf.io/). Suppose the authors pre-registered their outcomes and analysis plans. In that case, you can be more confident that the results are genuine and not the outcome of some process where the researchers tried a bunch of different analyses on their data and picked the one they liked the best.

Open code/data. Similar to pre-registration, there’s a general movement towards more ‘open science’ practices, and this means sometimes papers will include links to data repositories, or analysis code that they’ve used in the study. This is also a good sign, as it suggests the authors have nothing to hide, and that anyone can independently verify their methods.

Summary and Next Steps:

Learning to read scientific papers is a skill and something that definitely gets easier with practice, though even experienced researchers can sometimes still struggle when evaluating a paper that’s outside their (often fairly narrow) range of expertise. If you’re struggling, don’t be afraid to ask questions; social media sites like Twitter or Reddit are a great place to ask questions, and you can even look up one of the study authors and ask them questions directly. Most researchers will be happy to talk about their work and will be pleased that someone is reading it! If you start to dig into a particular research area, you’ll start to pick up some of the more common terms and jargon, making it easier and faster, too. With many scientific publications now being open-access and not paywalled, there is a great opportunity for anyone to engage with the scientific literature, and non-scientists can still get a lot out of it. Unfortunately, there can be a lot of misinformation about particular topics, and going to the source and looking at the original research is the best way to counter that. Hopefully, this short guide can be an entry point for anyone interested in reading about psychedelic science or any other research topic you may be interested in.

If you are interested in participating in clinical trials in Psychedelics and diagnostic-specific research in the Psychedelic landscape, please visit Numinus' Clinical Trials page for our actively recruiting trials. If you are a researcher seeking to expand your knowledge and include Psychedelic Research in your work, we encourage you to participate in our Info Friday sessions, where you can learn more about our various training programs and certification pathways.

Discover more about Matthew and his work on Linkedin, and read his research on Google Scholar.

**Images were taken from "Increased amygdala responses to emotional faces after psilocybin for treatment-resistant depression" by Leor Roseman, Lysia Demetriou, Matthew B. Wall, David J. Nutt, and Robin Cart-Hart Harris.