Black Man's Burden

My husband, in light of my description of hypervigilance, said that 'it sounded exhausting'. Which it is, just unconsciously so...manifesting itself (for me at least) through indigestion, aches in my shoulder and hip (because of constant tensing of those areas), and headaches that strike at the base of my skull.

Hypervigilance isn't an aspect of depression, but it is a diagnostic criteria (or whatever they call it) for PTSD...something my mood doctor, aka LCSW, suggested that I investigate along with depression. Coincidentally enough, depression itself is one of the manifestations of PTSD which, more and more, it appears as though I have. Upon skimming through the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook and realizing that I met every criteria that was mentioned in the DSM-IV, one of my first thoughts was, 'Darnit! Now I'm going to have to change the blogsite again.'

That's not bad, is it?

Anyway, its been like the couple trying to get pregnant...PTSD articles seem to be everywhere I look. This one from Salon is good, mentions a number of alternative treatments that seem promising. Then there is this one, which isn't about PTSD, but is about race and being aware of being the other in American society, which made me wonder if being black and moving around daily in a world that is, at least where I live and work, mostly white doesn't somehow exacerbate PTSD. If I indeed have it, which is up for debate at the moment.

More later...and hopefully later will mean in a day or so - rather than in a week or so, now that I am on vacation.


Postscript: You'd think that if they could program an email client for a computer the size of a very small wallet, they could also include HTML formatting along with it. Apparently not, which is why there are no informative links in this post. Yet

Post-Postscript: Okay, okay, Salon does require a subscription or a viewing of an ad to read their articles, but it's a really good magazine so I don't mind sending people their way. Just trust me on this one.