PTSD Hath Murdered Sleep
By Kevin Weaver
In 2005-6 I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of my coverage of war zones during the 90’s and underwent three sessions of treatment. The main symptoms I suffered from were nightmares involving flashbacks to situations I had faced during the wars in Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo I had covered, along with images of the death of my mother who died from cancer when I was 17. I became terrified of sleep and twice became addicted to Zopiclone sleeping tablets. Instead of a place of rest, relaxation and repose, my bed became a place of terror and torture. My counsellor encouraged me to go back into my nightmares as soon as I awoke and trace them back through their narrative in order to understand them and exorcise them; this has been quite successful and I rarely suffer these nightmares today.
PTSD Hath Murdered Sleep