Every night this week I kept waking up out of my sleep, so I felt wiped out, uneasy, and miserable during the day, with a deep-seated unease as if I couldn’t breathe. The simple tasks became overwhelming.

I was aware that I had experienced the very traumatic event of my best friend’s daughter dying suddenly. However, there was more, as there was not one day this week that I didn’t read or hear about a gruesome or bizarre act of violent ‘craziness’ taking place in the country.

Of course, there are too many to recount. But these three have unnerved me emotionally. Mainly the murder of the young farmer and recent prime minister youth awardee in Manchester, the ‘taxi’ operator who physically broke another driver’s window on an active roadway to try and stab him, and, finally, the tying up and burning to death of an 80-year-old woman in a house in St Ann.

When I read of the young farmer I became grief-stricken. Here was a young man in the prime of his life engaging in an activity many youth are not interested in. I thought of his mother and how she must be feeling about losing her son so violently and suddenly, and my heart broke even more.

Now, the natural go-to answer for us to cope is, “Well, that was a hit,” or “He must have been involved in something for them to just come for him so.”
What if neither of these is true? What if we have just reached a stage in this country where people don’t want to see you succeed faster than them? Whatever the reason behind why gunmen fired several bullets into this young man has jolted me because it could’ve been my son, or it could’ve been yours. So, I was already traumatised.

Then, seeing a so-called taxi operator walking up to a driver’s closed window with a metal object and breaking the window had me in disbelief. To compound my emotions, the operator went for what appeared to be a large knife, came back to the driver, and proceeded to try to stab him.

This time, I heard myself saying aloud, “Shoulda my window him break, I woulda tek my cutlass and slap him wid it.” I also heard myself saying “Is a gun mout’ him shoulda come back to.” Then I had to catch myself, because I should not have even thought those violent reactions, let alone verbalised them. But that is how I felt at that moment. There was a spontaneous and visceral anger that wanted to fight him back immediately.

I also wondered what that poor 80-year-old lady must have gone through while they were tying her hands about her head or tying her feet. Binding her so she became immobile. What kind of sick, demented brain does that to an old lady who lives alone? I wanted to fight her perpetrators, too.

Unfortunately, I can’t live in a bubble and turn off my senses to protect myself. I feel these events when I read or watch them in the news. Consequently, I was overwhelmed and questioned if my desire to fight was a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). After all, living in Jamaica, these types of traumatic events are now daily occurrences, and is it now a case of “kill or be killed”?

PTSD is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event. Experts say that it is natural to feel afraid during and after a traumatic situation. Fear is a part of the body’s “fight-or-flight” response, which assists us in responding to potential danger.

Consequently, people may experience a range of reactions after they’ve been exposed to stressful or deeply shocking situations, and most will recover from their symptoms over time. Those persons who continue to experience symptoms may be diagnosed with PTSD.

These symptoms include being easily startled, tense, on guard or edge, having difficulty concentrating, falling asleep or staying asleep, feeling irritable and angry or aggressive outbursts, and engaging in risky, reckless, or destructive behaviour.

People with PTSD may also experience physical symptoms, such as increased blood pressure and heart rate, fatigue, muscle tension, nausea, joint pain, headaches, back pain or other types of pain. The person in pain may not realise the connection between their pain and a traumatic event.

These symptoms usually begin three months or even later after the traumatic event. Doctors and psychologists will tell you that to meet the criteria for PTSD a person must have symptoms for longer than one month, and the symptoms must be impactful enough that they interfere with aspects of daily life, such as relationships or work. Furthermore, the symptoms also must be unrelated to medication, substance use, or other illness.

Yet, not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event. Sometimes, learning that a relative or close friend experienced trauma or living in a community or environment with daily trauma may trigger PTSD within you.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 3.6 per cent of the world’s population experiences PTSD in a given year; about five in every one hundred adults will have PTSD. For example, approximately 13 million people in the US had PTSD in 2020; about one in three people who experience severe trauma will develop PTSD, and women are more likely than men to develop PTSD. Although some people recover within six months, others have symptoms lasting one year or longer, and some people may stay with their adrenaline pumping in constant “fight-or-flight” if not treated.

Often, people with PTSD have co-occurring conditions, such as depression, substance use, or one or more anxiety disorders. Some clinicians recount that some people may feel detached from the dangerous experience “as though they are observing things as an outsider rather than experiencing them”.
This week, I recognised that witnessing my best friend’s trauma, coupled with the violence across the country, was leading to PTSD red flags in my thoughts and actions, and I practised some relaxation methods.

But what about those who cannot discern these symptoms, especially our children who may perhaps be scared of living in a country where they see constant extreme violence, physical abuse, murder, and uncontrollable anger management towards each other?

Every day we are all confronted with trauma, directly and indirectly, and I am worried for Jamaica and the mental health of our populace, especially our youth, many of whom have turned to smoking ‘weed’ to help calm their thoughts and sedate their anxieties as a way of coping within their communities.
Therefore, let us all commit to being our brother’s and sister’s keeper, acknowledging that sometimes they may need a listening ear or someone to intervene on their behalf considering the harsh daily realities of living in Jamaica. So, if you see behaviours that are symptoms of PTSD within those people around you, please encourage them to get help.
Have a safe and productive week.

Lisa Hanna is Member of Parliament for St Ann South Eastern, People’s National Party spokesperson on foreign affairs and foreign trade, and a former Cabinet member.