In today’s episode, we interview Andrea Bassett, founder of Cora Journey. In this powerful conversation, Andrea explains how traumatic events can result in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and outlines a pathway to help those suffering with PTSD. This is a can’t miss episode!

Audio link is here. Video link is here.

Here are the show notes:

Tell us about your current venture, Cora Journey. What led you to start this organization?

• Chronic exposure to suffering and pain on the mission field
• A feeling of immense helplessness when my husband was injured by a landslide, and his subsequent experience of PTSD.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

• People feel like they’re going crazy for a month or more after a traumatic event.
• Nightmares.
• Insomnia.
• Flashbacks – brain tricks you into thinking you’re back in the traumatic event.
• Heightened irritability.
• It’s as though the traumatized person’s brain perceives every stimulus as a threat. Trauma changes the physical shape of the brain.
• A constant state of hyper-alert.
• When you experience a traumatic event that is attacking the integrity of the person, such as a sexual assault, the sympathetic nervous system activates and goes into fight or flight. When this happens your ability to do critical thinking decreases. Your brain goes into survival mode.

The power of your presence is helpful to someone who has been traumatized.