Building a Character

In my last post, I discussed the use of psychedelic drugs in the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. A fascinating video featuring the late Dr. Richard Rockefeller, provides a great background on PTSD, how it affects those who have it and those around them, and how therapists treat the condition.

A key theme in the sequel to Revelation 11, tentatively entitled, Continuing Revelation, is the main character's reaction to the stress-inducing events described in Revelation 11. Dr. Rockefeller's description of PTSD gave me a roadmap for continuing to build the character of Ben "Trog" Davis.

Dr. Rockefeller noted that while many of us experience, post-traumatic stress, it only becomes a disorder when the brain fails to move the traumatic memory out of the amygdala, which largely processes current ongoing events, into the parts of the brain that store memories. He explained that PTSD sufferers continue to experience the trauma as an ongoing event. They literally see and experience the trauma again seeing the people and objects present at the original event as if it were occurring at that moment.

While virtually everyone experiences post-traumatic stress, not everyone develops PTSD. Dr. Rockefeller explained that those who had suppressed memories from childhood stress are more likely to develop PTSD as an adult. So soldiers who survive the same IED attack in battle may have very different reactions to the event based on their prior experiences.

To treat PTSD, therapists must get back to that underlying trauma and allow the individual to process it into memory. LSD, ecstasy, and other medications that break down the walls harboring these suppressed memories allow the PTSD sufferer to explore their painful past in a safe environment.

Of course, to a novelist safe is boring. Trog will not be safe. The drugs the therapists give him may reveal more truth than he can handle. The intervention he needs may come from agents of God, Satan, or humans. Trog will have to judge whether what he sees is real or not. He may suffer from supernaturally induced PTSD.