So, what is post-traumatic stress disorder?

Post-traumatic stress can occur when you experience or witness traumatic events such as the threat of death, serious injury, or sexual violence. We commonly think of veterans who suffer from PTSD because of their experience in war, but post-traumatic stress extends well beyond the battlefield to persons who experience trauma in everyday life.

It is characterized by several key symptoms:

• reliving the event through flashbacks or nightmares

• avoiding things that remind you of what happened. This could be situations, people, or events. E.g. you avoid driving because of a bad car accident.

• having more negative thoughts. Maybe you feel guilt and shame, or cannot have caring thoughts about those you love

• feeling on edge or "keyed up"--called 'hyperarousal,' means that you're on the lookout for danger

Where can we see it in the Bible?

Since the Bible is a historical document, it naturally records ugly human events, most of which are incredibly traumatic. For example, we read about great loss (Job), family betrayal (Gen. 37), war (Joshua), violence (Ex. 32), murder (Gen. 4; Jesus), and rape (Gen. 34; 2 Sam.13; Jdg. 19), to name a few.

One of the most horrific and traumatizing events was the destruction of Israel by Babylon. Over a period of almost twenty years, the Babylonians wreaked havoc upon God's people. They invaded and destroyed Jerusalem, kidnapping people and taking them far away to Babylon. Eventually, they burned the Temple to the ground. During this time women were raped, families were separated, and people were starved and murdered. At one point, Israel became so desperate for food that they resorted to cannibalism.

Prior to this destruction, Judah engaged in idolatry that involved sexual immorality within the Temple, sex idols placed within the Temple, and child sacrifice. These were horrific and dark times.

The prophet Jeremiah had a unique perspective, since he witnessed the gross-idolatry and child sacrifice, lived through the invasions, and saw his people living in exile. He witnessed an immense amount of pain, which is why he is often referred to as "the Weeping Prophet." He wrote an extremely valuable book called Lamentations that records his pain. Additionally, several of the Psalms were written and collected by the people of God during the Captivity. In particular, Psalms 137 and 79 provide us with important details.

Let’s look at some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder to see where they appear in the book of Lamentations.

• The threat of death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Jeremiah writes, “Women have been violated in Zion, and virgins in the towns of Judah. Princes have been hung up by their hands; elders are shown no respect. Young men toil at the millstones; boys stagger under loads of wood” (Lam.5:10-15).

• Recurring and intrusive distressing memories associated with the event. “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light… I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me” (Lam.3:1-2, 19-20).

• Flashbacks where the person feels as if the event were reoccurring. Note how Jeremiah writes as if he can see these things still occurring, even though he wrote after the destruction. "The sacred gems are scattered at every street corner…But now they are blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick. Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine; racked with hunger, they waste away for lack of food from the field. With their own hands compassionate women have cooked their own children, who became their food when my people were destroyed” (Lam.4:1,8-10). We see the same thing occurring in the psalms that were written after the traumatic events: “O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead” (Ps.79:1-4).”

• Intense or prolonged psychological distress or triggers. “Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees. What I see brings grief to my soul because of all the women of my city”(Lam.3:48-51).

• Persistent and negative beliefs about yourself. “Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine…” (Lam.4:9). In other words, "I who have survived would be better off dead."

• Blaming themselves for the trauma. “Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: ‘We have sinned and rebelled and you have not forgiven” (Lam.3:41-42). “The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned” (5:16)! It is true that Israel's sin brought this destruction, but note the connection between blame and severe trauma.

• Diminished interest in significant activities. “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land” (Ps.137:1-4)?

• Hypervigilance. This is when the person who experienced a traumatic event is determined to never allow it to happen again, often times leading to over-stepping or over-protecting. We can see this when Nehemiah went to extreme measures to ensure Israel obeyed God's commands after they had returned from Babylong. He threatened to arrest anyone buying or selling on the Sabbath (New. 13:12-21). And when he discovered that men were still marrying non-Jewish women, "I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair. I made them take an oath in God’s name and said: 'You are not to give your daughters in marriage to their sons" (v.25). This hyper vigilant stance continued right into Jesus' day, as he was repeatedly attacked by the religious leaders for breaking the Sabbath. “At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, ‘Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath’” (Matt.12:1-2).

• Irritable behavior and angry outbursts prompted by the traumatic event. The psalmists cried out, “Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland” (Ps.79:6-7). “Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us. Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks” (137:8-9).
  

We also have to note something that it not explicitly stated: children were eyewitnesses to this brutality. They saw their fathers and brothers killed with swords and most likely saw their mothers and sisters being raped. Many families were broken apart as the Babylonians deported thousands of persons to their own country. There is good reason to believe that Esther was one of these children present when Jerusalem was destroyed. Her mother and father died (we don't know why), but her uncle took her in, and she was deported to Babylon (see Esther 2:7).

These children would have most certainly experienced behavioral changes in eating and sleeping habits, and emotional changes such as increased crying, anxiety, anger, aggression, withdrawal, and a heightened sense of fear. The effects of witnessing such trauma would stay with them for the remainder of their lives.

After trauma, will I ever feel safe again?

Related:

Children and trauma

Hidden Wounds

How trauma affects
our bodies

These resources might be helpful:

How Scripture teaches us about PTSD