Is There Any Cases Of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) Following Close Encounters ?

[Guest Cervelo]

I've never seen Bigfoot, but I have been shot with (NDE)

and been very close to numerous anger wild animals, loins, elaphants, rhinos ect. I believe Bigfoot could be real and assume ET is out there somewhere. I completely don't and never will (until I have my own encounter I guess) understand the whole world turned upside down, can't function because I saw an animal! Yes go spend a couple of years in Iraq that's a different kettle of fish. Yes I get the whole it should not be stuff but if I see a panther or Bigfoot or an irorybilled woodpecker this week in the Dismal Swamp I will be jacked but not curled in a corner I don't think? But it is a part of the whole experience I find interesting I guess everyone reacts differently

[Guest]

I was not frightened by the BF I saw,I was mostly shocked and surprised that I was actually seeing one while driving along a dirt road(hwy #7) in Texas heading for Arkansas. We did not return to see if it was still there.

Hubby said no way was he going back, period. I wonder if he saw it but won't admit it.

He is usually totally skeptical, but he has not said a word against my sighting. I think that he saw it also but will not admit it.

When I said I just saw a BF he said "okay" and that was it until I asked to go look for evidence, then he firmly said "No way are we going back, I'm not stopping and I'm not turning this car around"..

I wonder if I had said "I just saw a naked woman all alone back there" if he would have turned around?

Edited December 25, 2011 by SweetSusiq

[Guest Dr. Boogie]

I really don't know but I have had an unexpected experience with a dangerous wild animal before. I was once growled at by a wild tiger from 8 yards away without any real warning, the person who was with me pointed out how calm I was about it. I remember telling him to walk slowly in the opposite direction(to reduce any perceived threat if the tiger was with young or by a kill) and to talk loudly so that we were less likely to be mistaken for a common prey animal. I said at the time "We'll one day be telling out grandchildren about this". I guess the encounter is comparable in some ways, as soon as we were far enough for us not be feel in any immediate danger I viewed it as a great adventure.

I think if it was something like a Bigfoot though there would be the added dimension of having seen something that is not generally excepted as being real. How that would add to the psychological mix I cannot say, with myself I don't think it would lead to PTSD but it would haunt me and possibly could develop into an obsession with finding 'proof'(Maybe that could be interpreted as PTSD?). Everybody reacts differently and some people will scream if they just find a leech on themselves so who knows how such an encounter could effect somebody in the long term?

[Guest]

I am not sure the big game animal comparison is valid. Bigfoot is in a whole other league as far as intelligence and general skills--speed, stealth, strength, adaptability to different environments, acute vision, bf has it all. Nothing else comes close, at least in my view. That is scary--but it's not a normal animal scare. The threat is at a new level.

Hence, the fright in some encounters is absolute, mindless, pants-messing terror. PTSD terror. That is only part of it. It's not only fear that does it.

When I saw a bf, I believed they existed. I was not at all scared, and I was safe aboard a huge bus. But I still saw it. See, any sighting of a bf puts before your mind the fact you saw something you know doesn't exist--even if you thought they did exist, seeing it is just another kind of experience. The impact on your mind is something you could not have predicted. Just SEEING it completely skews your sense of reality. Your brain will never be the same.

And being completely terrified by such a thing has got to be in a class with alien abduction and other far-edge-of-reality terror.

Edited December 25, 2011 by Kings Canyon

[Guest Dr. Boogie]

Yes, having never seen a Bigfoot I can't be sure how I'd react, though to my mind that tiger encounter was the most authentic clue as to how I might (primeval would be the best way to convey how it felt). I'd already acknowledged that the 'not recognised by science' element would add another layer to such an experience.

One thing to consider, of course is the delayed element in the development of PTSD. I wonder if it occurs after the event(s) even if the subject does not feel particularly terrified at the time?

Edited December 25, 2011 by Dr. Boogie

[Guest]

Several years back I was running up a logging road off of the Williams river in Webster Co. WV. The road was cut out of the mountain so it was very steep down hill to my left and fairly steep uphill to my right. I heard some noise in the brush to my left up in front of me to my left. I expected a racoon, fox, or some other animal. Out popped a large black bear into the road about 10 yards in front of me. The bear as soon as it saw me dived back down the hill. It was pretty frightening but the feeling was short lived. It was not an encounter that I would think that would give one ptsd. I imagine the sightings where people feel the hair on their backs raising are a little different.

[Guest TexasTracker]

TT here,

Sounds like we've got quite a few interested in the subject.

Regardless of the source, the common link in PTSD is the emotional response. People see something (whatever that may be) that catches them completely off guard, and they have a difficult time processing the information.

In combat, the effect of seeing a fellow soldier lose his life right before your eyes, seeing women and children tortured & killed, etc... you get the idea. It's kinda the same "sensory overload" in all these situations. There is more going on before your eyes than your brain is capable of, or willing to process. There becomes a detachment from reality that helps you get through the event. Sometimes this stays filed away safely & sometimes it makes its way out in unpredictable ways.

Imagine you are walking along a hiking trail, enjoying your long awaiting escape from humanity. You begin to suspect you hear something following you on the trail. You stop to listen, but hear nothing. As you resume your hike, an animal lets out a scream that sends shivers through your body. It sounds so close you can literally FEEL the sounds of the scream hitting your body. The fight of flight response began to take over your body, your mind races to make sense of this assault. You begin to depart the area as quickly as you can while trying to remain calm. The animal lets out another scream louder than the first which instantly throws you into a full-blown panic. You break into an all-out sprint and begin to truly fear for your life. You manage to make it back to the safety of your vehicle and flee the woods immediately.

This is the type of event that would leave a person in PTSD. They were not prepared for an encounter like a big game hunter may be. It is an event where a person is caught off guard, so to speak. They are left emotionally distraught in an attempt to make sense of what they have just experienced. Some are able to process this information and come to terms with it. Some sadly cannot make sense of it at all and choose to ignore it... which becomes extremely stressful as you might imagine. That stress will eventually come out one way or another until the underlying events are addressed.

Any chance some of you forum members have had similar experiences? I’d like to learn more about your experiences. What was the event? How were you able to overcome the experience? Have you been able to overcome? What did it take to get you back into the woods?

Thanks for listening,

TT

[Guest Dr. Boogie]

TT, some of the elements you mention were in my wild tiger encounter back in 1993. I used to work as a tour guide in Thailand's Khao Yai National Park, they have wild tigers there although they are very rare. I considered myself lucky to have two sightings in the two years that I worked there as they are very rarely seen although their pug marks, scrapes and tree sprays are encountered more often.

On this occasion I was with a guy called Rob, we had spent the previous night at a ranger station in a place called Khlong Ee Thaw and wanted to spend another night there. The rangers are very poorly paid and supplied and we wanted to get some more fresh food rather than eat the frogs, toads and insects that the rangers caught once their monthly meat supplies had been used up (as well as get some 'lao khao' whisky for the rangers).

As we hiked back to Khlong Ee Thaw from the Park HQ it was getting quite late in the afternoon and starting to get dark, it gets dark very quickly under the jungle canopy. As we walked along the jungle path I heard a large animal moving through the undergrowth slightly off the trail and ahead of us. I can remember thinking "What's that?" as it did not sound like a deer which are usually silent until they suddenly bolt. As the noise got parallel to us, about 8 yards off the trail to our right a large tiger appeared in a gap in the foliage. At the same instant it let out a very deep semi-roar. It's hard to explain but we could feel it as much as hear it.

I told Rob what they rangers had previously advised me to do in such an encounter, walk away slowly to reduced any threat the tiger might perceive, don't run as feline instinct is to chase and keep talking loudly to increase the chances of not being mistaken for a common prey animal. I did feel a bit of fear at the instant we saw it and it roared/growled at us but it all happened in an instant. Rob later said that his hair literally stood on end.

We still had about 30 minutes of hiking to go until the tree canopy opened up by the Khlong Ee Thaw ranger station and it was getting dark fast. We are pretty sure the tiger followed us as we could hear the occasional twig break on the trail behind us and tigers are well known to follow just out of sight, however it could have just been paranoia at this stage after the initial shock.

Anyway, as I said in the earlier post, almost as the initial danger seemed to have passed, within a minute I was already seeing it as a great adventure and said to Rob that we would be telling our grand children about this. It was a primeval experience but the fact that it ended well has removed most of any sense of fear from my memory of it.

We all react differently to different situations and I'm not trying to imply that I am fearless. I think that a real life battle situation would affect me far more deeply. I think what I'm getting at is that maybe PTSD is more applicable when there is an actual traumatic attack or terrible conclusion to the episode? Most Bigfoot reports I've read don't have this type of conclusion. I do appreciate the 'unknown/unaccepted' factor would add another dimension to such an experience.

Edited December 26, 2011 by Dr. Boogie

[Guest exnihilo]

I read a book once that classified PTSD as paralyzed fight-or-flight energy. Until you learn to let it go it remains psychically activated. That's the theory, anyway.

[Guest]

I am not sure the big game animal comparison is valid. Bigfoot is in a whole other league as far as intelligence and general skills--speed, stealth, strength, adaptability to different environments, acute vision, bf has it all. Nothing else comes close, at least in my view. That is scary--but it's not a normal animal scare. The threat is at a new level.

Hence, the fright in some encounters is absolute, mindless, pants-messing terror. PTSD terror. That is only part of it. It's not only fear that does it.

When I saw a bf, I believed they existed. I was not at all scared, and I was safe aboard a huge bus. But I still saw it. See, any sighting of a bf puts before your mind the fact you saw something you know doesn't exist--even if you thought they did exist, seeing it is just another kind of experience. The impact on your mind is something you could not have predicted. Just SEEING it completely skews your sense of reality. Your brain will never be the same.

And being completely terrified by such a thing has got to be in a class with alien abduction and other far-edge-of-reality terror.

I encountered a lion once. I was absolutely terrified inside. I was functional and outwardly calm (side-effect of my hallucinations actually) but my heart was racing a mile a minute. This was nothing like when I was experiencing hallucinations of being abducted by UFOs. This was traumatizing. I was afraid to open doors and look out windows. So yes seeing bigfoot which is man-like and animal-like at the same time might be traumatic to the point of PTSD. "Edge of reality" is right.

[Guest]

I would imagine that seeing a Bigfoot when you are not expecting to see one would be traumatic, and if the encounter seemed dangerous then I believe that person would have Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. I had it as a child after seeing a UFO up close and personal mainly because I did not think that they were real! I had trouble sleeping, being left alone, afraid of the dark, you name it, I had it for a long time after my sighting. My sister totally blocked it out, and to this day if I mention that experience she freezes up and says "I don't know what you are talking about". She has totally blocked it out, but subconsciously she remembers it. I wish that I could block it out..

Why, block it....guess it would be a personal thing.

I've seen over 30 years at least a dozen and half of UFO's....some of them were with a 1/2 mile.... pretty close. I have yet to see a booger

[kitakaze]

I think definitely the one to talk to about this subject is John Cartwright.

[Guest TexasTracker]

I know of a gentleman that grew up in rural Arkansas. He was **** hunting with dogs at night, I believe he said he was 13 at the time. He heard his dogs get excited, then change their bark. As he ran through the woods towards the direction he thought the dogs were, a very large, harry, upright "something" stepped into his path and screamed at him. In his defense he shot at the animal in it's face and ran towards his home as fast as he could. He described it as complete and shear terror, instantly overcome by fear that he was going to die.

This guy was unable to sleep with the light off for years... deeply, deeply, affected. I won't go into all of it...

He is a grown man today who is able to camp in the same woods, but lights up the campsite like Las Vegas when he's ready to turn in.

He's never been formally diagnosed with PTSD, but that's just a technicality. There are most probably many that would fall into this catagory.

These are the type of reoprts/stories I'm interested in learning from..

[Guest OntarioSquatch]

The president of iMarket Canada was a fishing guide in Northern Ontario and he went through PTSD after watching one quickly run on rocks on a shoreline.

[Guest wudewasa]

TexasTracker,

Yes, there are many cases of undiagnosed, and therefore untreated PTSD. It's not just in war situation, but many cases of abuse and stress as well. Being diagnosed with a mental illness is a horrible sentence in this country. Businesses don't want to hire that person, people don't want to be in relationships, society ostracizes the person because they are termed "unpredictable" or a "loose cannon, and they are too inconvenient in their behavior for other people to address. So, the person learns to deal as best they can, some escaping into drugs and alcohol.

This is a very personal issue with me, as I have a number of friends who have developed PTSD after serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan. What I try to do is find out what triggers my friends' episodes, and ask them how they would like for me to help them when it happens. Every individual handles it differently, but when we try to understand what they are going through, they feel safer, and in time, this can lead to their healing.