The Missing Keys

Recent statistics indicate up to 70 percent of Americans are exposed to some form of trauma during their life time. Most victims of trauma experience at least some symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PTS): intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, anxiety, vigilance, disturbing dreams, avoidance of reminders, survival guilt, anger issues, self-medication (usually with alcohol or other substances), sexual issues, etc. About 20 percent of trauma victims develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), i.e., experience many of the above symptoms for a prolonged period of time. Individuals with PTSD symptoms are often given advice from friends and family members. Typical examples are: try not to think about it; give it some time, and it will go away, get involved in your hobbies so you will not think about it, a couple of beers will help you relax and get some sleep. These kinds of advice often make the trauma victims feel worse because they cannot possibly forget the trauma, and they often think there is something wrong with them otherwise they would be able to forget about it. The Missing Keys is Dr. Gino's attempt to help trauma victims resolve issues regarding their inability to forget, their constant attempts to avoid thoughts and reminders of trauma, and to address collateral problems arising from symptoms of PTSD such as anger, sexual, and addiction issues. Dr. Gino has more than twenty-five years of experience working with trauma victims. He assessed and helped war veterans at the Honolulu VA Hospital for almost fifteen years. He has helped trauma victims in private practice for the past ten years, has helped addicts for the past thirty-two years, and he is a software developer. The Missing Keys integrates his fields of expertise and includes verbatim therapy sessions to help the reader feel involved in the actual therapy.