Why BASIC

“PTSD” is a natural reaction to war, and to other traumatic events. It is not a mental disorder but a natural biological response to preserve life. It is the body’s “survival alarm” sounding when danger is present. This alarm system is integral to the body’s oldest brain. Our brain is actually three brains in one: the oldest being the reptilian or survival brain, the next being the mammalian or emotional brain, and the newest being the cerebral cortex or thinking brain. In combat the survival brain keeps us alert and engaged in a very dangerous environment. Combat training calls upon the primitive controlled rage and terror, and the instinct to survive, of our survival brain. Upon returning from combat and back into civilian society, the warrior is expected to switch off the instincts that have kept them alive and return to navigating civilian life without the survival brain on high alert. Once in the civilian world, the very actions that kept them alive in combat---hyper-vigilance, darting eyes, back always covered, emotional numbing, access to primitive controlled rage for killing are now deemed being “crazy”. The warrior no longer fits in, and cannot simply switch off what has now become instinctual. They are not mentally ill, they are wounded; they have sustained a battlefield psychological injury to the survival brain. The body’s alarm is now set way too sensitively and needs to be reset. In the meantime it is paramount that we do not label these brave warriors as mentally ill. How can we call the very actions that kept them alive, and are often praised and rewarded in a combat zone, a mental illness back in society? This is why we have chosen to rename and redefine “PTSD“. We believe the term Brain Alarm Stuck on Is Crazy-feeling (BASIC), is a much more accurate description of what the veteran is suffering from, not a mental disorder.