By Nicole Gregory, contributing writer
Cal State Fullerton’s public health lecturer Mark Dust was 29 when he deployed to Iraq in 2005 and spent his 30th birthday in a guard tower at Abu Ghraib prison. During his service in Iraq, he was nearly killed by a roadside bomb, engaged in deadly combat and multiple times came upon the aftermath of a suicide bombing. But he did not realize after he had returned to the U.S. that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Eventually, he recognized the symptoms and started on a journey to study ways to manage and prevent the damaging effects of chronic and traumatic stress. His research on building physiological resilience was recently presented in the professional journal Frontiers in Psychology.
Post-traumatic stress disorder can develop when a person witnesses or experiences a traumatic event that is shocking or life-threatening, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website. Symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, headaches, irritability, and being highly vigilant can begin months or years after the event.
“I knew I had a short temper, and I would have intrusive thoughts,” said Dust, describing his return to the U.S. “And I noticed that I was always just tense around all the crowds.”
Even going to Disneyland with his kids was difficult. He felt threatened all the time. The sight of a pile of trash on the side of the road while driving once triggered sudden, acute fear.
While working toward a master’s degree in business administration, Dust signed up for a course called Executive Mind that taught him mindfulness meditation, hoping it would calm his nervous system so that he would make good decisions.
“I started noticing that I wasn’t being as reactive as I was before,” he said. He also realized that in certain situations his body would tingle as if he were being threatened, even when his mind knew that he was completely safe — and here the beginnings…
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