The Kim Sticka PTSD Music and Arts Foundation exists to help all people affected by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) by promoting research and development of new and better ways to cope with the causes and effects of PTSD.

Many individuals and their families and coworkers suffer from this condition. The emphasis of this foundation is primarily on acquiring funding and volunteer support for providing the means and training to assist those affected with therapeutic effects derived from suitable forms of music and other arts.

What is PTSD?

Post-Traumatic Trauma Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disease with psychological or physiological effects caused by a traumatic event (not just military). PTSD causes cognitive and physical responses to perceived threats (imagined or real). Physiological responses include increased heart rate, breathing rate, adrenaline and hormone activity, and interruption of normal bodily functions.

Some studies suggest that a person affected by PTSD has damage to their hippocampus, which is a part of your brain that is key in how one experiences certain emotions (fear and anger), motivations, and memory.

For people with PTSD, the brain remains in an uncompleted fear response with memory misfires, time distortion and confusion.

Many things can cause PTSD including war, crime, terrorism, natural disasters, man-made disasters, as well as bullying, social and medical crises. There are advances in properly diagnosing PTSD.

Symptoms include sleep disruption, flashbacks, avoiding places and other reminders of trauma, etc.

Current treatments include hormone therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, acupressure, yoga, prescription medicine, etc.

A New Proposal: Combined Arts Therapy for PTSD

Arts therapy is stimulative of the five senses. The Foundation emphasizes group participation and performance. It is designed to enhance friendships and promote self-esteem. It promotes self-therapy and a process to reorder the neural network. The brain is resilient and can be “rewired”.

Music Therapy helps participants to learn music fundamentals, and analyze the best musical attributes focusing on rhythm, tempo, tones, harmony, etc. Music is known to affect body physiology.

To learn more about the Kim Sticka PTSD Arts & Music Foundation, click here.