Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

A traumatic event is a highly stressful event that often occurs without prior warning, and it can overwhelm, frighten or even threaten one’s life. These events can cause a great deal of suffering to the mind. Repeated memories of the trauma, fear of recurrence or severe anxiety are some of the signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

A traumatic event can affect anybody. A traumatic event often occurs without prior warning and it can overwhelm, frighten and even threaten your life. The event can be anything including:

• Being diagnosed for a very serious ailment
• Being involved or witnessing a serious accident on the road
• Suffering an unexpected injury or someone close to you may die in front of you
• Be a victim of severe assault or abuse
• Be taken a captive or being attacked
• Being taken a prisoner of war
• Be a victim or survivor of natural calamities or man-made disasters

These events can cause a lot of suffering in your mind. The symptoms may also last for quite a long time. You may feel anxiety and anger and you may also become very depressed. A traumatic eventsometimes makes you feel shaky. It will also become impossible for you to stop yourself from thinking over and over about the event. This condition, whichis known as Acute Stress Reaction can last for weeks and even months.

When Acute Stress Reaction does not go away on its own, itdevelops into a more serious condition called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD may also affect people who experience less severe events. Events like being subjected to continual mistreatment or physicaland even sexualabuse can cause PTSD. PTSD often begins soon after a traumatic event andcauses grief, depression, anxiety, guilt and anger. PTSD can take different forms including:

• Experiencing nightmares and having flashbacks of the traumatic event
• Trying not to think about certain events
• Being mentally on your guard at all times
• Experiencing physical symptoms like pains, aches, not being able to relax, feeling tense and experiencing difficulty in sleeping well at night
• Drinking too much alcohol or taking drugs like painkillers

Does everybody suffer from PTSD after experiencing a traumatic event?

PTSDdoes not affect everyone who has suffered a traumatic event. Mostly, your Acute Stress Reaction generally goes away on itsown,but for some unfortunate people,it develops into PTSD. In fact, a third of everyone who suffers from Acute Stress Reaction also develops PTSD. PTSD begins a few weeks after a person experiences a traumatic event, but it can also start 6 months after the event.

Why do people experience PTSD?

There is no clear explanation why people experience PTSD. There are a few possible reasons including:

• Psychological
  • If you are frightened, then you will start remembering things in great detail
  • You will experience flashbacks in which you continually replay the events that shook you up
  • Remembering a trauma can make you feel depressed.
  • Being always on your guard
• Physical
  • High adrenaline levels makes you feel tense and irritable and you will find it hard to relax or sleep normally
  • Your hippocampus (part of your brain) ceases to function normally causing flashbacks and nightmares

Why can’t I recognize that I have PTSD?

There are several reasons why you may not recognize that you have PTSD including:

• Not talking about events that are upsetting to you
• Not admitting that you have the symptoms
• Not being able or willing to talk about ghastly and horrible events
• Talking about other problems, which occur along with PTSD like headaches and sleep deprivation as well as irritation, depression, etc.

How do I know that I have PTSD?

You can tell that you have PTSD when:

• You have vivid memories, flashbacks as well as nightmares
• You are avoiding thinking about a particular event
• Experiencing emotional numbness
• Feeling irritable and being on the edge all the time
• Eating or drinking more than is normal
• Not being able to control your moods
• Feeling depression or exhaustion
• Having disturbed  sleep accompanied by nightmares

If your PTSD lasts for fewer than six weeks, then of course you won’t have anything to worry about. If it lasts for more than 6 weeks, then you should consult a doctor or psychiatrist, or a psychologist.

Why does PTSD becoming worse?

Your PTSD may become worse because:

• The traumatic event occurred suddenly and unexpectedly
• The traumatic event lasted for a long period of time
• You feel trapped and you feel that you cannot escape
• The event is manmade
• You lose a body part, a loved one or significant property
• The event involves children

It you are continually exposed to a lot of stress and uncertainty, then it becomes hard and perhaps even impossible for the symptoms of PTSD to get better.

How to help yourself if you are suffering from PTSD?

If you are suffering from PTSD then do the following:

• Try and live a normal life
• Follow your normal routine
• Speak about your problems with a person who you can trust
• Try exercises that help you to relax
• Resume your  work if are employed
• Eat well and exercise on a regular basis
• Revisit the place where the traumatic event occurred
• Spend time with family and friends
• Exercise more care when driving and doing other things
• Consult a medical practitioner

If you are suffering from PTSD then make sure that you do not do the following:

• Don’t think that PTSD is a sign that you are not normal
• Do not keep your feelings inside you and don’t allow your feelings to be pent up
• Do not try to avoid discussing your situation with others
• Do not think that your bad memories will disappear on their own
• Do not become unsociable
• Do not drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes
• Do not skip meals
• Do not try holidaying on your own

Why am I not getting better?

You may not be getting better because:

• You are not able to discuss your problems with others
• Other people start to avoid you
• They are getting angry with you
• You are considered weak by others
• Others are blaming you

How to treat PTSD?

There are both psychological and physical aspects to post traumatic stress disorder and so each aspect has to be treated differently.

Psychological treatment

• Psychotherapy teaches you to think in a different manner about the event, your world and your life that helps to adapt to the aftermath of the trauma and cope better.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a treatment method which makes you talk about the event to help you comprehend how certain habitual thought patterns can worsen your PTSD. CBT changes the extreme thoughts that you are having and will help change perspective about your current problem situation so that you feel better and take appropriate actions.
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a technique that makes use of movements of your eyes to help your brain process flashbacks and memories of the trauma and make sense out of the events that you have experienced. This brain reprocessing helps you to understand and cope better with your distress.
• Group Therapy involves meeting groups of people who have also experienced similar events. Through a process of group discussions, sharing, emotional support and learning from each other you can derive support and cope better with the trauma.
• Medication: You can be prescribed antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to reduce the symptoms of PTSD that can hasten the process of recovery.

Physical treatment

These treatments do not directly help your PTSD symptoms but they help you in controlling the distress and hyper-arousal that you are experiencing. The physical treatments include:

• Physiotherapy
• Osteopathy
• Massage
• Acupuncture
• Yoga
• Meditation
• Tai Chi

As of now, treatments like EMDR, CBT as well as BehaviorTherapy, and antidepressants are not known to be very effective in treating PTSD. However, doctors usually recommend CBT and EMDR as the first line of defense against PTSD after which they may recommend medications.

How can friends and family help me?

Your friends and family members can help you if you are suffering from PTSD by:

• Looking for telltale signs like not performing well at work, being on sick leave, being late for work
• Looking for the following signs:
  • Anger
  • Irritability
  • Depression
  • Poor concentration
  • Not showing interest in anything
• Allowing you to talk about your story
• Allowing you to ask normal questions
• Allowing to freely express your emotions

Your friends and family members must not:

• Tell you not to fear, be angry or cry.
• Tell you that you are lucky to survive the traumatic event
• Tell you that you need to forget what happened and be normal

How can I get better?

The best way of getting better is by resuming your normal daily routine. Try to concentrate on things that have no relation to the traumatic experience. You should:

• Look for new friends
• Go regularly for work as soon as you can
• Exercise regularly
• Learn relaxation techniques
• Start a new hobby, or some creative activity
• Acquire a pet

All these actions will help you normalize your life, relax yourself, and build up trust in the world once more.