Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a disorder that may develop after experiencing or witnessing a shocking, scary, or dangerous event/events. This type of experience may be life-threatening, emotionally or physically harmful enough to significantly affect mental, physical, social, or spiritual well-being.
Symptoms:
Symptoms of PTSD can be categorized into re-experiencing, arousal, and cognitive mood symptoms.
Re-experiencing symptoms are symptoms based on recurring thoughts relating back to the event. These can include getting flashbacks that may cause a racing heart or sweating, recurring memories or dreams about that event, having intrusive thoughts and feelings, as well as experiencing stress to the point of physical symptoms.
Avoidance symptoms consist of staying away from places, events, people, or objects that relate to the event. These can significantly alter your routine, and lead you to isolating from the world as you attempt to find a safe place for yourself.
Arousal and reactivity symptoms are often constant symptoms that lead to feelings of frustration, discomfort, lack of focus, and an increased interest in participating in spontaneous activities.
Cognitive and mood symptoms include having trouble remembering important things related to the event, having distressing thoughts about yourself or the world, and feeling ashamed, guilty, angry or fearful.
Treatments:
Treatments for PTSD focus on alleviating symptoms and regaining a sense of control over your life.
Medications may include antidepressants to relieve depressive symptoms as well as anti-anxiety medications to relieve arousal symptoms.
Psychotherapy options may consist of cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, or eye movement desensitization (which helps you effectively respond to symptoms).
You can also be guided with stress management skills to help you manage distressing thoughts.
Group therapy is an option if you want to connect and learn from others with similar experiences.
Ways to relieve symptoms:
It is important to understand that these treatments may take time and consistency to work, but ultimately most people do recover! Remind yourself that with time and consistency, you will move forward. Make sure to let yourself get enough rest, and set realistic goals to maintain a routine that incorporates healthy meals and exercises for mindfulness. When you feel anxious and are about to experience a cycle of distressful thoughts and feelings, quickly jump onto doing something you like! Or go for a walk outside, anything that helps disrupt the cycle. Finally, stay connected with trusted friends and family. Inform them about things that may trigger you. Even if you aren’t ready to talk about how you feel, staying close to those who support you can alleviate many distressful symptoms!
