Post traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health disorder that can occur in people of all ages who have experienced a traumatic event – such as war or combat, terrorism, a hurricane or other natural disaster, a car accident, a life-threatening diagnosis, or serious injury. Victims of crime, physical assault, abuse, sexual violence, or other extreme or life-threatening events can develop PTSD. It can even occur from an indirect exposure to such an event – like learning of the sudden death of a loved one.

People sometimes jokingly refer to “having PTSD” when looking back on an unpleasant experience. We all experience upsetting events, but people who are suffering from PTSD find that feelings and memories related to the event interfere with daily life, long after the event is over.

It’s normal to be upset by traumatic events, sometimes for days or weeks after the incident, and different people will have varying reactions to similar events. But you might be suffering from PTSD if you are experiencing symptoms like these for more than a month:

Intrusive memories

  • Involuntary, repeated memories of the trauma you can’t move past, or from which you can’t distract yourself
  • Flashbacks or recurrent nightmares about the event

Avoidance

  • Avoiding discussing the event, and spending significant effort to block thoughts of it
  • Staying away from activities, locations, or people that in any way remind you of what happened

Changes in mood and thought patterns

  • Strong negative feelings or hopelessness – about yourself, others, the future
  • Memory issues, which might include an inability to remember parts of the traumatic event(s)
  • Trouble maintaining close relationships, or detachment from family and friends
  • Feelings of numbness or indifference

Changes in emotional and physical reactions

  • An irrational sense of danger or self-preservation
  • An overdeveloped startle reflex
  • Self-destructive behaviors, such as substance abuse, eating or sleeping too much or too little, or taking unnecessary risks
  • Insomnia
  • Difficulty focusing or concentrating
  • Feelings of shame, guilt, or overwhelming sadness

Small children who are experiencing PTSD might re-enact aspects of what happened to them through play, or by drawing pictures of it.

Who gets PTSD?

Far from everyone who experiences a traumatic event will develop the disorder – in fact, the overwhelming majority do not. Risk factors include depression or anxiety, experiencing multiple traumatic events, and life circumstances that increase exposure to trauma, such as working as a first responder, in the military, or as a social worker.

Not everyone who experiences a trauma will react the same way. It is critical to remember that whether someone develops PTSD after a traumatic event is not a measure of the severity of the trauma or the person’s “strength.”

How is PTSD treated?

The goals of PTSD therapy is to improve your symptoms and help you gain coping skills, so that the trauma becomes a part of your history but is no longer having a negative impact on your daily life. There are a variety of different types of therapy that can be effective in treating PTSD, alone or in combination – which forms are used depends on the needs and preferences of the person being treated, and the training of the therapist.

Some of the most common types include:

EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, is a relatively new form of therapy that works faster than many forms of conventional therapy. Certain eye movements seem to relieve disturbing thoughts that are a hallmark of trauma, and EMDR is a therapeutic use of this phenomenon.

Cognitive behavioral therapy: This form of talk therapy focuses on how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are related, and helps you learn to change the patterns of thoughts and behavior that are causing distress.

Cognitive processing therapy: This form encourages you to examine your beliefs about why the trauma happened, and how you think about it today. Basically, the idea is to reframe negative thoughts about the trauma.

How to get started

If you think you could benefit from therapy for PTSD or another mental health issue, call 814-536-0798, or email for an appointment.