POST TRAUMATIC STRESS
1. What is it?
Posttraumatic stress disorder is a category used to describe symptoms that develop in response to experiencing traumatic events. It assumes that a person has experienced a traumatic event involving actual or threatened death or injury to themselves or others and where they felt fear, helplessness or horror. The main symptoms people experience include: intrusions such as flashbacks and nightmares where the trauma is re-experienced, avoidance where the person tries to reduce the exposure to people or things that may bring on their intrusive symptoms, and hyperarousal where physiologically they are easily startled and over aroused. Headaches, gastrointestinal complaints, immune system problems, dizziness, chest pain or discomfort in other parts of the body are also common.
2. Why might it develop?
It is true that if several people are exposed to the same stressor, only some may develop posttraumatic stress disorder. This is because the interpretation of trauma is largely subjective or in the eye of the beholder. In some ways, trauma symptoms are quite adaptive and evolved to help us recognize and avoid other dangerous situations. Sometimes these symptoms resolve themselves in a few days or weeks. The risk of developing posttraumatic disorder increases with exposure to trauma. Childhood traumatic experiences, particularly if they are prolonged are more likely to result in the development of PTSD in adult experienced trauma.
3. What is the impact on you and the people around you?
The longer term effects of trauma may include aggression against yourself and others, difficulty with social relationships such as over dependence of isolation, you may have difficulty concentrating, a loss of trust and hope and a loss of meaningful attachments to others. You may have difficulty functioning at work and socially. Those around you may experience you as moody and withdrawn or alternatively overly needy.
4. Some tips on how to handle it.
Here are some suggestions on how to deal with posttraumatic stress disorder:
- To facilitate your whole recovery, visit a registered psychologist. Relief of symptoms can be achieved once behaviours and reactions are identified.
- Keep a journal and put your thoughts and feelings into words to create meaning and help your processing.
- Try some relaxation techniques to reduce your physiological arousal to a more normal resting state.
- Be reassured that you are not going crazy - the symptoms you are experiencing
are often found in persons who have experienced a traumatic event or
events.