Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Causes, Symptoms & Treatment
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that develops when an individual has either witnessed or experienced a shocking, terrifying, scary, or dangerous event or a series of events or a set of circumstances.
This state is usually experienced when someone’s life has been threatened or some severe injury has taken place. A person, of any age group, a child or an adult with PTSD may feel anxious or stressed, even with a thought of the past, wherein there is no present danger in the present day.
An individual with PTSD will have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has occurred. The person may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares. A person may feel sad, fearful, or angry; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people. People with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic event and may also have strong negative reactions to even ordinary things, like, maybe a normal accidental touch by another person.
Causes of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
An individual may develop PTSD after living through or seeing a traumatic event, like physical abuse, sexual assault, or any type of severe accident, war, or natural disaster. PTSD makes the person feel stressed and worried even when there is no threat in the present day due to the impact that it leaves on an individual.
PTSD can affect your day-to-day life as well as your relationship with others around you.
It is not necessary that PTSD may start immediately after an incidence, it may start or develop at different times in a person’s life. Though symptoms or signs can be experienced immediately after the incidence. At times, for some people, the signs and symptoms may develop after a while and may become severe too. PTSD is often related to the intensity of the trauma caused by the occurrence, its repetition is the person directly involved again or is somehow related to it, the kind of relationship an individual has with regards to the event or the person in trauma. So no one thing causes PTSD and the severity of it in an individual, instead a combination, impacts.
Naturally, one may feel or become anxious or fearful after an unfortunate incident but then, if this is not consistent, then it is not considered PTSD. To be considered for PTSD, signs and symptoms must last for over a month, and if it starts to interfere in day-to-day life, like, work, studies, relationships, socially and at other places, and too frequently and with severity.
PTSD Signs & Symptoms
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms may include:
- Repetitive thoughts, involuntary memories, distressing dreams
- Flashbacks of the traumatic incident. These can be so vivid that people feel they are reliving the traumatic experience or seeing it before their eyes.
- Difficulty in sleep or frequent nightmares
- Frightening thoughts, feeling alone or detached from others
- Inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event, negative thoughts and feelings leading to ongoing and distorted beliefs about oneself or others
- Unable to concentrate and remember too
- Avoidance of memories, thoughts, or feelings associated with traumatic events, may include places, activities, objects, and situations that may trigger distressing memories. People often try to avoid remembering or thinking about the traumatic event. They may resist talking about what happened or how they feel about it
- Irritability or having angry outbursts or other extreme reactions
- Becoming overly watchful of one's surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled; or having problems concentrating or sleeping.
- Having physical pain like headaches or stomach aches
- Developing negative beliefs about self and others
- Anxiety, depression feeling lonely, and sad can also be seen
- Loss of interest in activities, alone or with others
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Treatment
Well, it is not necessary for all individuals that everyone who develops Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) requires psychiatric treatment. For some people, symptoms of PTSD subside or disappear over time, so nothing is required to be done specially. Some people would also get better with the help of their support system like family or friends.
However, many people with PTSD do require professional treatment to recover from psychological distress that can be intense and disabling. It is important to remember that trauma may lead to severe distress. PTSD is treatable and the sooner one gets treatment, the better they become and recover faster. Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals use various effective tools and techniques to help people recover from PTSD. Both talk therapy (psychotherapy) and medication provide effective evidence-based treatments for PTSD.
Treatment may include:
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
This is one of the most effective therapies being practiced by Therapists for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This therapy focuses on changing painful negative emotions such as shame, guilt, etc., and other beliefs that would have developed due to the trauma. Therapists help the person confront such distressing memories and emotions effectively. The Therapist may also use repeated, detailed imagining of the trauma or progressive exposures to symptom “triggers” in a safe, and controlled environment to help a person confront and gain control over fear and distress and start to learn to cope.
Medication
Medicines help control the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In addition, the symptom relief that medication provides, allows many people to participate more effectively in psychotherapy. This is always good to combine with other therapy for better results
A combination of medicines can also be used to lower anxiety and physical agitation or treat the nightmares and sleep problems that trouble many people with PTSD.
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