Understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment

Posted On: 2023-05-16 10:37:38

According to American Psychiatric Association, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events or circumstances. An individual may experience this as emotionally or physically harmful or life-threatening, affecting mental, physical, social and spiritual well-being. 

Long after the horrific incident has passed, people with PTSD continue to endure intense, unsettling thoughts and sensations related to their experience. They may experience dreams or flashbacks of the incident, experience sadness, fear, and anger and feel distant or estranged from others. A person who has PTSD may avoid settings or persons who make them think of the traumatic experience and they may also respond negatively to seemingly unimportant things like a loud noise or an unintentional touch. 

Symptoms of PTSD:

1. The traumatic incident is relived as a result of distressing memories, flashbacks, nightmares, or strong emotional or physical responses to the memory of the trauma.
2. Avoidance and numbing which include staying away from things that bring up memories of the trauma, losing interest in activities and life in general, feeling emotionally numb and emotionally cut off from people, and having a limited outlook on the future.
3. Sleep issues, irritability, alertness, feeling restless or easily startled, violent outbursts, and aggressive, self-destructive, or irresponsible behaviour are all symptoms of hyperarousal.
4. Thought and emotional changes, such as feeling alone and alienated, having trouble focusing or remembering, feeling depressed and gloomy, feeling betrayed and distrusted, and feeling guilty, ashamed, or responsible for one's own actions.

Causes of PTSD:

1. Serious accidents
2. Violent personal assault (sexual assault, physical attack, abuse, robbery, mugging)
3. Terrorist attack
4. Natural or man-made disasters
5. Being diagnosed with a life-threatening illness.
6. Even hearing about the unexpected injury or violent death of a family member or close friend can start PTSD.

Treatment for PTSD

1. Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy involves gradually “exposing” yourself to feelings and situations that remind you of the trauma, and replacing distorted and irrational thoughts about the experience with a more balanced picture.
2. Family therapy can help your loved ones understand what you’re going through and help you work through relationship problems together as a family.
3. Medication is sometimes prescribed to people with PTSD. This helps to relieve secondary symptoms of depression or anxiety, although they do not treat the causes of PTSD.
4. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing) is a technique that uses eye movements to help the brain process flashbacks and make sense of the traumatic experience.

It is essential to seek help if you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of PTSD, it is also important to create awareness about PTSD and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health conditions, especially among individuals who have experienced trauma. 

Filaantro also helps and creates awareness about mental health issues including PTSD. We hope that our article has helped you to understand the problems of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Author: Athira Pradeep Nair