What Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?
According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be defined as “A psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events or set of circumstances. An individual may experience this as emotionally or physically harmful or life-threatening and may affect mental, physical, social, and/or spiritual well-being.”
While PTSD can happen for varying reasons, it can also affect people differently. Throughout this article, we hope to answer some questions you might have about PTSD, as well as provide helpful resources.
Why does it happen?
After experiencing a traumatic event, you can be triggered by anything that you have associated with the original event. Traumatic events can include, but are not limited to, natural disasters, assault, abusive relationships, serious accidents, war/combat, terrorism, etc.
When you are affected by a trigger, your brain believes you are reliving the original traumatic event. You experience an excessive amount of fear, even though no threat is present. PTSD is both the mental and physical reaction to thinking you may be re-experiencing a prior traumatic event.
What is Shell Shock?
The term “shell shock” came to be around during World War I, and described when soldiers had “symptoms that included fatigue, tremor, confusion, nightmares and impaired sight and hearing” (APA). This would happen when soldiers would endure war and combat and rather than returning home with physical battle injuries, soldiers were returning home with a psychiatric battle injury that, at the time, was not understood or acknowledged.
Who does it affect?
PTSD can happen to anyone of any race, gender, age or from any specific economic class. PTSD does not happen to only soldiers and those in combat. According to Statistics Canada, 5% of people in Canada had reported that they had been diagnosed with PTSD by a health professional and 8% of their PTSD was probable to have been based on experiences within the past month.
Canadian Statistics, by group:
10% of Canadian women met the criteria for probable PTSD.
Younger adults (18-36 years old), were 4x more likely to meet the criteria for probable PTSD than seniors (65+).
From the overall 5% of people in Canada,
Chinese and Latin Canadians - 5%.
Black Canadians - 10%.
Arab Canadians - 11%.
While these are the statistics for Canada, we should also leave room for those who have not sought out help, and also everyone around the world experiencing PTSD.
What are the signs and symptoms?
The APA states that there are 4 main areas individuals with PTSD can experience symptoms.
Intrusion
Intrusive thoughts
Repeated involuntary memories, distressing dreams, or flashbacks of the event
Flashbacks can be extremely vivid and make the individual feel as if they are reliving the event.
Avoidance
Individuals avoid reminders about the event, meaning they avoid:
People
Places
Activities/Objects
Situations
Talking about or expressing how they feel/felt about the event
Alterations in cognition and mood
Unable to remember important information of the event
Negative thoughts and feelings about oneself leading to distorted self-beliefs
Distorted thoughts about the case, leading to wrongfully blaming themselves or others
Ongoing guilt, fear and shame
Less interest in previously enjoyable activities
Feelings of detachment from others
Alterations in arousal and reactivity
Individuals can be irritable or experience angry outbursts
Behaving recklessly or self-destructively
Overly watchful of their surroundings in a suspicious manner
Easily startled
Diagnosis
To be diagnosed with PTSD, a mental health professional will have to determine whether your symptoms meet the criteria for PTSD, this can be a psychologist or psychiatrist.
They will likely:
Check for medical problems that might be causing your symptoms
Perform a psychological evaluation
Use the DSM-5 criteria for PTSD
Treatment
While PTSD affects individuals differently, it’s important to regain control over your life and manage your symptoms.
The Mayo Clinic states a few types of psychotherapy and medications used for PTSD treatment.
Cognitive Therapy: helps to recognize thought patterns and find a way to unstick you from the potentially harmful thought pattern that has developed.
Exposure Therapy: is done in a safe situation where the mental health professional guides you through different levels of potentially triggering situations, objects, etc. that allow you to develop a better way of coping when you experience it.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): is when exposure therapy is combined with guided eye movements to aid in processing traumatic memories and your reactions to them.
Antidepressants: can help with the depressive and anxious symptoms. They can also help with improving sleep and concentration.
Anti-anxiety medications: relieve severe anxiety that is often present in individuals with PTSD.
It is always important to remember that you can and should develop a treatment plan with your healthcare professional. Speak openly with them about what may or may not be working for you. You can also ask your therapist if there are any things you can do outside of therapy to help alleviate your symptoms.
How can people help?
It is important to be educated about the mental disorder and to ask questions on the topic if you or a loved one are experiencing PTSD. If a loved one is experiencing PTSD, it is understandable if you do not know how to support them. Remember, if you are able to, they can confide in you, but be sure to keep an open mind when they share. Be patient!
If you are experiencing PTSD there are also other coping mechanism that can be helpful:
Take care of yourself through diet, exercise, relaxation and resting.
Don’t self-medicate
Consider a support group
Learn about PTSD - don’t be afraid to ask questions! (Mayo Clinic)
Does PTSD ever go away?
According to the Psychological Care and Healing Center, PTSD does not just go away, “symptoms can be managed well and can remain dormant for years…but because the trauma that evokes the symptoms will never go away, there is a possibility for those symptoms to be “triggered” again…”.
While PTSD will not just disappear on its own, there are numerous resources you can use to help you through your healing journey.
Conclusion
It is important to educate yourself and others about PTSD. The signs and symptoms of PTSD can manifest in each individual differently, and not all symptoms will necessarily be experienced at the same time. Learning about PTSD can help you identify your triggers and teach you how to cope.
Since PTSD can affect individuals differently, your tailored treatment plan will be curated by a health care professional just for you. We encourage you to be honest with your health care professional about how you are feeling and what you are dealing with to get you the help and support that you need.
If you are struggling with past trauma and need support, reach out to The Mind Collective to meet with a therapist who can set you up on your healing journey towards mental wellness.
Helpful Resources
