Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that can occur after someone has experienced a traumatic event. While the events that cause PTSD can vary and are based on the individual, common events can include being involved in, or exposed to, war-related violence or being a victim that survives a traumatic event such as a car accident, especially when others die during the traumatic event. Victims of traumatic crimes, such as sexual assault, muggings, or attempted murder may also experience PTSD.
PTSD can cause several distressing symptoms that include flashbacks to the traumatic event, nightmares, severe anxiety, uncontrolled thoughts and fears related to the trauma, and panic attacks. Symptoms of PTSD may interfere with your social activities, work, school, or relationships. PTSD symptoms can vary with intensity and may be caused or intensified by triggers that remind the person with PTSD of the initial trauma.
PTSD can cause you to be in a state of hypervigilance, where your body and mind are constantly in a state of high alert for dangers. While hypervigilance can be useful in a way in a war zone where constant alertness is necessary to stay alive, it can make normal life very difficult. It can lead to constant stress on your body and mind, making PTSD symptoms worse.
PTSD may also cause panic attacks – episodes of severe and uncontrollable fear. These episodes are impossible to control and can cause you to breathe quickly, feel like you are going to pass out, feel a sensation of doom, and can cause physical symptoms such as nausea, sweating, fast heart rate, and feeling short of breath.
Triggers of PTSD may include a smell, sound, or taste that reminds someone of the trauma. It may also include simply being in the same type of environment that the trauma caused or seeing someone that reminds them of the trauma. A trigger may not always be obvious and may occur at a subconscious level that you may not even recognize.
Doctors are not sure exactly what causes PTSD. Most mental health disorders are not well understood by the scientific community, and PTSD is no exception. While the exact causes of PTSD are not known, doctors do believe that it is caused by a combination of the stresses and difficult experiences that you have had, genetic predisposition to mental health problems, your temperament, and the balance of the chemicals present in your brain.
There are a variety of factors that make someone more likely to initially get PTSD and influence how severe it may be, however, PTSD always occurs because of exposure to trauma. While PTSD may be caused by a single traumatic event, it may also be caused by repeated exposure to traumatic situations, such as with police and paramedics who regularly have to pick up body parts after accidents.
People who are familiar with PTSD often think of it starting immediately after the trauma occurs, but PTSD typically does not start until at least a month after the trauma is experienced, and it may take up to a year before you start to develop PTSD symptoms.
PTSD can significantly disrupt your life, and you may feel like your life will never be normal again. The good news is that, with treatment, your symptoms can improve over time, and you can get feeling better.
PTSD treatment can involve treatment with medications or therapy, and typically will use both to obtain the best outcome. There are several different types of therapies that can be used and have been shown to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms.
Prolonged exposure therapy (PET) helps you to gradually learn to face fears and traumas that PTSD makes difficult to do. The end goal of PET is to help you overcome fears that you were not able to face before beginning therapy.
Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a unique, but effective, form of therapy specifically designed for PTSD symptoms. EMDR focuses on removing or changing beliefs and emotions that prevent the mind from healing after a trauma. By helping to change negative emotions or thoughts that are blocking the mind from healing, the mind recovers and symptoms of PTSD improve or resolve.
Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) helps you to understand the connection between thoughts and emotions and provides you with strategies to use your thoughts to control your emotions. CPT can help provide a conscious understanding of subconscious emotions and thought processes, helping you to better control your subconscious reactions.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) seeks to help you understand the subconscious motivators to behavior, helping you to control behaviors and emotions. This form of therapy is used in a variety of psychological treatments but can be helpful in treating PTSD.
Part of the causes of PTSD is thought to be imbalances of specific chemicals in the brain that promote or inhibit the transmission of nerve signals. Some medications can help to restore the correct balance of these chemicals, improving PTSD symptoms. PTSD medications may also include medicines that help improve anxiety by altering the way signals in the brain are sent and received. Medications that can be used to treat PTSD include:
While these medicines may be used to treat PTSD, they can affect different people in different ways, and it is important to speak with a doctor about which medications could work best for you before taking any kind of medicine.
While the symptoms of PTSD can be very difficult to deal with, PTSD can also cause complications that lead to other problems.
PTSD increases your risk of developing other mental health conditions. PTSD has been shown to increase the risk of anxiety disorders and depression. Fear of panic attacks occurring in public can also affect your social life and may even lead to agoraphobia – the fear of leaving where you live.
PTSD can cause eating disorders that lead to over- or under-eating. This could lead to you not getting the nutrition that you need to remain healthy or can lead to obesity and the health problems that accompany it.
PTSD symptoms can be so distressing to some people that they may consider taking their own lives or have suicidal thoughts. Anyone who is experiencing suicidal thoughts should talk to someone about these thoughts and seek help. The Suicide Hotline has people who are trained to help you if you are experiencing suicidal thoughts, and you can reach a caring professional at 1-800-273-8255.
Those with PTSD are also at a higher risk of developing an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Substances can initially help to temporarily dull some of the symptoms of PTSD but will lead to PTSD symptoms becoming worse in the long-term. Someone who has a mental health disorder, like PTSD, and also has a substance addiction will find it more difficult to recover than someone who has just one or the other. The mental health disorder and substance addiction strengthen the effects of each other, a condition called a dual diagnosis.
If someone has reoccurring symptoms of anxiety or panic after a traumatic event or has nightmares and flashbacks related to trauma, then they may have PTSD. While it may be tempting to try to diagnosis PTSD for yourself or for someone you know, is will ultimately be necessary to be evaluated by a doctor for a proper diagnosis.
If you believe that you could have PTSD, then you should seek the help of a doctor as soon as you can. If you believe someone you know has PTSD, then they will need to make the decision to seek treatment on their own. You can provide feedback to them about what you are seeing that makes you think they have PTSD and suggest they consider treatment. You can also help provide them resources to make an initial appointment. If you are close to them, you could even offer to help them make the appointment and offer to accompany them.
While people you know will need to make the decision to seek treatment for PTSD on their own, you should call 911 if they have told you that they have suicidal thoughts or if they have told you that they are planning suicide. This is considered a medical emergency, and emergency services can help provide them with emergency treatment, even if your loved one is not ready to seek treatment on their own.
The best way to support someone with PTSD is to encourage them to seek treatment if they have not. If they are receiving treatment, let them take the lead in discussing their PTSD symptoms. Some people may find it helpful to speak with someone else about their experiences and symptoms, while others may not. Be available when needed, but do not pressure them or make them feel as if they have to share with you.
Substance abuse can easily develop for someone who has PTSD, even if they have never struggled with addiction. Addiction can make it harder to recover from PTSD, and someone who has a substance addiction and PTSD will need advanced treatment. Transformations Treatment Center is highly experienced in providing addiction recovery services to those who are also struggling with a mental illness like PTSD. Reach out to one of our caring team members to learn more about how we can help you or your loved one.
