Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop
following a traumatic event that threatens your safety or makes you feel
helpless. Any overwhelming life experience can trigger PTSD, especially if the
event feels unpredictable and uncontrollable. The symptoms of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) can arise suddenly, gradually, or come and go over time.
Sometimes symptoms appear seemingly out of the blue. At other times, they are
triggered by something that reminds you of the original traumatic event, such
as a noise, an image, certain words, or a smell. While everyone experiences
PTSD differently, there are three main types of symptoms:
1.
Re-experiencing the traumatic event. This includes: Intrusive,
upsetting memories of the event; flashbacks (acting or feeling like the event
is happening again); nightmares (either of the event or of other frightening
things); feelings of intense distress when reminded of the trauma; and intense
physical reactions to reminders of the event (e.g. pounding heart, rapid breathing,
nausea, muscle tension, sweating).
2.
Avoidance and numbing. This includes: Avoiding activities, places,
thoughts, or feelings that remind you of the trauma; inability to remember
important aspects of the trauma; loss of interest in activities and life in
general; feeling detached from others and emotionally numb; and a sense of a
limited future (you don’t expect to live a normal life span, get married, have
a career).
3.
Increased anxiety and emotional arousal: This includes: Difficulty
falling or staying asleep; irritability or outbursts of anger; difficulty
concentrating; hypervigilance (on constant “red alert”); and feeling jumpy and
easily startled.
Other common symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) include: Anger and irritability; guilt, shame, or self-blame; substance
abuse; feelings of mistrust and betrayal; depression and hopelessness; suicidal
thoughts and feelings; feeling alienated and alone; and physical aches and
pains.
Treatment for PTSD relieves symptoms by helping you deal
with the trauma you’ve experienced. Rather than avoiding the trauma and any
reminder of it, treatment will encourage you to recall and process the emotions
and sensations you felt during the original event. In addition to offering an
outlet for emotions you’ve been bottling up, treatment for PTSD will also help
restore your sense of control and reduce the powerful hold the memory of the
trauma has on your life. Types of treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD)include:
1.
Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy for PTSD and trauma involves carefully and
gradually “exposing” yourself to thoughts, feelings, and situations that remind
you of the trauma. Therapy also involves identifying upsetting thoughts about
the traumatic event–particularly thoughts that are distorted and irrational—and
replacing them with more balanced picture.
2.
Family therapy. Family therapy can help your loved ones
understand what you’re going through. It can also help everyone in the family
communicate better and work through relationship problems caused by PTSD
symptoms.
3.
Medication is sometimes prescribed to people with PTSD to relieve
secondary symptoms of depression or anxiety.
4.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
incorporates elements of cognitive-behavioral therapy with eye movements or
other forms of rhythmic, left-right stimulation, such as hand taps or sounds.
These are thought to work by “unfreezing” the brain’s information processing
system, which is interrupted in times of extreme stress.
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