Preventing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

You were in a car accident. Luckily, you weren’t hurt seriously but it was still traumatic. You have had serious nightmares about it. You jump out of your skin at loud noises. Talking about it makes it too real again. You could have post traumatic stress disorder.

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs when a person is exposed to a catastrophic event that is out of the realm of experience. It is not only victims of these events, but also eyewitnesses, family members of victims, and even helping professionals who may experience a high amount of anxiety and stress during or immediately after a catastrophic event.

This is a normal response to an abnormal, out-of-the-ordinary and often totally unexpected event. How long disturbances last after a trauma varies greatly. Some people have few or no long-lasting effects, whereas others may continue to have problems for months or even years after the trauma.

When people can’t let go of the experience and continue to be haunted by memories of that event, it has most likely turned into PTSD. PTSD can be delayed. Sometimes symptoms only surface long after the trauma happened, most likely on anniversaries or when another, quite similar trauma is experienced.

It is not exactly known why some people have little difficulty after a trauma and others may suffer for years.

According to experts on PTSD, the following factors make it more likely that PTSD will develop: The severity and duration of the trauma; the degree of danger, terror, or suffering involved; vulnerability factors such as genetics, previous traumas, negative reactions from friends and family; the absence of a good social support network.

In a person with PTSD, three main clusters of symptoms are present:

·       Intrusive symptoms—reexperiencing the traumatic event in the form of intrusive memories, flashbacks or nightmares.

·       Avoidance symptoms—avoiding activities, places, thoughts, feelings and conversations related to the trauma, or emotional numbing resulting in loss of interest, feeling detached from others.

·       Arousal symptoms—being easily startled or feeling jumpy and hyper-vigilant, experiencing concentration difficulties, irritability, or outbursts of anger or having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.

Although these three types of symptoms are the most typical reactions to severe trauma, there are also other problems that seem fairly common: Panic attacks, depression, suicidal thoughts, substance abuse, feelings of mistrust, feelings of guilt (i.e. “survivor’s guilt”) or severe impairment in daily functioning (i.e. poor job performance or difficulties with interpersonal relationships).

People might turn to alcohol or drugs in an effort to quell the memories. In the most severe cases, the sufferers withdraw into a world of isolation. They want to avoid any stimuli that could remind them of the event.

But doctors say the condition can be treated with counseling and medications such as antidepressants. PTSD is highly treatable, especially if it is caught early. Some people recover from PTSD with psychotherapy alone, while others may need the combination of psychotherapy and medication. Especially in cases where the symptoms are severe, medication can help lessen anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances, and other physical symptoms that are associated with PTSD.

The idea of psychotherapy is, to process or work through the traumatic event, as well as to manage emotional symptoms that one may experience. While it is human to avoid revisiting traumatic experiences and inflict pain on oneself, it is exactly the working through painful memories and reliving the emotions that will eventually make one manage his/her memories in a less intrusive way.

In the old days, those who could hold in their emotions and face tragedy stoically, were considered the strongest. Today we know this is precisely the pattern that can lead to PTSD.

Real strength comes from understanding and recognizing the normal effects of severe trauma, as well as from expressing and working through these emotional reactions with honesty, faith, and courage.