Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Do you have flashbacks to unwanted memories? Does the memory of a traumatic experience still haunt you? If you’ve experienced trauma of any sort and you’re still experiencing negative emotions about it, it could be that you’re suffering from PTSD.

   What is PTSD?

Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder which may occur following the experience of a traumatic event which causes extreme emotional overwhelm.

   What are the causes of PTSD?

Traumatic events that can trigger PTSD include:
— rape
— mugging
— assault
— violence
— road accidents
— loss of a loved one
— accidents
— sexual abuse
— emotional or physical abuse
— natural or manmade disasters
— military combat
.
   What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of PTSD typically occur within 3 months following a traumatic event, although sometimes symptoms do not begin until years later.

The symptoms range from:
— flashbacks
— unwanted memories
— nightmares
— frightening thoughts
— panic attacks
— depression
— substance abuse
— emotional numbness
— sleep disturbances or insomnia
— irritability or outbursts of anger
— guilt
— anxiety

When ordinary anxiety making experiences happen, we deal with them by talking about them, sharing our emotions, allowing ourselves to feel those emotions and generally come to terms with the experience. However, if the experience is one so overwhelming in its nature then the normal and average response of talking and emoting about the experience is no longer effective and results in making the person feel worse.

When this happens people who develop PTSD have a tendency to try and block out the traumatic memory. However, once the memory has been blocked from conscious awareness, the unconscious mind still remembers it and whenever something remotely associated with the original traumatic exeperience occurs, the negative feelings associated with the original memory are triggered. For example, if someone is mugged or attacked from behind, the sound of footsteps behind them in the future may produce negative feelings from the original experience. These feelings then result in feelings of threat and panic.

People with PTSD may find that when they think of the memory, the feelings are so strong it feels as if it is happening to them all over again. These are known as “flashbacks”.

These symptoms may cause the person to avoid any situation that reminds them of what happened to them originally so their behaviour becomes one of avoidance. Sometime phobias are caused through PTSD.

A common theme is for some of these people to blame themselves for the original experience, which only adds to the negative feelings and creates low self-esteem and lack of confidence.