Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an emotional illness usually developed as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening or highly unsafe experience.
Statistics indicate that 7.5% of the U.S. population will likely develop PTSD in their lifetime. For combat veterans and rape victims, 10% to 30% are likely to develop PTSD.
Complex post traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) usually results from prolonged exposure to a traumatic event or series of events and is characterized by long-lasting effects that are seen with many aspects of emotional and social functioning. PTSD sufferers re-experience the traumatic event or events in some way. They tend to avoid places, people or other things that remind them of the event and are very sensitive to normal life experiences.
Triggering Events
Experiencing or even witnessing any trauma or event that is life-threatening or that severely compromises someone’s physical/emotional well-being or causes intense fear, may cause PTSD.
Such events often include:
- a severe accident or physical injury,
- receiving a life-threatening medical diagnosis,
- being the victim of kidnapping or torture,
- exposure to war combat or to a natural disaster,
- exposure to other disaster (for example, plane crash)
- or terrorist attack,
- being the victim of rape, mugging, robbery or assault
- enduring physical, sexual, emotional or other forms of abuse
Symptoms of PTSD
- Re-experiencing the trauma through frightening memories, flashbacks or recurring nightmares about the trauma.
- Avoiding places, people and experiences that remind the sufferer of the trauma.
- Emotional deadness, general numbing or lack of emotional responsiveness.
- Chronic physical signs of hyper-arousal, including insomnia, trouble concentrating, irritability, anger, poor concentration, blackouts or difficulty remembering things, increased tendency and reaction to being startled, and hyper-vigilance to threats.
- Lack of interest in activities that used to be enjoyed.
- Sense of a foreshortened future (not being able to think about the future, make future plans or believing one will not live much longer)
Symptoms of Complex-PTSD
- Difficulty regulating feelings, which can result in suicidal thoughts
- Explosive anger
- Passive aggressive behaviors
- Tendency to forget the trauma or feel detached from one’s life
- Persistent feelings of helplessness, shame, guilt
- Being completely different from others
- Feeling the perpetrator of trauma is all-powerful
- Preoccupation with either revenge against or allegiance with the perpetrator
- Severe change in those things that give the sufferer meaning, like a loss of spiritual faith or an ongoing sense of helplessness, hopelessness or despair
Treatments for PTSD usually include a combination of psychological and medical interventions which have been proven effective in reducing symptoms.
If you feel that you or someone you care about is experiencing symptoms of PTSD, please consider scheduling an appointment with an iTherapyRX.com counselor.
