People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people.
It can erode your sense of self-worth and lead to anxiety, depression, chronic stress, high blood pressure, disordered eating, substance abuse, and even symptoms of PTSD such as hypervigilance, negative thoughts, and mood changes.
Post-traumatic stress disorder can disrupt your whole life ― your job, your relationships, your health and your enjoyment of everyday activities. Having PTSD may also increase your risk of other mental health problems, such as: Depression and anxiety. Issues with drugs or alcohol use.
Your brain is equipped with an alarm system that normally helps ensure your survival. With PTSD, this system becomes overly sensitive and triggers easily. In turn, the parts of your brain responsible for thinking and memory stop functioning properly.
Triggers can include sights, sounds, smells, or thoughts that remind you of the traumatic event in some way. Some PTSD triggers are obvious, such as seeing a news report of an assault. Others are less clear. For example, if you were attacked on a sunny day, seeing a bright blue sky might make you upset.
PTSD can affect a person's ability to work, perform day-to-day activities or relate to their family and friends. A person with PTSD can often seem uninterested or distant as they try not to think or feel in order to block out painful memories.
Most Common PTSD Causes
Sexual abuse and violence comes in many different forms. Types include sexual assault such as rape, child sexual abuse, sexual assault of boys and men, sexual violence from an intimate partner, incest and drug facilitated sexual assault or date rape.
The main symptoms and behaviours associated with PTSD and complex PTSD include: Reliving the experience through flashbacks, intrusive memories, or nightmares. Overwhelming emotions with the flashbacks, memories, or nightmares. Not being able to feel emotions or feeling “numb”
PTSD related memory loss can make it difficult to remember lists or facts, can make memory seem fragmented or disorganized, or can lead to large gaps in memory altogether. These issues can have a serious impact on daily functioning, and one might not realize that these problems are related to PTSD.
Trauma survivors with PTSD may have trouble with their close family relationships or friendships. The symptoms of PTSD can cause problems with trust, closeness, communication, and problem solving which, in turn, may impact the way a loved one responds to the trauma survivor.
Without treatment, the psychological symptoms of PTSD are likely to worsen over time. Along with severe depression and anxiety, other serious outcomes may include: Increased suicidal ideation. Problems managing anger and aggression.
Women are more than twice as likely to develop PTSD than men (10% for women and 4% for men). There are a few reasons women might get PTSD more than men: Women are more likely to experience sexual assault. Sexual assault is more likely to cause PTSD than many other events.
Avoidance of thoughts, feelings, people, places, or any reminders of what happened. Difficulty remembering details of the event. Changes in mood, memory, or thinking patterns. Hypervigilance, sleep problems, anger outbursts, or self-destructive behavior.
For physical health problems, this could include labs (like bloodwork), tests (like an x-ray, scan or biopsy) or a physical exam. For PTSD, an assessment includes answering questions about your thoughts, feelings and behaviors. PTSD is most often diagnosed, or confirmed, by a mental health provider.
When there's an overload on the adrenal system, someone with PTSD might experience a variety of symptoms such as fatigue, exhaustion and an overload of stress. The bottom line is that fatigue (and often inexplicable fatigue) very often accompanies symptoms of PSTD.
CPTSD is a serious mental health condition that can take some time to treat, and for many people, it's a lifelong condition. However, a combination of therapy and medication can help you manage your symptoms and significantly improve your quality of life.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental condition that some people develop after a shocking, terrifying, or dangerous event. These events are called traumas. After a trauma, it's common to struggle with fear, anxiety, and sadness. You may have upsetting memories or find it hard to sleep.
Ever since people's responses to overwhelming experiences have been systematically explored, researchers have noted that a trauma is stored in somatic memory and expressed as changes in the biological stress response.
When someone becomes isolated as a result of their PTSD, it can also wear on their personal relationships with others. They may feel as though those around them cannot relate to what they are going through. They may also have issues with trust or intimacy, which can make it hard to maintain relationships.
PTSD Symptoms Later in Life
Having retired from work may make your symptoms feel worse, because you have more time to think and fewer things to distract you from your memories. Having medical problems and feeling like you are not as strong as you used to be also can increase symptoms.