PTSD is called the "silent killer" because its debilitating effects, like isolation, substance abuse, severe depression, and physical health issues (including increased cancer risk), often go unseen or unaddressed due to stigma, causing gradual internal destruction and leading to tragically high rates of suicide or other life-ending complications, especially among veterans, without obvious external wounds. It silently erodes a person's life and relationships over time, much like a slow poison, impacting overall health and leading to premature death.
Conclusion. Overall, PE, CPT and EMDR are the most highly recommended treatments for PTSD and have strong evidence bases. Components of these treatments have been combined with other interventions, with no support for improved benefits over the standard treatments alone.
The damage is an altered sense of self to this negative lens, a constant and exhausting hypervigilance, an inability to fully trust people and connect with people, a feeling of near-constant dread, the worry that this will continue affect the people I love, and so much more.
The global models suggests that individuals with PTSD experience a limited or constrained capacity for positive emotions, perhaps as a consequence of chronic avoidance behavior, positive emotion dysregulation, or neural alterations in reward processing circuitry that are observed in PTSD (see Vinograd et al., 2022, for ...
The main treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are talking therapies and medicine. Traumatic events can be very difficult to come to terms with, but confronting your feelings and getting professional help is often the only way of effectively treating PTSD.
When our brain then recognises similarities between our present situation and our past trauma (e.g. a colour, smell or noise), it can activate the fight, flight, freeze, flop or friend response, even if we're not currently in danger.
These triggers can be external, such as sights, sounds, smells, or locations that are associated with the trauma. They can also be internal, such as certain thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations that are similar to those experienced during the traumatic event.
PTSD is more than an emotional struggle — it physically rewires the brain, altering how fear is processed, memories are stored and emotions are regulated. Key brain regions affected include the amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminali, prefrontal cortex and hippocampus.
Supporting someone with PTSD means understanding their unique neural bridges - those fragile connections between trauma and safety. The worst thing to do to someone with PTSD is to destabilize these bridges further through dismissive words, sudden actions, or ignoring their need for stability.
Some interesting facts about PTSD include:
70% of adults experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. 20% of people who experience a traumatic event will develop PTSD. About 13 million people have PTSD in a given year. 1 in 13 people will develop PTSD at some point in their life.
The symptoms of complex PTSD are similar to symptoms of PTSD, but may also include:
PTSD And Divorce Rates: Facts And Figures
A study conducted by the National Center for PTSD found that 60% of male veterans with PTSD reported being divorced, compared to 35% of male veterans without PTSD. Similarly, women with PTSD also reported higher rates of divorce.
Yes, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) can be recognised as a disability in Australia if it leads to a psychosocial disability that meets the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) access criteria.
Sleeping pils and sedatives (benzodiazepines) aren't suitable for the treatment of PTSD, because there's a risk of becoming dependent on them and they hardly relieve the symptoms. Before starting treatment with medication, it's important to find out how effective it is and what side effects it may have.
Common Triggers of PTSD
The VA rates PTSD based on the severity of symptoms and their impact on daily functioning. They use a rating scale from 0 to 100%, with higher ratings indicating more severe impairment. Factors considered include frequency and intensity of symptoms, social and occupational impairment, and treatment history.
10 ways to relax when you have PTSD
“For trauma survivors, especially those who've experienced neglect or emotional invalidation, oversharing can feel like a fast-track to safety or intimacy — even if it bypasses healthy relationship pacing.” Figueroa adds that you might also overshare intimate details to avoid feeling rejected or unseen.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event — either being part of it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
While Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) involves changes in brain function, it is not typically classified as a brain injury. Brain injuries usually involve physical damage to the brain, such as bruising, bleeding, or tearing of brain tissue.
PTSD is diagnosed by a psychiatrist through a mental health assessment. Your GP should carry out an initial assessment to decide what care you need. Your assessment should include information about your physical needs, mental needs, social needs, and risk.
Flashbacks play a significant role in the experience of PTSD. They are characterized by vivid and disturbing recollections of the traumatic event, which can feel as if the person is reliving the experience all over again.
Common symptoms of PTSD
Many people who have PTSD find their instinctive responses are extremely rapid and significantly exaggerated when triggered by certain sounds. The most common being a loud, unexpected noise. It's the sort of sound that would startle anyone.
Grounding techniques can help you stay in the present moment and reduce the intensity of your reaction. Mindfulness and meditation can also be beneficial in managing PTSD symptoms. Therapy, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), can help you understand and manage your triggers.