Understanding PTSD

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By Aayushi Bagga

 

In the past, PTSD has been known by many names, such as “Shell Shock” and “Combat Fatigue” during World War 1 and 2, but PTSD does not only happen to veterans. PTSD can affect anyone at any age in life, and women are twice as likely as men to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a psychiatric disorder, and it affects people who experience or witness a very traumatic incident like natural disasters, an accident, victims of terrorist acts/war/combats, victims of rape and abuse, or anyone who has had a near-death experience or been threatened with sexual violence.

Someone who has PTSD will have intense and disturbing thoughts and feelings for a long time related to the traumatic incident even though it has ended. They keep reliving the traumatic incident in the form of nightmares and flashbacks that make them sad, scared, and angry. These people may also start feeling detached or estranged from other people. An individual suffering from PTSD might try and avoid people and situations that remind them of the traumatic event they went through and might have extreme reactions to something as normal as loud sounds or even accidentally being touched.

Symptoms and diagnosis,

In a lot of cases, the symptoms of PTSD develop in the first month after experiencing a traumatic event, but it may not be the case in all individuals. For some, the symptoms may appear after months or even years. While the symptoms may vary between individuals with PTSD, they usually fall in the four categories below.

 

Avoidance & numbing: People trying to avoid being reminded of the event is another symptom of PTSD. They may avoid certain people, places, objects, and activities that may trigger distressing memories of traumatic events for them. They may even avoid remembering the event and resist talking about it or how they feel about it.

Some suffering from PTSD may even try and push out the memories of the traumatic event from their mind by engaging/distracting themselves in work and hobbies.

While on the other hand, some people deal with their feelings by trying not to feel anything at all, which is known as emotional numbing. This might lead a person to become isolated or withdrawn and may give up on their hobbies or activities they used to enjoy doing once.

 

Hyperarousal: As the name suggests, hyperarousal is an abnormally heightened state of anxiety that may occur when someone thinks about a traumatic event. An individual’s body will respond to the threat as if it is still present, even though the threat is no longer present. Hyperarousal is a life-altering symptom wherein a person is always irritable, paranoid, and angry. An individual may have trouble sleeping, might behave recklessly or even be self-destructive, might get easily startled, have problems concentrating, may become overly suspicious and overly watchful of his surroundings, and constantly feel like they are “on the edge.

 

Cognition & mood: People suffering from PTSD are unable to remember or recall important aspects of the traumatic event, the negative thoughts, and feelings that negatively change their beliefs and feelings

• -Negative thoughts and feelings about themselves and others like “I am bad” or “No one can be trusted.”
• -Distorted thoughts about the event and its consequences lead them to wrongly blame themselves
• -Unable to experience positive emotions
• -Mental health problems like depression, anxiety, phobias

PTSD in children

 

PTSD can affect children as well. Children may experience similar symptoms as adults, like having trouble sleeping or getting nightmares. They may also lose interest in activities they once loved and show physical symptoms like headaches and stomach aches. Some other symptoms children may show are

• -Difficult behavior
• -Might avoid things that are in any way related to the past traumatic event
• -Might even re-enact the even repetitively through role play

PTSD in women

 

As per APA, women are twice as likely to suffer from PTSD than men, and their symptoms might be slightly different. They might feel more anxious or depressed. They would be easily startled. They may feel numb and feel no emotions. They would be overly sensitive to reminders of the trauma.

PTSD in men

Men go through the most talked-about symptoms of PTSD, i.e., reliving the event, avoiding it, and cognitive and mood issues.

 

Psychotherapy for PTSD

 

There are a number of psychotherapy techniques that are used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

Cognitive processing therapy: It is a form of cognitive behavior therapy in which you will work with your therapist and talk about the traumatic event and how it has affected your life. CPT will help you examine how you have been thinking about your trauma and figure out ways to live with it.

 

EMDR: It is called Eye Movement Desensitization and reprocessing, which is commonly used with trauma survivors, particularly those experiencing the symptoms of PTSD. It is a type of psychotherapy that uses bilateral, i.e., e left-right stimulation that helps people recover from traumatic events. Bilateral stimulation, along with focusing on traumatic memory, is considered to reduce the memory’s emotional impact.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT): This is talk therapy that will focus on the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. With your therapist, you will work on identifying your distortions related to trauma. CBT helps you to reach a place where you regain hope and feel in control of your thoughts and feelings, which also helps you reduce “escape” or” avoidance” behaviors.