Posttraumatic stress disorder (commonly referred to by its acronym, PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event which results in psychological trauma.
This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's psychological defenses.
Have you lived through a scary or dangerous event? Do you've a few of the following problems?
*Feeling like the event is happening again.
*Trouble sleeping or nightmares.
*Not feeling about people.
*Becoming easy angered.
*Feeling guilty because other people died when you lived.
If so, you might have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Events that might cause PTSD include rape, physical abuse, an airplane or car smash, war or others.
For almost people, PTSD starts about 3 months later the event. However, some of the times signs of PTSD show up years after.
PTSD can happen to anybody, even kids. And, know this you're not alone. 5.2 million Americans have PTSD.
If you've PTSD, you often have nightmares or scary ideas about the experience you went through. You try to stay away from anything that reminds you of your experience.
You may feel angry and unable to believe or care about others.
You may forever get on the lookout for danger. You can feel very upset when something occurs suddenly or without warning.
The symptoms of PTSD fall into 3 broad types: re-living, avoidance and increased arousal.
1. Symptoms of re-living include flashbacks, nightmares, and extreme emotional and physical reactions to reminders of the event.
Emotional reactions can include feeling shamed, extreme fear of harm, and numbing of emotions. Physical reactions can include uncontrollable shaking, chills or heart palpitations, and tension headaches.
2. Symptoms of avoidance include staying away from actions, places, ideas, or feelings related to the trauma or feeling detached or estranged from others.
3. Symptoms of raised arousal include being overly alert or easily started, difficulty sleeping, irritability or outbursts of anger, and lack of concentration.
The National Institute of Mental Health conducts and backs up research on reactions to national crises and traumatic events.
This research includes the reactions of people following the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers; the Oklahoma City bombing; wars and violence in the middle East; and disasters such earthquakes, tornados, fires, floods, and hurricanes, including the 2005 Gulf Coast storms.
There are a lot of different responses to crisis.
Almost all survivors have intense feelings after a traumatic event just recover from the trauma; other people have several difficulty recovering specially those who have had old traumatic experiences, who are faced up with ongoing stress, or who lack support from friends and family, will want further help.
There are a lot of things you are able to do to cope with traumatic events.
*Understand that your symptoms may be normal, specially right later the trauma.
*Keep to your common routine.
*Take the time to resolve daily conflicts so they don't add to your stress.
*Don't shy away from positions, people and places that remind you of the trauma.
*Find ways to relax and be kind to yourself.
*Turn to family, friends, and clergy person for support, and discourse your experiences and feelings with them.
*Participate in leisure and recreational activities.
*Recognize that you can't control everything.
*Recognize the need for trained help, and call a local mental health center.
Past traumatic experiences can have a profound impact on the sum of anxiety that we regularly feel. Kids who grew up in extremely abusive environments often grow up to very anxious adults.
Veterans of war a lot of times come back with a heightened level of anxiety. And also, survivors of major disasters are prone to severe anxiety disorders.
About half of those with PTSD recover within 3 months without treatment. Some of the times symptoms don't go away on their own or they last for more than 3 months.
This may occur because of the severity of the event, direct exposure to the traumatic event, serious mindedness of the threat to life, the number of times an event happened, a story of past trauma, and psychological problems before the event.
Whenever this is the case, you may need to consider looking for professional help if your symptoms affect your relationship with your family and friends, or affect your job.
Post traumatic stress is the result of some hazard happened in life like car accident, rape and any such event which has caused severe psychological distress.
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