What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Experts define PTSD as a post-trauma stress disorder. It is a mental health condition that becomes prevalent in some individuals after exposure to or witnessing a rather traumatic event. The event is either life-threatening or has been acknowledged as having great potential for endangering an individual's, physical, emotional, or spiritual, well-being. People of all ages can get presents with PTSD.

People tend to have powerful and intrusive thoughts and feelings about the event that can last well beyond that event. There are some stress responses as follows:

• Anxiety, a depressed mood, or feelings of guilt or shame.
• Recurrent attempts to relive the traumatic event through dreams.
• Avoidance of activities and situations related to the event.

These symptoms disrupt a person's daily functioning and cause distress.

What are the types of PTSD?

There are two closely related conditions of PTSD:

• Acute stress disorder: This is a brief mental health condition and usually occurs after a trauma event within one month. Regarding PTSD, the symptoms are reported to last for more than four weeks.
• Complex PTSD (CPTSD): It simply means a mental health condition drafted as a result of undergoing chronic (long-term) trauma. Some of the examples of chronic trauma include long-term physical and sexual abuse during childhood, long-lasting domestic violence, and war. Patients with CPTSD usually show symptoms of PTSD plus widespread problems in their emotional regulation, sense of self, and relationships.

What are the Symptoms of PTSD?

A patient suffering from PTSD lives through the experience again and again in a series of nightmares followed by flashbacks, generates feelings of isolation and irritability, and develops guilt in most cases.

Patients suffer from insomnia and other sleep-related problems along with issues in concentration.

These symptoms are generally so severe and long-lasting that they have an enormous impact on an individual's daily life.

What does PTSD cause?

Any traumatic circumstance can induce such conditions.

For example, it may involve:

• Serious car accidents
• Assaults of any kind: sexual, robbery, mugging
• Critical health problems
• Birth experience
• It eventually evolves shortly after a person comes across a disturbing event or sometimes after weeks, months, or even a year or two.

It has been estimated that 1 out of every 3 people who go through a traumatic experience have post-traumatic stress disorder. However, some still cannot explain why this happens to some people and not to others.

What are the risk factors associated with PTSD?

There is no one way to identify the acquisition of PTSD after a specific episode of trauma. Yet the condition occurs in someone among those people who have had experiences of:

• Specific traumatic events that would include military combat or sexual assault.
• Having witnessed or having experienced trauma in childhood.
• Sustaining an injury during that event.
• Experiencing horror, helplessness, or an extreme sense of fear.
• Absence of social support after the event.
• Chronic trauma or trauma is repeated many times.
• Suffering mental or psychological conditions plus substance abuse.

How does one diagnose PTSD?

To diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder, the healthcare professional will likely perform:

A physical examination checks your bodily state to ascertain whether medical problems might be causing your symptoms.

An entire mental health evaluation usually includes discussing the symptoms and talking about the trauma that initiated them. You may be asked some questionnaires that ask about your experiences and symptoms. 

The diagnosis of PTSD is that a person has "undergone an event that involved actual or threatened death, serious injury, or violence." That may happen in one or more of the following ways.

• Directly experiencing the event.
• Witnessing such an event happening to another person.
• Learning of the event to a close family member.
• Repeated exposure to the details of the traumatic event, as in the case of a first responder.

Suppose you have signs or symptoms for more than a month after the exposure that affects your ability to function significantly in social and work settings and how you relate to others. In that case, you may fulfill the criteria for PTSD.

Don't carry PTSD all by yourself. Consult an expert qualified in the area of post-traumatic stress disorder treatment.

What are the treatments for PTSD?

Psychotherapy (or talk therapy) is the main line of treatment for PTSD, especially cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

It is predicated on working with/in a trained and licensed mental health care provider. These can be psychologists or psychiatrists. It can bestow support, education, and guidance to you or someone close to you in the bid to help you learn to function better and improve your well-being.

There are specific types of CBT for PTSD and they include:

• Cognitive processing therapy: This particular therapy is the one that was solely put in place to address PTSD. This therapy is to replace or change painful negative feelings from the trauma experience such as those associated with guilt and shame. It also helps confront painful memories and emotions.
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR) is a method in which the eyes move in a specific direction while processing traumatic memories. It can help heal trauma or other distressing life experiences. EMDR is relatively new compared to other therapy methods. However, dozens of clinical trials prove that it is effective and can heal a person faster than many other methods.
• Group therapy: This type of therapy encourages survivors of similar traumatic experiences to provide each other with emotional and experiential support within a comfortable, nonjudgmental situation. Family therapy may be helpful too because PTSD affects the whole family.
• Prolonged exposure therapy: This is called a repeated, in detail imagination of the trauma, or progressive exposure to symptom triggers in a safe, controlled way. It helps you face and gain control of fear and learn to cope with it.
• Trauma-focused CBT: This form of therapy teaches you that your body and mind learn to respond to trauma experienced and stress. Then, problematic thinking caused will be identified and reframed and symptom management skills learned. It also includes exposure therapy.

Medication for PTSD

At this time, no medication is approved for the treatment of PTSD. However, generally, healthcare providers may prescribe to treat certain symptoms related to PTSD. Such include:

• Antidepressants: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)
• Anxiolytics

Can PTSD be prevented?

Trauma or amnesic events cannot really be avoided. Otherwise, some studies seem to suggest that certain actions may lead to the prevention of PTSD afterwards. Protective factors include:

• Sustained social support by family and friends after a traumatic event or incident helps to restore a sense of safety.
• Joining a supportive group after the traumatic event.
• Think positively about one's responses or inaction in the face of a threatening circumstance; for example, feel inadequate for having not defended oneself at the moment of threat.
• A healthy coping strategy following the traumatic event.
• Independently acting despite fear can also possibly have steady effects.

Helping other people is especially important during traumatic events, such as disasters or similar events, whereby a group is affected.

What does prognosis mean with regard to PTSD?

The prognosis with regard to PTSD can be pretty variable, but most of the time, treatment may help. The treatment can cure around 30% of people from the disorder at some point. About 40% improve with treatment from those diagnosed, although they will remain with mild to moderate symptoms. For some individuals, symptoms of PTSD may just disappear with time by being with close family, with no treatment. 

When should I see a doctor's help?

It's crucial to follow up regularly with your medical healthcare provider and/or mental health provider after a traumatic event. If your symptoms worsen, contact your provider.

To seek an expert consultation

Call us at +91-9076972161
Email at care@tenderpalm.com

Request a Call Back