Coping with PTSD
The National Institute of Mental Health describes post-traumatic stress disorder as an anxiety disorder that develops in some people after they have experienced a traumatic life event that caused or threatened to cause serious harm. NIMH statistics state that PTSD affects 7.7 million adults in the United States each year, but it can happen at any age.
Clint Davis is a veteran and PTSD survivor on the staff of Samaritan Counseling Center in Shreveport. Davis said, “PTSD is common in people who have experienced any sort of near death, intensely frightening and/or any extremely emotional experience. Not everyone who has similar experiences gets PTSD, but this is often the case in car wrecks, military deployment, death of a loved one, sexual or physical abuse. One of the common beliefs is that PTSD is only related to military combat, but that is false. PTSD can be related to any trauma-related experience.”
Davis said, “When your brain experiences something that it cannot understand it causes major problems in the way we think about the world and about relationships. It causes us to reorder our memories and our belief systems in a way to protect ourselves from experiencing anything close to the original trauma. It is called ‘post traumatic’ because the symptoms typically do not occur until months or even years later in the person.”
The NIMH lists symptoms of PTSD as falling into three categories: re-experiencing the symptoms, avoidance symptoms and hyperarousal symptoms.
Re-experiencing symptoms:
• Flashbacks, in which the sufferer relives the trauma repeatedly, which often trigger physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating, rapid breathing and muscle tension • Feelings of intense distress when reminded of the trauma
• Bad dreams, which usually relate to the traumatic experience, and
• Frightening thoughts which may be triggered by words, situations or objects that remind of the event and which may trigger a re-experiencing of the trauma.
Avoidance symptoms:
• Staying away from places, events, or objects that remind the person of the experience
• Emotional numbness and detachment
• Strong feelings of depression, guilt or worry
• Loss of interest in activities that were previously enjoyable
• Difficulty remembering the traumatic event
• Sense of a limited future
• Reminders of the traumatic event can trigger avoidance symptoms and cause a person to change his or her routine.
The NIMH describes hyperarousal symptoms as being relatively constant as opposed to symptoms that are triggered by things that remind one of the traumatic event. They add difficulty and stress to daily living and may cause problems with tasks such as eating, sleeping or concentrating.
Hyperaroursal symptoms:
• Being “jumpy,” easily startled
• Feeling tense, “on edge”
• Difficulty sleeping
• Angry outbursts
• Hypervigilance (always “on alert”)
According to the NIMH, not every traumatized person develops PTSD, but symptoms usually develop within three months of the incident, although they may not emerge until years afterward. NIH guidelines for a PTSD diagnosis state the symptoms must last for longer than a month and must include at least one re-experiencing symptom, three avoidance symptoms, and at least two hyperarousal symptoms which make it difficult to go about daily life, go to school or work, be with friends or take care of important tasks.
The NIMH enumerates the following risk factors for experiencing PTSD:
• Living through dangerous events and traumas
• Having a history of mental illness
• Getting hurt
• Seeing people hurt or killed
• Feeling horror, helplessness or extreme fear
• Having little or no social support after the event
• Dealing with extra stress after the event, such as loss of a loved one, pain and injury, or loss of a job or home.
Davis said, “The gold standards of treatment are [eye movement desensitization and reprocessing], prolonged exposure therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, paired with talk therapy and possible medication.” The NIMH cites the use of a type of antidepressant known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as citalopram (Celexa), fluoxetine (such as Prozac), paroxetine (Paxil) and sertraline (Zoloft) .
There are also resilience factors that according to the NIMH may reduce the risk of PTSD:
• Seeking out support from family and friends
• Finding a support group after a traumatic event
• Feeling good about one’s own actions in the face of danger
• Having a coping strategy
• Being able to act and respond effectively despite feeling fear
Davis urged anyone who feels that they may be experiencing symptoms of PTSD to seek help from their local mental health provider, particularly if they are having thoughts of suicide or self-harm.
