Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Main symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are constant flashbacks, memories of tragic or traumatic events that happened in the past, emotional numbness and anxiety. People affected with PTSD are mostly war veterans, survivors or witnesses of bad accidents (car, train or plane crashes), natural disasters, terrorist attacks, violent armed robberies and similar.
The memories of those events are deeply engraved in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferers’ minds and no matter how hard they try to forget them the flashbacks just keep on coming back, forcing the victims to go through the horror of the original event over and over again. Images and sounds during these episodes always look so realistic that at the end the patient is usually left terrified, exhausted and extremely anxious.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferers are often very sensitive to sudden, loud noises. They are overcautious, get irritated easily; they overreact, have problems with concentration and in most cases have sleeping difficulties and a lot of nightmares.
PTSD usually develops during the first 3 months after the traumatic event but in some cases it can occur years down the track. Some World War II veterans developed the disorder 50 years after the war.
Depression, alcohol and drug abuse and addiction, suicidal thoughts and eating disorders are secondary conditions which might accompany Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and further complicate the prospect of recovery. It is not uncommon for PTSD victims to develop some of the other anxiety disorders beside the original one.
In some cases, after the treatment, the symptoms of PTSD can completely disappear but later (could be years) some new, unrelated traumatic event might trigger and bring the old images and nightmares back to life.
The real causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (as with the rest of anxiety disorders) are still not fully researched and completely understood although they are most likely a mixture of genetic factors, some chemical imbalances in brain, overall level of mental health and life experiences.
When symptoms of PTSD persist for a period longer than a month or in cases when their severity is at a level which is unbearable and it is interfering with normal functioning of the person, it is most definitively the time to seek a professional medical advice.
Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in most cases involves psychotherapy alone or in combination with medication (especially in patients who have also developed some of the secondary conditions, such as depression for instance) and sociotherapy. The success rate varies depending on the severity of the disorder, patient’s personality, presence of the secondary conditions and few other factors and circumstances. In approximately 70% of the cases PTSD is treated successfully. After the adequate treatment the symptoms might disappear completely or they might become very mild and manageable so the patient can lead a normal, proactive life.
Certain occupations such as soldiers, police officers, paramedics or firefighters are frequently exposed to horrific accident scenes and often find themselves in extremely stressful and unpleasant situations. Although by time they become, kind of, “immune” to everything they encounter, these workers still run a very high risk of developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is highly recommended for those people to receive some counseling whenever they feel that something they were exposed to was out of ordinary or over the top.
The memories of those events are deeply engraved in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferers’ minds and no matter how hard they try to forget them the flashbacks just keep on coming back, forcing the victims to go through the horror of the original event over and over again. Images and sounds during these episodes always look so realistic that at the end the patient is usually left terrified, exhausted and extremely anxious.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder sufferers are often very sensitive to sudden, loud noises. They are overcautious, get irritated easily; they overreact, have problems with concentration and in most cases have sleeping difficulties and a lot of nightmares.
PTSD usually develops during the first 3 months after the traumatic event but in some cases it can occur years down the track. Some World War II veterans developed the disorder 50 years after the war.
Depression, alcohol and drug abuse and addiction, suicidal thoughts and eating disorders are secondary conditions which might accompany Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and further complicate the prospect of recovery. It is not uncommon for PTSD victims to develop some of the other anxiety disorders beside the original one.
In some cases, after the treatment, the symptoms of PTSD can completely disappear but later (could be years) some new, unrelated traumatic event might trigger and bring the old images and nightmares back to life.
The real causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (as with the rest of anxiety disorders) are still not fully researched and completely understood although they are most likely a mixture of genetic factors, some chemical imbalances in brain, overall level of mental health and life experiences.
When symptoms of PTSD persist for a period longer than a month or in cases when their severity is at a level which is unbearable and it is interfering with normal functioning of the person, it is most definitively the time to seek a professional medical advice.
Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in most cases involves psychotherapy alone or in combination with medication (especially in patients who have also developed some of the secondary conditions, such as depression for instance) and sociotherapy. The success rate varies depending on the severity of the disorder, patient’s personality, presence of the secondary conditions and few other factors and circumstances. In approximately 70% of the cases PTSD is treated successfully. After the adequate treatment the symptoms might disappear completely or they might become very mild and manageable so the patient can lead a normal, proactive life.
Certain occupations such as soldiers, police officers, paramedics or firefighters are frequently exposed to horrific accident scenes and often find themselves in extremely stressful and unpleasant situations. Although by time they become, kind of, “immune” to everything they encounter, these workers still run a very high risk of developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is highly recommended for those people to receive some counseling whenever they feel that something they were exposed to was out of ordinary or over the top.
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