What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:

Post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD for short, is a potentially devastating "anxiety disorder" that often sets in after a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatizing event, involving either a real or perceived danger of impending death or severe injury. PTSD can occur as a result of a physical assault, sexual abuse, a natural disaster, and participation in combat or any other form of trauma.

 

When someone suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, their internal fight or flight response is no longer functioning properly, so they tend to perceive danger or impending disaster where there is none. Even in the safest situations they may feel distressed or frightened. PTSD was first diagnosed in combat-weary soldiers as "battle fatigue" or "shell shock," and has been getting a lot of public attention recently due to the large number of soldiers returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan afflicted with the disorder.

 

PTSD Can Affect Anyone at Any Age:

 

PTSD however, can affect people of all ages and occupations after many types of traumatic events, and is now known to be a result of chemical changes in the brain rather than any sort of weakness or inherent character flaw.

 

Shortly after any sort of natural disaster or other trauma, most people will develop some sort of symptoms of PTSD, like not being able to stop reliving the event in their minds. Common reactions to trauma involve feelings of fear, anger, anxiety, guilt and depression. In order to avoid developing full blown PTSD, immediately after a traumatic event is the best time to act.

 

How To Prevent PTSD? Talk To Someone:

 

Even though you may not want to talk about the trauma, relive it, or even think about it, that is exactly what you must do in order to effect a healthy recovery. Some people prefer the support of family and friends, while others prefer to talk to a mental health professional, minister or spiritual guide of some sort. It really doesn't matter, as long as you talk to someone

 

The best way to prevent PTSD is to face your fears and deal with your emotions quickly and openly. Grit your teeth and rip off the Band-Aid. While it's normal to want to avoid re-living a traumatic event, a consensus of mental health professionals all agree that the most important thing to do after a trauma is to face the memories and deal with them. Trying to push them away will only cause symptoms of PTSD to increase in severity and duration.

 

Avoid Common Pitfalls:

 

Getting support for emotional trauma can help to keep normal reactions to stress from worsening and becoming actual post-traumatic stress disorder. Early emotional support can also keep you from turning to other, less healthy coping methods, such as alcohol abuse, over-eating and excessive sleeping. An objective listener can also help to reassure you that what happened was not your fault, and help to assuage any feelings of survivor guilt or culpability.

 

Once you have thoroughly worked through your fears, guilt and other issues surrounding the traumatic event, you should get back to doing what you normally do on a daily basis as quickly as possible. A sense of normalcy will help you, finally put the event behind you.

 

PTSD is real, and it occurs more frequently than we realize. It's nothing to be ashamed of, and it can be avoided or lessened by getting help early on after being exposed to a natural disaster, assault, or any other sort of distressing situation. Don't wait until it becomes a debilitating illness that takes over your life.

 

Valerie Johnston is a health and fitness writer located in East Texas. With ambitions of one day running a marathon, writing for Healthline.com ensures she keeps up-to-date on all of the latest health and fitness news.