DEALING WITH PTSD - POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER SYMPTOMS

According to the NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health), PTSD (also known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or more commonly from military combat. What the NIMH does not mention that physical harm does not have to occur or be threatened. I suffer from a different kind of PTSD. My PTSD stems from traumatic events that occurred in my life in which I was wrongly incarcerated and taken away from my 'normal life' to be institutionalized. PTSD can be the result of completely emotional and psychological trauma and at times nothing to do with physical trauma. The following photograph is part of the scene of the movie Full Metal Jacket, where Private Pyle ends up blowing his brains out. Suicide does not have to be the solution, there are plenty of other solutions to problems in life, no matter what the problems are. The military has seen a huge spike in the number of PTSD cases since the start of the Gulf Wars and now the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. War movies have been as frequently released as wars have occurred. One of the most notable war movies was Platoon.

I recently experienced a PTSD episode by a statement that triggered my PTSD symptoms. These symptoms can be grouped into several categories. One category is “re-experiencing symptoms” in which the individual has flashbacks—reliving the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating, bad dreams, and frightening thoughts. These re-experiencing symptoms can cause problems in a person’s everyday routine. The symptoms can start from the person’s own thoughts and feelings, or from words, objects, or situations that are reminders of the event can also trigger re-experiencing.

The second category is “avoidance symptoms”. With avoidance symptoms, the person will stay away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the experience, feel emotionally numb, feel strong guilt, depression, or worry, lose interest in activities that were enjoyable in the past, and have trouble remembering the traumatic event. I have not experienced avoidance symptoms, today my PTSD is primarily triggered by re-experience symptoms. However, after the traumatic events I definitely experienced hyperarousal symptoms where I was constantly on edge and feeling traumatized daily. It is unclear in my research if loneliness is a factor in avoidance or if avoidance causes a person to be lonely or if they are completely unreleated.

The third and final category of symptoms: “hyperarousal symptoms”. Signs of hyperarousal symptoms are being easily startled, feeling tense or “on edge”, difficulty sleeping, and/or outbursts. Hyperarousal symptoms are generally constant, instead of being triggered by memories that remind one of the traumatic event. These symptoms may make it hard to do daily tasks, such as sleeping, eating, or concentrating and can make the person feel stressed and angry. It’s natural to have some of these symptoms after a dangerous and traumatic event. Sometimes people have very serious symptoms that subside after a few weeks. This is called acute stress disorder, or ASD. When the symptoms last more than a few weeks and become an ongoing problem, they might become PTSD. Some people with PTSD don’t show any symptoms for weeks or months, and can even go lengthy periods of times without something triggering a PTSD episode.

Having dealt with PTSD directly and understanding what people go through during a PTSD episode, I completely sympathize with victims of PTSD. What many websites will not discuss or go into much details about is that PTSD many times will result in suicide or suicide attempts. Victims of PTSD would many times rather die that continuously reliving the traumatic events, fears, anxiety, and anxiousness that come with the disorder. During a PTSD episode, a person is not thinking clearly or rationally, their judgment and thought process is clouded. I know from my own experiences. I had many people around me saying that I was over-reacting or being ridiculous, but I could not convince myself to step back and look in from outside.

PTSD is an extremely hard disorder to treat because of “re-experience” symptoms and the fact that these triggers can just happen at any time any where for any reason. Once a PTSD episode is triggered, it can last for a few minutes, to a few hours, and probably even for days depending on your trauma and your triggers. I wish I could say that I have some magical solution to dealing with PTSD, but the reality is that it is one of the most difficult disorders to treat.

"One of PTSD's fundamental features, Ragan noted, is a lack of trust: in one's self, in others, in humans, "that the world will give them a fair shake. ... There is this tremendous hurdle for them to overcome to get treatment."

"The symptoms of PSTD are so disruptive, intrusive and problematic for people that very often they can't attend to the issues of therapy without something to lessen those symptoms," she says. "(Drug treatment) is a first line of attack, but it's really not a cure. It's a management tool."

If you or someone you know is experiencing what may be a PTSD episode, I would advise you to seek mental help immediately. PTSD can be highly dangerous to oneself or others.