Symptoms Of Post-Traumatic Stress

Post traumatic stress disorder can affect its victims in many ways and over a very broad and unpredictable timeframe. Some people may experience symptoms almost immediately, whereas others may have to wait years before they come on. The symptoms may gradually appear, suddenly overwhelm you or come and go seemingly at random.

The three most common symptoms that those with PTSD suffer from are:

Re-living the trauma

Sometimes, many years after the event, your mind may force you to face images of what you have experienced once again. These “intrusions”, as they are known, may come about through flashbacks of the event, memories containing horrific detail or distressing nightmares. The result is much like any other type of panic attack: pounding heart, sweating, shaking, nausea, etc. Sometimes the nightmares can be so bad that anxiety can be brought on simply because it is close to the end of the day and time to sleep. Re-experiencing the traumatic event may be triggered by a sound, an image, a smell, or simply because some subconscious cog is turned and the traumatic events come flooding back to you.

Avoidance

When the mind is faced with an event too traumatising for it to want to accept, sometimes it protects itself by simply not accepting it. Avoidance is when a person cannot remember the detail of a trauma and it is as if wiped from their memory; where they avoid people, places and conversations that may trigger a traumatic memory of the event; or where they attempt to rationalise an irrational experience. Those who suffer in this way often find that the mind’s act of self-preservation has overflowed into other areas; the numbness they feel over the event may extend to everything else in life, while friends, family, hobbies and interests may hold less interest; they may care little for the future or feel that any prospects they may have had are now lost; and they may feel estranged from others around them as if set adrift in a sea of strangers.

Hyper arousal

Much like any other form of anxiety, this is where the body is in a constant state of “fight or flight”, where it is full of energy and adrenaline and ready for danger that just is not there. This results in an inability to relax, difficulty sleeping or concentrating, and irritability.