The Scream by Edvard Munch
What Are the Symptoms of PTSD?
PTSD symptoms are divided into three categories. People who have been exposed to traumatic experiences may notice any number of symptoms in almost any combination. However, the diagnosis of PTSD means that someone has met very specific criteria. The symptoms for PTSD are listed below.
- Intrusive Re-experiencing
People with PTSD frequently feel as if the trauma is happening again. This is sometimes called a flashback, reliving experience, or abreaction. The person may have intrusive pictures in his/her head about the trauma, have recurrent nightmares, or may even experience hallucinations about the trauma. Intrusive symptoms sometimes cause people to lose touch with the “here and now” and react in ways that they did when the trauma originally occurred. For example, many years later a victim of child abuse may hide trembling in a closet when feeling threatened, even if the perceived threat is not abuse-related.
- Avoidance
People with PTSD work hard to avoid anything that might remind them of the traumatic experience. They may try to avoid people, places, or things that are reminders, as well as numbing out emotions to avoid painful, overwhelming feelings. Numbing of thoughts and feelings in response to trauma is known as “dissociation” and is a hallmark of PTSD. Frequently, people with PTSD use drugs or alcohol to avoid trauma-related feelings and memories.
- Arousal
Symptoms of psychological and physiological arousal are very distinctive in people with PTSD. They may be very jumpy, easily startled, irritable, and may have sleep disturbances like insomnia or nightmares. They may seem constantly on guard and may find it difficult to concentrate. Sometimes persons with PTSD will have panic attacks accompanied by shortness of breath and chest pain.
Taken from Sidran: Help for Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) and Dissociation
Posted by Katy Sturgis on March 14, 2012 at 1:28 pm
This a great article and I can connect to some of the things mentioned in it. The only question I have is being in an abusive verbally and a little physical abuse thrown in to a long term relationship a kind of event that would be considered a possible event that could fit under the category of PTSD along with the symptoms?
Posted by Marty on March 14, 2012 at 1:37 pm
it does not have to be an event, it can be a pattern over a time frame, as a childhood, redeployments over and over or your relationship, for how ever long you have lived in it.
What are your symptoms and what has been going on?
You will have jolts of cortisol triggered by thoughts that carry emotion fear and terror.
certain people, places or situations ignite a fight or flight response. hard to miss trauma turned PTSD.
Posted by Felipe on November 18, 2012 at 7:23 am
I was diagnosed with PTSD while I was at the combat stress clinic in F.O.B. Anaconda (Iraq). They sent me home and told me that I can rejoin in 2 years. Now that I have made it home they conveniently lost all records of diagnosing me with PTSD or prescribing me with Seraquil for sleep. The sleep problems still come and go from time to time. I just want help getting my records so that I can get my medical privileges back. I’m just looking for help figuring this problem out. Thank you!
Posted by Marty on November 18, 2012 at 9:01 am
Thank you for your service and courage to reach out for help.
You can start improving on your own because the journey to heal deals with the way we handle thoughts with those thoughts, flashbacks and triggers.
If you can commit to working on developing focus on the breath everyday for15 minutes and applying to every random thought, your life can change drastically.
I am here everyday to support you, answer questions and point out the landscape ahead.
Marty