After a traumatic event, it is natural to feel frightened. Fear is a tool the body uses to protect itself in dangerous situations.
Nearly everyone will experience a range of reactions after a traumatic event, but not everyone will experience PTSD. Most people naturally recover from initial symptoms, while others may feel stressed or frightened, even when not in danger. Those individuals may be diagnosed with PTSD.
What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.
When and how do symptoms of PTSD appear?
PTSD symptoms usually begin early, within three months of the traumatic incident, but sometimes they begin years afterward. To be diagnosed with PTSD, they must have symptoms that last more than a month and must be severe enough to interfere with relationships or work. Some people recover from PTSD within six months, while others have symptoms lasting much longer.
People struggling with PTSD may experience some of the following symptoms:
- Re-experiencing – This includes flashbacks, bad dreams, and frightening thoughts.
- Avoidance – Staying away from places, events, objects, thoughts, or feelings that remind the traumatic experience.
- Arousal and reactivity – Being easily startled, feeling tense or “on edge,” having difficulty sleeping, and having angry outbursts.
- Cognition and mood – Trouble remembering key features of the traumatic event, negative thoughts about oneself or the world, distorted feelings like guilt or blame, and loss of interest in enjoyable activities.
How does PTSD affect us throughout our lives?
- Children can also have extreme reactions to traumatic events. Older children’s symptoms may be like those seen in adults, while younger children’s symptoms may differ from adults’ symptoms. With younger children (less than six years old), we may observe such behaviors as:
- Wetting the bed after having learned to use the toilet
- Forgetting how to or being unable to talk
- Acting out the scary event during playtime
- Being unusually clingy with a parent or other adults.
- Older children and teens may feel guilty for not preventing the injury or deaths of loved ones. They may also have thoughts of revenge, leading them to behave in disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive ways.
- Adults can develop PTSD at any age. According to the National Center for PTSD, about 7 or 8 out of every 100 people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, and genes may make some people more likely to develop PTSD than others.
The good news is that PTSD is treatable with the help of mental health professionals such as Psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health counselors. Treatment should aim to equip individuals with the skills to manage their symptoms and help them participate in activities that they enjoyed before developing PTSD.
As with any trauma or condition resulting from trauma, we encourage our clients to remember that God is with them and will restore them as they step towards healing!
Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10
