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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, can affect anyone who has experienced a traumatic event and has not successfully recovered from it. And even with recovery, PTSD can recur but will be in a more recognizable form to the afflicted person.
PTSD can occur with more situations than just war survivors. It can happen to someone who was sexually assaulted and it could happen to someone who has a car accident. If an event profoundly affects your life in a traumatizing way, then you may suffer from PTSD.
The disorder is actually defined as a psychiatric disorder if all the criteria are met, which are set by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) nosologic classification scheme.
Their guidelines outline a range of symptoms that must be present for PTSD to be diagnosed. Someone who suffers from PTSD will re-experience the traumatic event through recurring nightmares, flashbacks or daydreams and intensifying symptoms when exposed to reminders of the traumatic event.
Because the traumatic event was life-threatening, the flashbacks can be equally as terrifying because they do seem so real. The flood of emotions and physical sensations can be overwhelming and debilitating. Flashbacks occur around some trigger that reminds the person of the traumatic event. Suppose someone was in a serious vehicle accident, and when they drive by the place the accident occurred they might experience flashbacks of the event. With PTSD this goes on for more than six months to meet the definition set by the APA.
Nightmares and difficulty can be severe enough to interfere with a person's daily life activities. These difficulties often lead to other problems in social and personal relationships which can lead to marital discord and job loss.
Any time spent on avoiding thoughts, feelings, activities or situations associated with the trauma also defines PTSD. Feelings of detachment may be experienced as will be the inability to have loving feelings. Being over stimulated occurs as well with an exaggerated startle response, sleep disturbances, irritability and outbursts of anger and physiological reactions to reminders of the traumatic event.
Seeking help for PTSD is the first step in confronting this debilitating condition. Your family and friends may not truly understand and be little help in your efforts to receive help in your recovery. Mental illness is often overlooked and considered a weakness and that is not what PTSD is. Mental health professionals are the ones to provide the best direction and can be found in the yellow pages of the phone book. Either counselors or psychiatrists can help guide you to the best source of therapy.
Both counseling and medication can be combined effectively for treatment or both used individually, depending on the person and particular source of PTSD. Taking it seriously is critical because when it is not treated it can lead to devastating life situations. When you cannot move beyond a trauma it is difficult, but when you learn to live with its effects in your life you can become stronger for it in all ways.
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