Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a very serious mental health disorder that can be debilitating, not just to our returning soldiers, but to anyone who has suffered a traumatic event. If left untreated, it will continue to worsen.
Most of the time when you hear that term, it is associated with service men and women. The reason being is that our nation is at war, and so many soldiers returning home have to deal with the trauma of what they experienced during deployment.
However, PTSD is a disorder that afflicts many career and non-career Americans alike. Firemen, police officers, nurses, family members who lose a spouse or child – even someone who suffers a vehicle accident – are susceptible to PTSD.
When I was a young mother of three, my family and I returned home from church one evening to find our house in flames. We lost everything we owned. It took me about three years before I realized the incident traumatized me. PTSD was not recognized as a formal diagnosis yet, so I went untreated at a time when I should have had help. As of this day, I still do not know all of the problems my children experienced; however, I know that for years to come, I felt like I needed to reach out to anyone who had a house fire by giving them clothes and food.
I have a son in the Army who did two tours of duty in Iraq. One day not long after he had been home from his first deployment, we were traveling to Memphis to visit relatives. A semi in front of us blew a tire. The noise from the explosion startled me, but he ducked, and I imagine if he had been carrying a gun, would have began firing. That was the first reaction of what had been a day-to-day occurrence. It took him the rest of the trip to gather his grounding.
Before the 1980’s, when PTSD was officially recognized as a mental diagnosis, it was called different names for returning soldiers. During the American Civil War, combat veterans had “Soldier’s Heart”. In World War I, soldiers were diagnosed with “Combat Fatigue”. In World War II and Vietnam, it had several different labels such as: “gross stress reaction”, “battle fatigue”, “shell shock” and “post-Vietnam Syndrome”.
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. It can occur after you have seen or experienced a traumatic event that involves the threat of injury, terrifying events, or death. It can occur at any age and with any gender, following incidents such as:
• Assault
• Domestic Abuse
• Prison
• Rape
• Terrorism
• War
The exact cause of PTSD is unknown; however, psychological, social, genetic and physical issues are all involved. It directly affects stress hormones and chemicals that carry information through the neurotransmitters to the brain that are associated with fear and memory. Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms generally are grouped into three types: intrusive memories, avoidance and numbing, and increased anxiety or emotional frustration.
PTSD has numerous symptoms: Night sweats, insomnia, inability to carry on a casual conversation, mood swings and weight loss. Emotional indications may include depression, irritability or anger, guilt or shame, being easily frightened and hallucinations.
Counseling is an important component of treating PTSD. It can assure the patient of safety and support while educating and helping them to understand the nature of their condition. In addition, several medications on the market are effective in controlling the anxiety and emotions PTSD produces.
Having a broad range of feelings and emotional reactions after a traumatic event is completely normal; such as myself with wanting assist anyone that went through a house fire. But if you have trouble getting your life back in order, or if the problems last more than a few months, then more than likely, PTSD is an actual diagnosis, and intervention from a health care professional might be needed.
Most traumatized persons are reluctant to seek help for their symptoms, particularly from mental health practitioners. Some are not even aware they have PTSD. However, knowing and recognizing the symptoms, and getting treatment as soon as possible might prevent long-term post-traumatic stress disorder.