It’s not unusual to experience a traumatic event in the course of your life. It can be something as common as getting into an argument with a loved one or it can be more serious like witnessing a war like most military veterans. When faced with a traumatic event, you might feel scared, confused, and overwhelmed at first but a lot of times, these feelings eventually go away and you’ll start to feel normal again.
However, there are many cases when the trauma will persist and can affect how you carry out your daily life. It can be debilitating and can prevent you from functioning normally and productively. This condition is referred to as PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
PTSD is one of the most common mental health conditions in America. PTSD develops after a traumatic event and can cause intense fear, anxiety, and distress. It’s important to be able to spot symptoms of PTSD so that you can get help for yourself or someone else as soon as possible. One of the dangers of not recognizing PTSD is self-medicating to get rid of these painful symptoms. Many PTSD sufferers use substances like alcohol and opioids in order to forget their trauma. Substances, however, are just short-term, temporary fixes and don’t solve the underlying issues. Instead of fixing the problem, substance use could lead to addiction and worsen PTSD.
In this blog post, we’ll go over some signs that may indicate PTSD in order to recognize if you are experiencing any of these symptoms.
1. You are having intrusive thoughts, memories, dreams, or flashbacks of the traumatic event.
Are you experiencing involuntary flashbacks of the traumatic event repeatedly? Are these intrusive memories causing you distress and anxiety? Are they making you lose sleep and making you feel emotionally numb?
When traumatic events intrude in your thoughts, no matter how hard you try to block them out, this could be a sign that you are suffering from PTSD. You could also experience trouble sleeping which could result in insomnia. When you notice that you are having flashbacks of traumatic events, it is important to seek help.
2. You avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event and things that trigger your memories.
Nobody really wants to remember anything bad or painful that happened in the past, especially if it’s a recent occurrence. It’s actually normal to avoid any reference to it or even thinking about it as a coping mechanism to move on. Over time, these painful memories fade and it is easier to think or talk about them.
For people with PTSD, however, this is much harder to do. Even after several years, there are people who still avoid these traumatic memories or events. This could cause them to detach themselves from others, become isolated, or prevent them from carrying out normal day-to-day activities.
Avoidance is one sign that you could be struggling with PTSD. One common example is when people who experience a car accident avoid driving or riding a car after the event. A lot of people who were in a car crash often feel uneasy riding or driving a car again. This uneasiness may pass after several weeks and the person may not need treatment. However, severe cases of PTSD could result in someone not being able to drive for months or years or having panic attacks when being in a moving vehicle. They then avoid driving a car or being inside a car altogether.
3. You are unable to experience happiness or positive emotions as a result of the traumatic event.
Immediately after a traumatic event, it takes time to recover from this painful situation. The recovery time for people varies, depending on the person and circumstances. But how do you know if you’re already suffering from PTSD?
Those suffering from PTSD often find it difficult to feel anything positive in any aspect of their lives. They may have trouble feeling anything, including love, hope, and happiness even if the traumatic event took place many years before.
4. You have mood swings and angry outbursts.
A person with PTSD often experiences mood swings and angry outbursts. They may have trouble controlling their anger or annoyance, and even find themselves lashing out at other people for no reason. Anger, irritability, and mood swings are referred to as hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD.
5. You are having trouble focusing.
Many people who struggle with PTSD experience concentration issues. A lot of times, this is a result of being anxious all the time. For example, instead of focusing on the task at hand, many PTSD sufferers may find themselves jumping at noises, feeling uneasy when someone touches them unexpectedly, or being in constant fear for their safety even though the traumatic event is over. The constant fear and anxiety can prevent you from giving 100% of your attention to whatever you’re doing.
If you believe that you are experiencing these symptoms, it’s important to get help. Self-medicating using alcohol and drugs is not the answer. This could lead to a co-occurring disorder that will only worsen the problem.
