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What Kinds of Experiences Can Cause PTSD?
PTSD develops (only in some people) in response to any event that causes overwhelming fear or shock, whether experienced personally or witnessed. These events include war, rape or other assault, accidents, natural disasters or in response to any type of sudden event. It can sometimes begin months or years after the traumatic event.
What Are the Symptoms?
At least one each of:
• re-experiencing the event (flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive thoughts of it)
• avoidance (not thinking about, talking about, or re-vising the scene of the event, or general emotional
numbing)
• hyper-arousal (feeling "jumpy," irritable, being easily startled, or insomnia)
Some people are driven by PTSD to thoughts of suicide. (They should get help immediately.)
Why Do Some People Develop PTSD While Others Do Not?
Whenever someone has a traumatic experience, the emotion it causes is overwhelming; so intense that part of it is split-off and doesn't enter our awareness. But because the creation and maintenance of split off mental pathways require intense effort by the mind, the overwhelming experience, or bits and pieces of it, may slip into awareness.
The more traumatic experiences one has had in the past, from childhood onward, the larger the split-off portion of those experiences has become; and the more likely it will be that some of that content will escape into awareness. Therefore, the more likely it will be that this individual will experience symptoms of PTSD.
How Can Someone with PTSD Be Helped?
Mental health practitioners have an array of therapies that have proven helpful. They include medications (including one that has been specifically helpful for nightmares) and psychotherapies such as cognitive therapy and exposure therapy. Certain complementary therapies, such as yoga, have been used. My complimentary Tool can be useful to provide periods of relief from the symptoms.
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