5 Warning Signs of PTSD
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a mental health condition which sometimes develops after someone experiences a traumatic event. Although most often associated with violent or dangerous events such as physical or sexual abuse, combat, natural disasters and horrific accidents, people can also develop PTSD after suffering psychological, emotional, relational, spiritual, or physical injury.
Are you or is someone you love suffering with PTSD? At Honey Lake Clinic, we understand PTSD and we care about you. We can help.
According to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the PTSD criteria for defining a traumatic event, reads: “The person was exposed to death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence.”
How do you define serious injury?
Danger, death and sexual violence are pretty unmistakable. The term serious injury, however, is not as clearly defined. Whether an event is serious and could cause psychological, emotional, relational, spiritual, or physical injury, is based on the victim’s immediate evaluation of the event as it occurs. What might be traumatic and disrupting to some, may not be to others.
PTSD does not only occur when a person has been exposed to life-and-death danger, physical violence or physical abuse. It can also be caused by “minor” trauma—things like divorce, moving away from close friends, rejection, failures, or even the loss of a job.
Serious injury is defined by the one experiencing it.
Is it Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
PTSD is characterized by recognizable symptoms. These occur because the sufferer hasn’t adequately processed the event. The trauma can keep resurfacing, causing as much distress as if it is happening again, amplifying anxieties and fears, impacting thought, mood and life.
Here are five questions to ask yourself looking for signs of PTSD in your life:
- Has a traumatic event or episode happened to you (or did you witness one)?
- Are you re-experiencing the traumatic event?
- Do you avoid things that remind you of the trauma?
- Is your memory out of whack? Your mood off? Your emotions raw?
- Are you experiencing hypervigilance or exaggerated states of fear?
Sound familiar? Do you recognize any of the signs and symptoms in your life?
While these signs of PTSD can be normal to some extent right after a tragic event, if you or a loved one experience them for more than a month, you should speak with a professional.
Diagnosing PTSD
While there isn’t a medical test or exam to diagnose PTSD, a behavioral health specialist with expertise and experience assessing and treating PTSD can help you. They know the right questions to ask, consider the signs and symptoms sufferers present, and evaluate it all against established criteria to diagnose PTSD.
A good assessment and an accurate diagnosis is your first step in treating PTSD. Getting the right specialist to implement the best-fitting treatment for your particular situation and symptoms is key. For most, this can be accomplished on an outpatient basis, but some require a more intensive and safer residential treatment setting.
We are here to help.
