PTSD

This is a very serious topic and before I begin, I need to say one thing. I am NOT a medical professional; I don’t know anything about PTSD other than what I have heard and what I have researched from the internet. I am going to do my best to do this topic justice because I think being aware of such things is important but I am only writing about what I have learnt from the internet and what I feel about it. If you want to know more you should do your own research and if you are unfortunate enough to suffer from PTSD then you should seek help. Thank you for your patience, and now, let’s get started.

So PTSD, it stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and is a very serious mental disorder. Most people know about it nowadays thanks to TV and crime thriller shows like NCIS, the various Law and Order shows and so on. On TV, the people who suffer from PTSD are mostly soldiers who have been through battle and police officers, since they are putting their life on the line and face such horrible things. Because of this a lot of people, myself included, may think that this is something only soldiers and the police may experience. However, this is not true. How can I say this? Well the hint is in the name, specifically the first two words, Post Traumatic, which means after a traumatic event, which means anyone who faces a traumatic event can get PTSD including people who are attacked, rape victims, robbery victims, people who are abused and so on.

However, this is all from my own understanding; let’s look at something more official.

This is an article from mayoclinic.org titled “Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)”

To summarize, it defines PTSD as a mental health condition that a person may get after either experiencing or witnessing a terrifying/traumatic event.

You can develop PTSD when you see, experience or learn about an event that involves threatened or actual death, a serious injury or sexual abuse. It is often caused by a complex mix of:

“

• Stressful experiences, including the amount and severity of trauma you’ve gone through in your life
• Inherited mental health risks, such as a family history of anxiety and depression
• Inherited features of your personality — often called your temperament
• The way your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases in response to stress”

– taken directly from the article.

Some of the symptoms of PTSD include:

• Flashbacks of the traumatic memory
• Nightmares about the event
• Severe emotional distress and even physical reactions to something that might remind you of the event.
• Negative thoughts about yourself, people, and the world
• No hope for the future
• Trouble remembering things
• Difficulty maintaining a relationship
• Detachment from friends, family and loved ones
• Difficulty feeling positive
• Feeling emotionally numb
• And a lot more.

Some complications you may face because of PTSD include:

“

• Depression and anxiety
• Issues with drugs or alcohol use
• Eating disorders
• Suicidal thoughts and actions”

– taken directly from the article.

The article goes into a ton of detail about PTSD, what causes it, the signs, how to treat it and a lot more. If you want to learn more, I recommend giving it a read.

There is also another article I found from nimh.nih.gov that talks about PTSD. They even talk about how it affects children.

• Wetting the bed even if they are potty trained
• Re-enacting the event during playtime
• Forgetting how to or losing the ability to speak
• Being unusually clingy to a parent or adult

Check it out for yourself if you want to know more.

There are many more articles about PTSD available on the internet, you can easily search for them yourself.

Finally, I would like to share these two videos from boogie 2988.  He’s a YouTuber who used to suffer from some PTSD and he talks about his experiences in these videos.

 

 

 

 

To conclude, I hope you found this post informative and I pray that you never have to suffer from PTSD. Of you happen to suffer from PTSD, I urge you to reach out to someone you can trust. You don’t have to feel scared or ashamed of it, you deserve the help.

If you know someone who might be suffering from PTSD, reach out to them and help them if you can. Don’t be forceful though or it will backfire, all you need to do is be nice to them and be there for them.

Hope you have a nice day.