Symptoms and Treatment Options for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

If you've experienced severe trauma -- you've been physically or sexually assaulted or you were or are someone who has witnessed a threatening act-- you very well may develop and suffer from a disorder known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Symptoms of traumatic stress disorder can strike immediately following the trauma - Acute Stress Disorder, or they can present themselves months or years later - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

You may experience flashbacks of the traumatic event, avoidance of situations that remind you of trauma (soldiers avoiding fireworks displays because they bring back the sounds of battle explosions, for example). You also may have insomnia and have recurring distressing dreams. Other symptoms include what is known as hypervigilance (all your senses are always on alert for danger, real or not). If you suffer from hypervigilance, your every day life will often deteriorate considerably since you'll be so focused on watching your surroundings for danger that you'll have a hard time "seeing" or relating to reality. Post traumatic stress disorder can also cause sufferers to lose jobs. Excessive anger is detrimental to personal and professional relationships.

If you have been through a traumatic situation and you have some of the above symptoms, you'll benefit from a visit with a psychiatrist or other licensed mental health professionals in order to receive an accurate evaluation for post traumatic stress disorder. Trained professionals can also help you with PTSD treatment. Various treatment modalities such as medications, individual therapy, and group therapy are available for PTSD sufferers. An specific form of therapy known as cognitive behavioral therapy can help you understand how negative thoughts can create negative feelings and can train you to learn how to modify your negative views of events and circumstances.

Attending a support group with other PTSD sufferers can also be very helpful. People who have gone through traumatic events can often help each other work through their issues. People who have experiences similar to yours can perhaps "get" what you're going through better than people who haven't. Your counselor, therapist or psychiatrist probably knows of support groups you could join. In fact, many health care professionals who treat PTSD sufferers often facilitate these types of groups themselves.

Medications also may be used to help treat your PTSD. Again, a physician or a psychiatrist will have to prescribe these medications -- often anti-anxiety meds -- and he or she will watch and work with you closely since not every PTSD sufferer is the same and different medications work differently with each patient.

PTSD can strike victims for seemingly "insignificant" trauma. Some women who are threatened with sexual assault who scare their attacker off before he can harm them can experience PTSD. Even though the rape never took place, the danger and threat of harm a woman experiences in this kind of situation can bring PTSD to the fore.

PTSD is well-known in mental health circles and I hope you will avail yourself to treatment should you find that your life has become excessively constricted due to the aftereffects of trauma.