Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

By: Brandon Cook

What is PTSD?

• PTSD is a psychological disorder that is further classified as an anxiety disorder.

What causes PTSD? • PTSD can be caused by experiencing a very

traumatic event in your life. • An example of an event which could cause

PTSD would be a soldier watching his friend get killed.

What age group is at risk for PTSD?• People of any age and race can be diagnosed

with PTSD. Any person who experiences a traumatic life event can develop PTSD.

What are the symptoms of PTSD?

• Symptoms of PTSD include: flashbacks, nightmares, depression, intense distress, lost off interest in life in general, feelings of detachment and irritability.

When do symptoms of PSTD become present?

• Symptoms of PTSD can become present days after experiencing the trauma, but can also remain hidden for 6 months or longer.

Is PTSD curable? • Although there is no one perfect cure for

PTSD, therapists use therapy and medication to help treat and control the symptoms.

• Normal treatment would include visiting therapy classes, as well as possibly being given a prescription for an antidepressant to help with depression or anxiety.

Is there ways to help prevent PTSD?

• Noticing symptoms of PTSD early and getting help immediately greatly reduce the severity of the symptoms.

• Having a social support group has also proven to be a valuable asset in preventing PTSD.

Statistics about PTSD:• 20% of adults who have experienced a

traumatic event in their later developed PTSD.• Women are twice as likely as men to develop

PTSD.• 12-20% of veterans returning from Iraq have

PTSD.

War and PTSD: • War is the single largest cause of PTSD in the

United States. • 10-30% of veterans develop PTSD. • PTSD rates in the military increased by 50%

this year.

Misdiagnosis of PTSD:

• Because depression is a major symptom of PTSD, the disorder is often diagnosed just as depression instead of treating the PTSD as well.

• 48% of people diagnosed with PTSD had previously been diagnosed with depression.

A constant unsettling feeling:

• I constantly feel an uneasy, restless feeling in my body and limbs. My muscles ache and heart beats rapidly for no apparent reason.

Hopeless:

• It blankets my every thought and action. My future doesn’t look too bright. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to become successful.

Emotionless:• I have lost the feelings of love and happiness

that things like my wife and job used to give me. I no longer smile and laugh like I used to. I lost my girlfriend because she thought I no longer loved her.

Detached:

• I feel slightly detached from the normal world. I walk and behave in a lethargic manner. My brain just seems a little fuzzy and I notice it taking me longer to process what someone has said to me. I don’t fit in anywhere in this world.

Irritability:• When I was a young man, my mom’s friend

would tell me my manners were the best in the world. I was always laid back and never got mad. Since being diagnosed with PTSD, I have turned into an irritable old man. Something as little as someone bumping me in line has had me on the verge of hitting them on the spot. I constantly feel pent up aggression in my body.

Depression:

• Depression has hurt me the most during my struggle with PTSD. Nothing in this world can make me happy anymore. Depression sucks all the energy from your body, making you feel weak, lonely and worthless.

Loss of interest:

• I’ve lost interest in everything I used to enjoy. Theories or ideas that I used to be fascinated by and study about for hours on end don’t evoke the slightest rise of an eyebrow of interest anymore. I feel unmotivated to do anything.

Careless:

• PTSD has turned me into a careless man. I didn’t care about losing my job and my girlfriend. I feel like nothing in the world matters and don’t care what happens to me.

Anxiety:

• Anxiety causes me to feel nervous and uptight al the time. I over analyze everything multiple times and am in constant worry and fear. I feel it hard to just sit back and relax anymore.