Tip : Accept Your Feelings
Traumatic stress can cause you to experience all kinds of difficult and surprising emotions, including shock, anger, and guilt. These emotions are normal reactions to the loss of safety and security that comes in the wake of a disaster. Accepting these feelings and allowing yourself to feel what you feel, is necessary for healing.
What Professional Help Is Available
If you have experienced a traumatic event, and have persistent difficulties, your GP might refer you to a professional who specialises in helping people cope with traumas.
There are a number of different treatments to help treat PTSD. These include psychotherapy, trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy and Eye movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing . You might also be offered antidepressants if you have found other treatments arent working.
You can find out more about all of these treatments in our PTSD resource.
Medication can sometimes be helpful following a trauma, but it is still important to see your doctor regularly to check how you are doing.
How To Know What Ptsd Is
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition marked by the development of a particular set of stress symptoms following a traumatic event, or multiple traumatic events, in which that personâs life or safety, or that of others around them, was in danger or under threat.
PTSD can also follow repeated and extreme exposure to traumatic events or the exposure to the aftermath of those events.
âAny of this could be a car or other serious accident, physical or sexual assault, war or torture, or disasters such as bushfires or floods. As a result, the person experiences feelings of intense fear, helplessness, or horror,â says Dr Kriegeskotten.
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How To Overcome Ptsd: 5 Coping Strategies
In mental health, ptsd.
There is no guide to overcoming post-traumatic stress disorder . Each of us struggles with this disease in our own manner and, with that, must learn to overcome it in our own way too.
Still, mental health professionals have observed some trends among people who successfully treat their PTSD. It all begins with identifying symptoms and then finding a way to keep them under control.
Throughout this article, were going to observe five key strategies when it comes to taking control of your PTSD. At the end, we invite you to ask further questions.
Ask For Support From Your Employer
If you experienced the traumatic event as part of your job, your workplace might have support systems in place to help you. If you experienced the traumatic event outside of work, you may want to let your employer know so that they can support you. This could be as simple as telling them what has happened so they can be aware of how you are feeling. You could ask them to make adjustments to how you work, like ensuring you are not exposed to further trauma or intense stress, or adjusting your hours. See the section for employers further on in this resource.
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Signs And Symptoms Of Ptsd
PTSD develops differently from person to person because everyone’s nervous system and tolerance for stress is a little different. While you’re most likely to develop symptoms of PTSD in the hours or days following a traumatic event, it can sometimes take weeks, months, or even years before they appear. Sometimes symptoms appear seemingly out of the blue. At other times, they are triggered by something that reminds you of the original traumatic event, such as a noise, an image, certain words, or a smell.
While everyone experiences PTSD differently, there are four main types of symptoms.
Try The Amazing Healing Effects Of Aromatherapy
Several studies have found aromatherapy to be effective in reducing PTSD symptoms like chronic stress and anxiety. Lemon oil and orange essential oil can help relieve depression while lavender essential oil promotes relaxation and sleep. Certain essential oils can also help relieve sore, tight muscles and body aches caused by stress and tension.
Chamomile essential oil has anti-depressive and anti-anxiety qualities that are found effective in treating anxiety, worry, irritability, and depression. Ylang-ylang soothes anger and rage. Rose oil is very effective in treating grief, panic attacks, shock, and nightmares. Essential oil calms your body, releases your emotions, reduces cortisol, combats fear, and improves sleep.
Watch now: Essential oils for PTSD
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Unlock Your Mind With Mindfulness Meditation
Mindfulness meditation is the practice of calming your mind by focusing on your breath and body. It is a state of thoughtlessness that helps calm your mind and bring it to peace. Regular practice of mindfulness meditation can help recognize your thoughts, regularize your emotions, and replace negative thoughts with healthier ones.
A review quoted that mindfulness meditation can help ease the symptoms of PTSD. It is a proven remedy for stress, anxiety, depression, and restlessness that come with PTSD. Certain studies have also shown that a routine practice can help improve sleep, focus, and performance.
Does Trauma Always Cause Ptsd
No. Going through trauma does not always cause PTSD. Most kids and teens who go through a trauma will not get PTSD.
But most of them will feel the effects of trauma. Its normal to react to a deeply stressful event. Most will have upset feelings, thoughts of the trauma, and other signs of distress. This may last for a short while, sometimes days or weeks. With comfort, listening, and support, most can find ways to cope with what theyve been through.
PTSD develops when a trauma overwhelms a childs ability to cope. Kids and teens with PTSD need extra help to move through the coping process.
Things that affect whether someone develops PTSD after a trauma include:
- how severe the trauma was
- how quickly they get help and support
- a past history of trauma
- inherited risks like family history of depression and anxiety
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None Of This Is Your Faultandeverything Is Going To Be Okay
Hi, my name is Kayleen, and I’m not a therapist…I don’t have a PHD in psychology, I’m not licensed to prescribe you medication, and I probably never will. So, what am I? I am a trauma survivor.Like most, the traditional system failed me. Doctors, therapists, and “specialists” did nothing but worsen my condition. So I set to find my own path… It took years of hard work, research, and excruciating pain…but in the end?I did it. I healed, and I’m here to reaching my hand out to help you do the same.So yes…there is hope! I’ve not only healed myself, but what I’ve learned has helped over 100,000 other trauma survivors find peace in their life.You can learn the recovery secrets I discovered inside my daily email newsletter. Click the button below to subscribe and get a FREE digital copy of my first book, “3 Amazing Relief Tools For PTSD Anxiety”.
What Is Complex Ptsd
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder is often considered more severe than PTSD. Its caused by chronic exposure to traumatic events. If you grew up in an abusive household, for example, years of sustained domestic violence could result in CPTSD. People who experience the prolonged trauma of conditions like slavery or torture might also suffer from this disorder.
If you have CPTSD, you may experience many of the same symptoms of PTSD, such as hypervigilance, flashbacks, and emotional numbness, as well as:
Negative thoughts about yourself. You struggle with consistent thoughts of worthlessness and intense shame.
Difficulty controlling emotions. You have intense reactions, feeling overly sensitive, and struggle with anger. You might experience dissociation, a feeling of disconnection with the world around you.
Difficulty with relationships. You have a hard time establishing or maintaining friendships and romantic relationships. Feelings of isolation are common.
Complex PTSD also has some overlapping symptoms with borderline personality disorder . For many people, trauma may play a role in the development of BPD.
Whatever your personal experiences or symptoms of PTSD, the following tips can offer effective ways to help you heal and move on:
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Sushmas Fear Disgust And Shame
I grew up in a chaotic household. My father and brothers were violent and in and out of prison, and my mother was a mixture of critical and neglectful. When I was fourteen, a boy in my local park gave me alcohol and then raped me. I felt terrified during the attack and seemed to be frozen to the spot. I didnt tell my parents what had happened because I knew they would blame me and I was worried about how they would react. I didnt go to therapy until I was in my late twenties. When I did I was having daily flashbacks of the attack, and of the many of the other horrible things that had happened to me before and since. I would wake at night, terrified but unable to move, and I would sometimes wet the bed, which I was terribly ashamed of. When I got reminded of traumatic things I would sometimes dissociate so strongly that I would almost forget where I was, and would feel like a terrified child again. I was convinced that I was a bad person I thought Im rotten to the core and that I had deserved everything that had happened to me. I punished myself by not getting enough rest and was so self-critical. At the start of therapy, I was not very hopeful of recovering, and didnt even think that I deserved to get help.
Overcoming Trauma And Ptsd Associated With Physical Spaces
May 15, 2019
Just two weeks after one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history, 3,000 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School returned to class. Roughly 95 percent of students returned to the campus where they witnessed 17 classmates shot to death and 14 others seriously injured. The first week, they were eased back into a school routine with half-day schedules, and were greeted by therapy dogs, mental health counselors and heavily armed police officers. Candles and teddy bears were placed in the seats of students whose lives were claimed by the gunman.
For many of those students, and those of the 102 other schools that experienced gun violence in 2018, school will never be the same. It will forever be associated with this traumatic incident. Although the building where the tragedy occurred remains closed, students who spoke about the incident one year later say they continue to experience recurring dreams about the shooting, feel nervous when they hear loud sounds in the hallways, have panic attacks, and are simply not able to make it through the school day.
Traumas can be brought on by any emotionally disturbing or distressing event, and each person recovers uniquely because they process the event through their own lens of personal experiences. For some, returning to a space where trauma occurred can evoke intense emotional and physiological reactions, so avoiding it may seem like an intuitive safeguard from further harm.
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Barriers To Getting Help
Many marginalized groups live with increased risk for trauma and barriers to mental health services.
Along with being less likely to seek out mental health services, marginalized populations are more likely to prematurely terminate after a session or two, Bryant-Davis said, which decreases the efficacy of the intervention.
A variety of social and environmental factors can limit access to quality mental health care:
Income
Access to a therapist or counselor can depend on income and quality of health care coverage, because many appointments incur specialist fees. In addition, low-income families may have trouble finding a location accessible by public transportation and may be unable able to take time off work for an appointment.
Race and ethnicity
Social stigmas exist in many ethnic cultures about seeking mental health care. Fear of discrimination by a provider can also prevent people from seeking help. Even getting past the stigma and showing up for an appointment, they are likely to encounter culturally incompetent care from people who are not affirming, or respectful or knowledgeable of their experience, Bryant-Davis said.
Gender
About 10 percent of women develop PTSD compared to 4 percent of men, according to the National Center for PTSD.In addition, women who open up about sexual traumas face fear of being shamed, isolated or not taken seriously.
Age
Tip : Reach Out To Others
You may be tempted to withdraw from friends and social activities following a traumatic event, but connecting face to face with other people is vital to recovery. The simple act of talking face to face with another human can trigger hormones that relieve traumatic stress.
You don’t have to talk about your traumatic experiences. Reaching out to others doesn’t necessarily mean talking about the traumatic event. Comfort comes from feeling connected and involved with others you trust. Talk about and do normal things with friends and loved ones, things that have nothing to do with the event that triggered your traumatic stress.
Expand your social network. If you live alone or your social network is limited, it’s never too late to reach out to others and make new friends. Take advantage of support groups, church gatherings, and community organizations. Join a sports team or hobby club to meet people with similar interests.
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How To Cope With Traumatic Stress
Traumatic stress is a normal reaction to an abnormal event. Usually, symptoms get better with time, but people with more intense symptoms may need professional help.
How to cope with traumatic stress.
Over the course of a lifetime, its common to be exposed to a traumatic event, whether it is a violent act, a serious injury, a sexual violation, or other shocking event. In response, many will experience traumatic stressa normal reaction to an abnormal event. People may even experience traumatic stress by just witnessing a highly distressing event or having a close family member or friend experience such an event.
In the days and weeks following such a trauma, its common for people to have a flurry of unpredictable emotions and physical symptoms. They include:
- Feeling nervous, jumpy, or on high alert
- Irritability or anger
- Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, or nightmares
- Trouble feeling positive emotions
- Avoiding people, places, memories, or thoughts associated with the traumatic event
Usually, these symptoms get better with time. But for some people, more intense symptoms linger or interfere with their daily lives and do not go away on their own. Some people may develop acute stress disorder in which they have extreme symptoms of stress that significantly interfere with daily life, school, work or social functioning in the month after a traumatic event. Others can develop , with symptoms that interfere with daily life and last for more than a month after the trauma.
Tip : Deal With Volatility And Anger
PTSD can lead to difficulties managing emotions and impulses. In your loved one, this may manifest as extreme irritability, moodiness, or explosions of rage.
People suffering from PTSD live in a constant state of physical and emotional stress. Since they usually have trouble sleeping, it means they’re constantly exhausted, on edge, and physically strung outincreasing the likelihood that they’ll overreact to day-to-day stressors.
For many people with PTSD, anger can also be a cover for other feelings such as grief, helplessness, or guilt. Anger makes them feel powerful, instead of weak and vulnerable. Others try to suppress their anger until it erupts when you least expect it.
Watch for signs that your loved one is angry, such as clenching jaw or fists, talking louder, or getting agitated. Take steps to defuse the situation as soon as you see the initial warning signs.
Try to remain calm. During an emotional outburst, try your best to stay calm. This will communicate to your loved one that you are safe, and prevent the situation from escalating.
Give the person space. Avoid crowding or grabbing the person. This can make a traumatized person feel threatened.
Ask how you can help. For example: What can I do to help you right now? You can also suggest a time out or change of scenery.
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Coping With Trauma Tip : Minimize Media Exposure
While some survivors or witnesses of a traumatic event can regain a sense of control by watching media coverage of the event or by observing the recovery effort, others find that the reminders are further traumatizing. Excessive exposure to images of a disturbing eventsuch as repeatedly viewing video clips on social media or news sitescan even create traumatic stress in people not directly affected by the event, or cause those who were to be retraumatized.
Limit your media exposure to the traumatic event. Don’t watch the news or check social media just before bed, and refrain from repeatedly viewing disturbing footage.
Try to avoid distressing images and video clips. If you want to stay up-to-date on events, read newspaper reports rather than watching television or viewing video clips of the event.
If coverage makes you feel overwhelmed, take a complete break from the news. Avoid TV and online news and stop checking social media for a few days or weeks, until your traumatic stress symptoms ease up and you’re able to move on.