Emotional Symptoms Of Ptsd
The emotional symptoms of PTSD are depression, worry, intense guilt and feeling emotionally numb. Another symptom is anhedonia, which is characterized by a loss of interest in formerly enjoyable activities. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states that anhedonia plays a part in predicting psychiatric comorbidity, or the presence of more than one psychiatric disorder.
Is Complex Ptsd A Separate Condition
ICD-11 complex PTSD as a separate condition, though the DSM-5 currently does not. Some mental health professionals are beginning to distinguish between the two conditions, despite the lack of guidance from the DSM-5.
Research has also supported the validity of a separate diagnosis of complex PTSD. At least 29 studies from more than 15 countries have consistently shown the differences in symptoms between traditional PTSD and its complex variation.
One 2016 study that included more than 1,700 participating mental health professionals from 76 countries showed that clinicians could differentiate between the two diagnoses.
A person with complex PTSD may experience symptoms in addition to those that characterize PTSD.
Common symptoms of PTSD and complex PTSD include:
- avoiding situations that remind a person of the trauma
- dizziness or nausea when remembering the trauma
- hyperarousal, which means being in a continual state of high alert
- the belief that the world is a dangerous place
- a loss of trust in the self or others
- report complete amnesia of the trauma.
- Preoccupation with an abuser: It is not uncommon to fixate on the abuser, the relationship with the abuser, or getting revenge for the abuse.
Symptoms of complex PTSD can vary, and they may change over time. People with the condition may also experience symptoms other than the above.
Impact On Marginalized Communities
The number and type of ACEs a person experiences can depend on the persons culture, race, ethnicity, religion, and other identifying factors. Social inequities in the U.S. mean that people from historically marginalized groups can experience more ACEs.
Research shows that 61% of Black non-Hispanic children and 51% of Hispanic children in the U.S. have experienced at least one ACE, compared with 40% of white non-Hispanic children and 23% of Asian non-Hispanic children.
In most regions of the U.S., the prevalence of ACEs is highest among Black non-Hispanic children. Overall, the lifetime prevalence rate of PTSD among Black people is than that of other groups.
Social inequities and inconsistent access to health insurance and treatment also mean that people from marginalized groups
ICD-11 states that a clinician must determine that a person meets all the criteria for traditional PTSD before diagnosing complex PTSD.
In addition, the person must show problems with self-regulation, low self-esteem, a sense of shame or guilt related to past trauma, and problems maintaining relationships with others.
Before the WHO updated its diagnostic criteria to include complex PTSD, clinicians may have chosen to diagnose a person with an enduring personality change after a catastrophic experience or with disorders of extreme stress not otherwise specified. The intention is for the new diagnosis of complex PTSD to replace these old diagnoses.
Options for treatment include:
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Find Premier Ptsd Treatment At The Raleigh House
At The Raleigh House, you never have to manage your PTSD alone. Our mental health and addiction treatment center takes an east to west approach to PTSD recovery, where youll participate in both evidence-based treatments and experiential activities.
Youll experience individual and group therapy sessions where youll work through your trauma in a safe space. Youll also have access to mind-calming activities like equine therapy, yoga and meditation.
Are you ready to heal from your PTSD and regain a life of purpose and fulfillment? Contact our admissions team today to learn more about our approach to PTSD treatment.
What To Do If You Or A Family Member Receives A Ptsd Diagnosis
If your family member or loved one receives a diagnosis, what do you do? Emrani says that if someone close to you has the disorder, do your best to educate yourself about what your loved one is going through. Accompanying this person to appointments could help them feel more comfortable seeking out medical attention.
The National Center for PTSD has a few other suggestions on how to help a loved one deal with PTSD symptoms:
- Plan activities. Make an effort to engage your loved one in fun activities that could distract from concerns over the trauma. For example, go on a picnic or a relaxing day trip together.
- Get up, out, and moving. The center recommends going for a bike ride or a hike.
- Build a support system. Ritchie says that often people with PTSD can feel isolated in their diagnosis. The National Center for PTSD recommends that people engage with their families and surround themselves with an encouraging support system to fend off this sense of isolation.
Emrani stresses that if you are experiencing thoughts of suicide or severe depression, seek out medical attention. Given that many people with PTSD feel a sense of shame over their condition, she urges avoiding drawing inward and instead approaching your doctor or therapist if your symptoms keep persisting with or without treatment.
If you have suicidal thoughts, contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by texting or calling 988.
Additional reporting contributed by Lynn Marks
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You Are Unable To Relax
Due to all the prolonged trauma, anxiety, and stress, you can never seem to relax. You always feel stressed or tense. You dont trust people enough to let them get intimate or close with you. Although you may realize that you desperately need to relax, practicing relaxation techniques like meditation and yoga seem revolting and sickening.
As our gut health and mental health are interconnected, you may also experience frequent stomach problems due to high levels of anxiety.
You Lack Emotional Regulation
Due to your condition, you are unable to manage your emotions leading to uncontrollable feelings. Your constant inability to regulate emotions makes you more vulnerable to negative emotions like anger, fear, persistent sadness, and depression. This may also result in disruptive behaviors and make you respond inappropriately in a given situation.
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A Definition Of Cptsd
Before we discuss the first six symptoms on our list, it is important to, once more, define complex traumatic-stress disorder.
For a good definition of CPTSD, we turned to Beauty After Bruises, an organization that offers outreach focused on adult survivors of childhood trauma who have complex PTSD with or without the presence of a dissociative disorder. Their definition of complex post-traumatic stress disorder as follows:
Complex PTSD comes in response to chronic traumatization over the course of months or, more often, years. This can include emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuses, domestic violence, living in a war zone, being held captive, human trafficking, and other organized rings of abuse, and more. While there are exceptional circumstances where adults develop C-PTSD, it is most often seen in those whose trauma occurred in childhood. For those who are older, being at the complete control of another person , coupled with no foreseeable end in sight, can break down the psyche, the survivors sense of self, and affect them on this deeper level. For those who go through this as children, because the brain is still developing and theyre just beginning to learn who they are as an individual, understand the world around them, and build their first relationships severe trauma interrupts the entire course of their psychologic and neurologic development.
That long definition gives an insight into the hell that is complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
Arousal And Reactivity Symptoms Include:
- Being easily startled
- Feeling tense or on edge
- Having difficulty sleeping
- Having angry outbursts
Arousal symptoms are usually constant, instead of being triggered by things that remind one of the traumatic events. These symptoms can make the person feel stressed and angry. They may make it hard to do daily tasks, such as sleeping, eating, or concentrating.
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Beyond Treatment: How Can I Help Myself
It may be very hard to take that first step to help yourself. It is important to realize that although it may take some time, with treatment, you can get better. If you are unsure where to go for help, ask your family doctor. You can also check NIMH’s Help for Mental Illnesses page or search online for mental health providers, social services, hotlines, or physicians for phone numbers and addresses. An emergency room doctor can also provide temporary help and can tell you where and how to get further help.
To help yourself while in treatment:
- Talk with your doctor about treatment options
- Engage in mild physical activity or exercise to help reduce stress
- Set realistic goals for yourself
- Break up large tasks into small ones, set some priorities, and do what you can as you can
- Try to spend time with other people, and confide in a trusted friend or relative. Tell others about things that may trigger symptoms.
- Expect your symptoms to improve gradually, not immediately
- Identify and seek out comforting situations, places, and people
Caring for yourself and others is especially important when large numbers of people are exposed to traumatic events .
Triggers Of Complex Ptsd
People who have PTSD or complex PTSD can react to different life situations as if they are reliving their trauma.
The particular situation that triggers a person can be random and varies depending on their specific trauma history. A person can be triggered by situations, images, smells, conversations with others, and more.
This triggering can manifest as a fight-or-flight response triggered by the amygdala, responsible for processing emotions in the brain.
When this happens, a persons brain can perceive that they are in danger, even if they are not. This is known as an amygdala hijack and can also result in things like flashbacks, nightmares, or being easily startled.
People with PTSD or complex PTSD may exhibit certain behaviors in an attempt to manage their symptoms.
Examples of such behaviors include:
- misusing alcohol or drugs
- avoiding unpleasant situations by becoming people-pleasers
- lashing out at minor criticisms
These behaviors can develop as a way to deal with or try to forget about the original trauma and the resulting symptoms in the present.
Friends and family of people with complex PTSD should be aware that these behaviors may represent coping mechanisms and attempts to gain control over emotions.
To recover from PTSD or complex PTSD, a person can seek treatment and learn to replace these behaviors with ones focused on healing and self-care.
Often, people with complex PTSD have experienced prolonged trauma such as ongoing physical, emotional, or sexual abuse.
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Concerned You Or A Loved One Has Ptsd When To See A Doctor
Emrani says that some people might show symptoms much longer than three to six months after going through trauma. She says that triggers could pop up at surprising moments. Someone who hasnt been showing signs following the traumatic event could watch a movie that reminds them of their car accident and then be triggered.
Sometimes, symptoms could disappear and appear again with no real warning. Basically, if this keeps persisting chronically, you need to seek medical attention and be evaluated, she says.
Ritchie says many people feel comfortable bringing up concerns about possible symptoms with their primary care doctor, who will then refer them to a psychiatrist or psychologist to carry out the psychological testing.
What Should I Know About Participating In Clinical Research
Clinical trials are research studies that look at new ways to prevent, detect, or treat diseases and conditions. Although individuals may benefit from being part of a clinical trial, participants should be aware that the primary purpose of a clinical trial is to gain new scientific knowledge so that others may be better helped in the future.
Researchers at NIMH and around the country conduct many studies with patients and healthy volunteers. Talk to your health care provider about clinical trials, their benefits and risks, and whether one is right for you. For more information, visit NIMH’s clinical trials webpage.
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A Closer Look At The Symptoms Of Complex Post
by Shirley Davis | Sep 30, 2019 | CPTSD, CPTSD Research, Symptoms of CPTSD, What is CPTSD |
There can be no doubt that the symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder are life-altering and debilitating. In this article, we begin a series outlining the symptoms of CPTSD a few at a time to help bring understanding that the world is correct, complex post-traumatic stress disorder is important and should be included in the DSMs next iteration so that providers of mental health services can better diagnose and treat it.
Today we are going to examine together the first six on the list of the most common symptoms listed above and conquer the rest in subsequent articles.
Finding A Therapist For Ptsd
When looking for a therapist, seek out mental health professionals who specialize in the treatment of trauma and PTSD. You can ask your doctor or other trauma survivors for a referral, call a local mental health clinic, psychiatric hospital, or counseling center.
Beyond credentials and experience, its important to find a PTSD therapist who makes you feel comfortable and safe. Trust your gut if a therapist doesnt feel right, look for someone else. For therapy to work, you need to feel comfortable and understood.
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Support Is Important For Recovery
Many people experience some of the symptoms of PTSD in the first two weeks after a traumatic event, but most recover with the help of family and friends. For this reason, for a diagnosis of PTSD is not made until a month after the event. Treatment does not usually start for at least two or more weeks after a traumatic experience. However if the event is very distressing and emotions and reactions are intense, it is advisable to seek help as early as possible to understand what is happening and help recovery to start.
It is important during the first few days and weeks after a traumatic event to get whatever help is needed. This may include accessing information, people and resources that can help you to recover. Support from family and friends may be all that is needed. Otherwise, a doctor is the best place to start to get further help.
Depression At A Glance
More than 17 million adults in the United States suffer from depression, a disorder in which your brain has trouble with mood regulation, leaving you in a seemingly inescapable and dark place.
The exact cause of depression still isnt understood, but researchers agree that the malfunction of mood regulation can be influenced by genetics, environment, trauma, and illness.
Since we dont know the exact cause-and-effect mechanism, theres no single diagnostic test that can confirm or rule out depression, which leaves us to diagnose the problem based mostly upon symptoms.
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There Is A Silver Lining To These Cloudy Symptoms
While complex post-traumatic stress disorder is curable per se, it is highly treatable. With the right care from a qualified therapist, CPTSD need not be a life-long, incapacitating disorder. There is a multitude of treatments available and once one has admitted they have a mental health condition and recognize its causes, healing can and will begin.
It is also important to remember that you are not alone. It is believed that 7-8% of Americans experience CPTSD. There are approximately 327 million people in the United States so that means approximately 23-26 million people experience the symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
If you or someone you know is experiencing any of these symptoms, please, seek out the help of a qualified mental health professional. The moment you pick up the phone to make your first appointment your healing journey will begin. It may be a long, dark, and difficult road but along the journey you will find not only the end of the symptoms that plague you but yourself as well.
When youre telling a story, the best stories, every character has an arc. Every single one. And that arc is usually about finding yourself or about at least finding something about yourself that you didnt know. ~ Roy Conli
Reference
Free Brochures And Shareable Resources
- Helping Children and Adolescents Cope With Traumatic Events: This fact sheet presents information on how children and adolescents respond to traumatic events, and what family, friends, and trusted adults can do to help. Also available en español.
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: This brochure provides information about post-traumatic stress disorder including what it is, who develops PTSD, symptoms, treatment options, and how to find help for yourself or someone else who may have PTSD. Also available en español.
- : Help support PTSD awareness and education in your community. Use these digital resources, including graphics and messages, to spread the word about PTSD.
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What To Do About Signs Of Trauma
Even though these signs of trauma are less obvious, that doesnt mean they are any less impactful. When you struggle with trauma symptoms, they can markedly affect the quality of your life. Untreated, unresolved trauma symptoms can lead to other problems. But you dont have to suffer, the past no longer has to cause distress or fear.
The answer for addressing these issues is often trauma therapy. Using therapeutic techniques such as neurofeedback or EMDR, you can get to the root cause of the trauma and move forward. Lets resolve trauma symptoms and finally recover from your worst experiences together. Contact me today to learn more about how trauma therapy can provide relief.