What is post traumatic stress syndrome?
Post traumatic stress, usually abbreviated as PTSD, is a real anxiety disorder; it is a mental medical condition. It happens when you go through a very dangerous, fearful, or traumatic event. For example, you injured yourself after a fire or you became a victim of a crime.
It’s also possible to develop PTSD even if you’re not the one who’s directly affected. You may have seen on television a gruesome civil war fight in Sudan, and you started thinking it could happen in your own homeland.
Those who suffered from depression or have family members who were diagnosed with anxiety disorders are more prone to develop PTSD.
What are the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder?
Diagnosing post traumatic stress can sometimes be challenging, as the lack of negative response to the traumatic event may already be a sign or symptom. It could be your way of building a “fortress” that separates you from the source of your trauma. The problem with this is sooner or later this wall can be taken down, and you can suffer from a nervous breakdown.
Moreover, PTSD doesn’t happen immediately at all times. Sometimes it will take months or even years before symptoms are noticeable.
Nevertheless, be alert of the following. These are the typical symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder:
• Flashbacks
• Change of sleeping patterns and recurring nightmares
• Memory loss (the traumatic events are repressed)
• Sudden changes of your mood
• Irritability and intense sudden anger
• Indifference or numbness
• Withdrawal from society
• Presence of guilty or hopeless feeling
• Anxiety and panic
• Self-destruction
• Hallucinations or delusions
How do you deal with traumatic stress disorder?
Treating or managing PTSD doesn’t happen overnight. It may take weeks or even years. But surely as long as you stick with a good plan, you can get over it.
Doctors would normally recommend medications to help manage the symptoms. These drugs include antidepressants for your anxiety or sleeping pills.
It’s not a good idea, though, to be fully dependent on them because of substance abuse. It’s best to combine them with natural methods.
For one, you can undergo exposure therapy. You are exposed to the causes of your PTSD slowly but regularly. The purpose is to allow you to confront and deal with the triggers without getting upset or disturbed.
Another is the cognitive behavior approach. The goal is to change your negative thoughts into positive ones. It’s very common among counsellors or psychologists to utilize subliminal messages.
Subliminal messages are positive statements. They are repeated over and over to allow them to penetrate into your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind doesn’t have the capability to filter out information, so it is more receptive to subliminal messages.
As they go deeper into your subconscious, they will start to work like your new belief system. You will begin to fill your mind with more positive thoughts and images.
