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Mental Health - Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Minding your Mental Health Healthy Living

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects people who have survived any type of trauma, such as that which occurs with:

Posttraumatic stress disorder is sometimes called "shell shock" or "battle fatigue" because soldiers who were involved in heavy combat are likely victims of this condition. It affects 35% of trauma victims and women are two times more likely to suffer from it than men.

Symptoms

The symptoms of PTSD surface after the event has ended, sometimes as long as several years later. A person suffering from PTSD often experiences the following:

Treatment

Posttraumatic stress disorder, in most cases, should be treated by a mental health professional, i.e., a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker or counselor. Treatment can usually be done on an outpatient basis. However, if you have become a threat to yourself or others, you may need to be hospitalized for treatment. Treatment will help you:

Types of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Therapies

Questions to Ask

Have you been exposed to a traumatic event and were both of the following present?

  • The event(s) involved actual or threatened death or serious harm to someone. This could have been personally experienced or just witnessed.
  • Your response included intense fear, helplessness, or horror.
 Yes: See Physician or See Counselor

No

  

Do you keep on re-experiencing the traumatic event in one or more of the following ways?

  • Images or thoughts of the event recur and cause you distress.
  • Repeated dreams of the event cause you distress.
  • Flashbacks, illusions, or acting out the event occurs as if it were happening again.
  • Intense emotional distress occurs when you see or think of things that resemble any part of the traumatic event.
  • Physical symptoms, such as headaches, stomachaches, etc. occur when you see, hear, or think of things that resemble any part of the traumatic event.
 Yes: See Physician or See Counselor

No

  

Do you avoid anything that reminds you of the traumatic event and feel a "numbness" to daily life events as indicated by three or more of the following?

  • Avoid thinking or talking about the trauma and/or disregard your feelings about it
  • Avoid activities, places or people that remind you of the trauma
  • Can't remember an important aspect of the trauma
  • Have a noticeable lack of interest or participation in activities that are meaningful
  • Feel detached from others
  • Unable to have loving feelings
  • Don't expect to have much of a future or a normal life span
 Yes: See Physician or See Counselor

No

  

Are you more "jumpy" now compared to before the traumatic event as indicated by two or more of the following?

  • A hard time falling or staying asleep
  • Outbursts of anger or irritability
  • A hard time concentrating
  • Always on the look-out to protect yourself from being harmed
  • Exaggerated startle response
 Yes: See Physician or See Counselor

No

  

If you have answered NO to all of the questions, you probably do not have posttraumatic stress disorder. If you are not sure, though, see a counselor for a professional assessment.

  


This page last updated on February 25th, 2009.
Content last reviewed on February 24th, 2009.