Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Symptoms

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Symptoms appear later

The symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) usually do not occur immediately. As a rule, shock symptoms generally develop during the emergency situation experienced: People can not emotionally react to the events and are stunned. The affected persons report the feeling of “standing next to one another”. The situation then seems unreal to them. It is a protective mechanism of the body, which is used for survival. This reaction to massive stress is called an acute stress response.

As these symptoms evolve and manifest, experts refer to them as Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Symptoms often do not appear until months to years later. They can vary a lot, but they always have to be taken seriously. Since the symptoms are similar to those of other diseases (such as depression, borderline personality disorder), these should always be excluded, which is not always easy. An important differentiating criterion is that the symptoms of PTSD occur only after a trauma has been experienced.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Symptoms in Detail

The main symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are:

• The involuntary memory and reliving of the trauma (intrusions and flashbacks)
• Avoidance, repression and forgetting the happenings
• Nervousness, anxiety and irritability
• Flattening of feelings and interests

Involuntary reliving of the trauma (intrusions, flashbacks)

Those affected are spontaneously overwhelmed by emerging memories of the traumatic experience and can not arbitrarily control or suppress it. For some, only fragments of memory come up while others suffer from so-called flashbacks. Flashbacks describe the hallucinatory way back into the action. Those affected feel that they are reliving the situation mentally. Triggers are often so-called key stimuli, so if a war victim, for example, hears screams or a fire victim smells smoke. The recurrence of traumatic memories in the form of nightmares is also typical of the post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms on a physical level, such as shortness of breath, tremors, dizziness, palpitations and sweating may then set in.

Avoidance, repression and forgetting

For their own protection, many victims avoid those thoughts, situations, and activities that could awaken the memory of the event. For example, anyone who has witnessed a traffic accident avoids public transport and driving. Fire victims may avoid firing candles or fires. This avoidance is counterproductive for recovery in the long run. It increases anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms.

Nervousness, anxiety and irritability (hyperarousal)

Many trauma victims are very open-hearted and their nerves are blank. They are extremely vigilant (hypervigilant) because they subconsciously always risk themselves. The victims are very scared and anxious. In the long term, this condition is very stressful for the body, and it comes to concentration difficulties. The attention span is shortening with time more and more. Reading a book or watching a movie sometimes becomes impossible for the trauma victims.

This generalized tension leads to mild irritability and disproportionate outbursts of rage. Family members report a sudden change in the attitudes of previously well-balanced and relaxed people.

If this permanent tension persists even at night, it leads to falling asleep and staying asleep. In addition, some sufferers suffer from nightmares. A non-existent night’s sleep is very harmful in the long term. Those affected can not relax properly, and the body and mind do not have a chance to recover. Consequently, usually the load capacity in everyday life decreases. The persistent anxiety and tension can often be resolved a little with sports and exercise. The overcoming is very large for many patients.

Flattening of interests and feelings (Numbing)

The joie de vivre can be sustainably influenced by a post-traumatic stress disorder. Often the sufferers lose all interests and withdraw from social life. They lose the joy of life and no longer plan their future. Some are also no longer able to feel something. Emotions like joy, love or sadness can not be experienced properly anymore. It comes to a dulling of the feelings (Numbing = Numbing feeling). The trauma victims often feel alienated and have the feeling that the experience separates them from their fellow human beings and relatives. This change in emotional life often ends in depression.

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Symptoms

Some trauma victims also show a personality change as a result of the post-traumatic stress disorder. One then speaks of a complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Symptoms are more about behavior and personality:

• Change of emotion regulation (sexuality, anger, self-injurious behavior)
• Changes in attention and awareness
• Altered self-perception (feelings of guilt, shame, isolation, loss of self-esteem)
• Changes in relationships with others (trust problems)
• Somatization (pain without physical cause)
• Change of attitude towards life (helplessness, hopelessness, no joy in life)

Some symptoms in detail:

Change of emotion regulation and impulse control

Emotional regulation and impulse control are often disturbed in a complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Feelings like anger, anger and aggression can not be considered with the necessary distance. This leads to disproportionate emotional outbursts or there is a tremendous effort to hide this loss of control from the people around. Often, those affected “help” themselves with alcohol or drugs to calm themselves and try to tackle the complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

The complex post-traumatic stress disorder brings with it various changes in behavior. Self-injurious behavior, for example, often occurs in those affected. Excessive living or avoidance of sexual activity is also increasing.

Change of attention

In addition, a complex post-traumatic stress disorder often brings with it a change in attention. Patients fall into a so-called dissociative state. For a while, they no longer perceive the outside world correctly, “stand next to one another” and everything seems unreal to them.

somatization

Some sufferers who have a complex post-traumatic stress disorder tend to somatize. They suffer from physical symptoms for which no organic cause can be found.

Changes in relationships with others

The relationship perception also suffers from the complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Complex traumatized people often have difficulty getting involved in human proximity. Through the traumatizing experience, the trust is difficult and the contact with people is difficult to enter. Often complex traumatized people have no good sense of their own limits and occasionally exceed them.

Everyday coping and quality of life can be severely impaired by a (complex) Post-traumatic stress disorder. symptoms At first, those affected are often not associated with their traumatic experiences, which can make them difficult to identify.