What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Causes, Symptoms:

We call psychological trauma the effects caused by unusual and unexpected events that make the person extremely frightened, terrified, and helpless. Many events occur in human life that cause distress and sadness, but not all of them create psychological trauma. Olay if it created a feeling of fear, horror or helplessness, in the eventIf there is a danger of death or injury to the person or someone close to him/herit is called psychological trauma.

So, what can be done in this process, how can we help ourselves, what paths should we follow to understand what we feel and what we are going through and to support ourselves correctly..; I will talk about these issues in our article.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Causes, Symptoms and Treatments

Psychological Trauma; It is the situation where a person comes face to face with his/her powerlessness.

Causes of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:

The exact cause of PTSD is not fully understood, but exposure to a traumatic event is the most important risk factor. A traumatic event is any event that threatens a person's safety, physically or emotionally, or can cause serious harm. A variety of events can lead to PTSD, including war, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, mass violence, sexual assault, and physical assault. Most people who experience or are affected by such traumatic eventstemporarily adapt to the circumstances and their environment. is the difficulty

They are events that frighten the person excessively, leave him in terror, create despair, and often occur in an unusual and unexpected manner. If these events lead to death or injury to the person or someone close to him, feelings of fear, horror and helplessness may arise.

According to this definition, while the death of an elderly relative after years of illness is less likely to cause psychological trauma, it is more likely for a person to lose a relative unexpectedly, for example in a traffic accident. It has a traumatic effect.

It has been observed that the two most common diseases after psychological traumas are depression and post-traumatic stress disease.

Let's clarify these feelings with a few examples:

1- What is Depression?

One of the common disorders after psychological trauma is depression. The most common symptoms of depression are reluctance, weakness, low mood, sleep and appetite disorders, and inability to enjoy life. Depression may occur for the first time after psychological trauma, or it may occur as a recurrence of depression in people who have previously experienced depression.

2: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder:

Let's take a look at what we can experience after post-traumatic stress disorder:

• insomnia,

• nightmares,

• Disturbing frequent recall of memories about the event,

• Constant fear that the event will happen again and therefore feeling on edge,

• easily startled,

• get angry easily,

• Inability to plan for the future,

• Alienation (feeling that others do not understand me or what I am going through),

• Restlessness and avoidance of situations that remind one of the event occur

These symptoms appear in most people in the days following the trauma and usually resolve on their own within a few weeks, but in some people they can last for months or even years. Symptoms can sometimes begin months after the traumatic event has occurred

Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disease:

Reliving (remembering):

• It is common for a person who has experienced trauma to have memories of the event after the event. Images related to the event (for example, images of dead bodies) and sounds (cries of people asking for help) may come to the person's mind even when he does not want to think about them or there is no situation that can bring him to mind.

• Revival of memories usually makes the person very uncomfortable.

• It brings with it physical symptoms; It causes symptoms of anxiety such as internal distress, palpitations, sweating, tremors, and shortness of breath. Sometimes it feels like the person is actually experiencing the event.

Avoidance:

• The person tries to stay away from places, situations, conversations, and even emotions and thoughts that remind him of the event as much as possible.

• Since remembering the event causes great distress, pain and fear, the person does not go to places that remind him of the event, does not talk about these topics, or stays away from places where they are talked about.

• People who have experienced trauma may sometimes forget the details of the event. Often the most distressing parts of the event are forgotten or remembered with great difficulty. This situation is different from “not wanting to think about the event'' and the person cannot remember it even though he wants to remember it.

• After psychological traumas, it is common to think "No one can understand what I went through".

Overstimulation:

• People affected by psychological trauma may feel on edge and constantly on guard.

• It may seem like that event will happen again at any moment. They may take exaggerated precautions regarding dangers.

• Unexpected situations such as a door slamming, talking loudly, or someone suddenly entering the room can cause the person to jump, experience palpitations, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, and symptoms that can last for a long time are overstimulation.

PTSD Treatment Process

Treatment Process:

The first step should be psychiatry and the second step should be psychotherapy. These experiences should be studied during drug treatment with a psychiatrist and psychotherapy with a psychologist.

Obstructions in the treatment process:

• Do not hesitate to seek help,

• despair,

• avoiding remembering the event

• Losing trust in people.. are also the main symptoms of the disease.

Realizing these problems and seeking help will make it easier to solve the problems.

Psychiatry treatment:In the treatment of TSSH, antidepressant medications are useful in relieving many disease symptoms. Antidepressants should be used in the treatment of PTSD, especially when it is seen together with depression.

Psychotherapy:

Psychological treatments are administered by psychiatrists and clinical psychologists who have training and experience in this field.

The therapy adventure begins with the individual explaining what brought him to therapy, how he experienced it and what he felt, either in the therapist's clinic or online. In other words, therapy is the process of seeing the same event differently over time.

With love and respect..