What are Common Symptoms of PTSD?

After a traumatic event, some individuals find that they experience numerous symptoms that impact their daily activities. The person may find that they have difficulty sleeping, memory issues, or experience ongoing anxiety. These symptoms can happen in patients of all ages that have experienced trauma and are not limited to a single gender. An individual also does not have to have experienced combat to be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Instead, they must have experienced a traumatic event and still be struggling with the after effects of said event.

There are several symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, and a person may experience all of them, some of them, or different symptoms on different days. Some common symptoms include: 

Intrusive Distressing Memories 

 A person who experiences this symptom may find that as they're going about their daily activities, they remember the traumatic event. This can occur all in part, and it may be triggered by a sound, scent, texture, specific words, or nothing that the individual can determine. These memories are sometimes called "flashbacks." These individuals may also experience nightmares or distressing dreams, which can make it difficult to get the sleep that they need. 

Emotional Numbness 

Individuals who are diagnosed with PTSD may have difficulty expressing emotion or feeling emotion at all. They may feel numb or detached from their feelings as if they cannot match up the way they "should" feel in a situation with their internal dialogue. They may find that they have no emotion at all in many situations or that they struggle to feel the appropriate emotion for the given situation. 

Avoiding Specific Locations

People diagnosed with PTSD may find that they need to stay away from certain types of locations that remind them of the traumatic event so that they can avoid breaking down or experiencing intrusive thoughts. These locations could be similar to the place where the event happened, or they may have similar characteristics, sights, or smells. 

Hypervigilance 

For a person with PTSD to feel safe, they often must complete a specific series of tasks so that they know their environment is secure enough. They may be extremely concerned with their own safety and the safety of their friends or members of their family. Often trauma survivors use a degree of magical thinking, believing that if they can prepare enough and control their environment well enough, they can avoid future traumas. 

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a very complicated mental health condition that can be treated with a combination of medication and therapy. In many cases, individuals that suffer from these symptoms can experience a dramatic reduction in symptoms with treatment. Contact a mental health specialist today to find out more about treatment and to schedule an initial evaluation.