Have you heard of a term called PTSD, or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and wondered what it meant ? I heard of the term sometime after the second Gulf war, about US soldiers getting addicted to drugs and alcohol due to PTSD as a result of actions they performed or events they witnessed during the war in which they served as soldiers. There was a scene including one such soldier in the movie ‘Jack Reacher’ starring Tom Cruise as well. The impact on the lives of the sufferers is massive. Let us explore how PTSD or Post-traumatic stress disorder affects the lives of the affected people.
What is Post-traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD)
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) is a psychological condition that develops in some people after experiencing an extremely stressful or traumatic event, which might be life-threatening or threatening to their physical or spiritual good health. PTSD can affect a person of any age.
When a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event like a natural disaster like an earthquake or a flood and the destruction it wreaks on houses and people, a stampede in a crowd that leads to the deaths of many people, or a bomb blast or other such violent event that causes death and severe injury to many people, it’s natural to feel emotions like anger, sadness, panic and have difficulty in concentrating and experience sleeplessness. A person can be said to be suffering from PTSD if those feelings or symptoms last for an extended period after the event and start affecting their normal lives and relationships with people. Symptoms of PTSD usually start within 3 months of the traumatic event, however, they can begin after several years as well.
PTSD has been known by different names in the past, like “shell shock” during World War I and “combat fatigue” during World War II. Though the PTSD terminology has been discovered from war veterans or soldiers, it can occur in all people, of any ethnicity, race or culture. PTSD affects approximately 3.5% of adults in the U.S. every year. PTSD is twice as likely to occur among women than men.
Worldwide, PTSD occurs among an estimated 3.9% to 24% of the population. Not much research has been conducted to study prevalence of PTSD in India. A study done from the National Mental Health Survey 2015-2016 revealed a low prevalence of PTSD at 0.2% in India. This is likely because the western models to diagnose PTSD do not work well in the different culture of India and also there could have been significant under reporting due to the stigma attached to mental health issues in India.
Four of the main ways PTSD can affect daily life are:
Intrusive thoughts: A very common occurrence in PTSD is reliving the trauma or stressful event through intrusive thoughts, which can be through flashbacks, nightmares and other ways. It is difficult to know when these thoughts and dreams will occur, and so it interferes with your ability to lead a normal life.
When you experience these intrusive thoughts, it leaves you in a state of distress and panic, often for a long time, and this impacts your ability to go back to the task you were performing.
2. Trying to avoid triggers: People experiencing PTSD often try to avoid people or situations that remind them of the traumatic event. In doing this, they often end up isolating themselves from society and increasing their fear of the situations. Unfortunately, this can leave them without the emotional support from family and friends.
3. Experiencing mood fluctuations and impact on cognitive function: People with PTSD can experience decline in cognitive function like memory, concentration and ability to focus. They can also experience emotions like guilt, shame and fear towards themselves or others. Both the symptoms can affect the ability to perform usual everyday tasks and jobs as well as affect their relationships with others.
4. Arousal and reactivity: These symptoms can include having trouble sleeping or concentrating, being irritable and having angry outbursts, getting startled easily, to behave in a reckless or self-destructive way or being overly suspicious of your surroundings.
The Integrative life centre mentions a fifth type of symptoms:
5. Dissociative symptoms: Dissociative symptoms include feeling as though you are a different person, having out of body experiences, not remembering how you got somewhere, feeling like time is moving slowly, and experiencing dream like states when awake.
PTSD symptoms in children
Children and teenagers may suffer from PTSD but their symptoms may differ from adults. In younger children the symptoms can include bed wetting, losing the ability to talk, acting out the scary event while playing or being unusually clingy with parent or other adult. Older children usually show symptoms like those of adults, may also behave in disruptive, destructive or disrespectful ways. Older children may even have feelings of guilt or harbour thoughts of extracting revenge.
Developing harmful addictions due to PTSD
People suffering from PTSD often take to consuming alcohol or drugs to cope with the stress and pain of having to relive the traumatic event. But abusing alcohol and drugs can often make the situation worse. Alcohol and drug abuse are both evils affecting life an also affect the live of those suffering from PTSD.
How to treat PTSD
The main treatment for PTSD is Psychotherapy or talk therapy. Here a professional therapist like a psychologist or a psychotherapist uses a variety of treatment techniques to help people identify and change emotions, thoughts and behaviours that are troubling. The treatment can provide support, education and guidance to people with PTSD and their families.
Conclusion
PTSD or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a psychological condition that can develop in some people after experiencing a traumatic event like a natural disaster or war that can be life threatening or injurious to their spiritual or mental well being. The ways in which PTSD can affect daily life are through intrusive thoughts, people trying to avoid triggers, mood fluctuations and cognitive function effects, arousal and reactivity and dissociative symptoms. The most common treatment for PTSD is through psychotherapy or talk therapy. PTSD can affect both adults and children. The symptoms in children differ from the symptoms in adults. If you or anybody you know experiences any of these symptoms, please consult a doctor or encourage them to consult a doctor so that the condition can be treated.