Have you ever wondered what PTSD is? Or wondered what trauma is? Trauma can be complex for many individuals as it can trigger unpleasant feelings and memories.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a severe accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, or rape or who have been threatened with death, sexual violence or severe injury (APA, 2020). According to the PTSD: National Center for PTSD, about 6 of every 10 men (or 60% and 5 of every 10 women (or 50%) experience at least one trauma in their lives. Women are more likely to experience sexual assault and child sexual abuse, and men are more likely to experience accidents, physical assault, combat, disaster, or witness death or injury. (National Center for PTSD)
Individuals can develop post-traumatic stress disorder when they go through, witness, or learn about an event that involved actual/threatened death, a severe injury, or sexual abuse. Doctors aren’t sure why people get PTSD, however with most mental health problems, a complex mix of causes PTSD:
Stressful experience, including the amount and severity of trauma you’ve gone through in your life
Inherited mental health risks, such as family history and depression
Inherited features of your personality
The way your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases in response to stress.
The symptoms that can develop for PTSD are:
1. Intrusion:
Intrusive thoughts such as repeated, involuntary memories, distressing dreams, or flashbacks of the traumatic event.
2. Avoidance:
Avoiding reminders of the traumatic event, such as avoiding people, places, activities, objects, and situations that may trigger distressing memories.
3. Alterations in cognition and mood:
Inability to remember aspects of the traumatic event, negative thoughts, and feelings leading to ongoing and distorted beliefs about oneself or others.
4. Alterations in arousal and reactivity:
Arousal and reactive symptoms may include being irritable and having angry outbursts; reckless behavior or self-destructive behavior; being overly watchful of one’s surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled; or having difficulties concentrating or sleeping.
If you have disturbed thoughts and feelings about a traumatic event for more than a month or notice having trouble getting your life back under control, reach out to a mental health professional to recover from psychological distress. At Wellness Tree Counseling LCSW PLLC we offer specialized treatment to aid in trauma recovery including Prolonged Exposure Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.
About Wellness Tree Counseling...
Our mission at Wellness Tree Counseling is to promote wellness through a culturally sensitive lens so that individuals, families and communities are encouraged to rise to their full potential and engage life in meaningful ways.
Our vision is to provide the BIPOC community with comprehensive holistic care that empowers and equips them with skills to work toward improved mental health and well-being. We take great pride in treating the whole-person.
At Wellness Tree Counseling, we value treating our clients and community with C.A.R.E. (Compassion, Affirming, Respect, & Empathy).
To learn more about our services, please visit www.wellnesstreecounseling.com
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