ARE YOU OR A LOVED ONE STRUGGLING WITH PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a relic of an earlier time, a time in your life during which you needed to be alert, vigilant, and prepared for action. You might have been a soldier on patrol, the mother of a newborn child, or a graduate student finishing her dissertation. You made it through this difficult period that taxed you to the utmost, and things are better now, but you’re still exhibiting the same thoughts, feelings, and behaviors from your time of trauma. You might be frightened by loud sounds or lights, paranoid that people are going to hurt you, and unable to relax or sleep. You keep thinking about your previous traumas; you have flashbacks of war, fighting, a crying child, demanding bosses, or any stressor at all. You’re unable to function. The goods news is:

IT CAN BE TREATED!

Symptoms

• Hypervigilance

Since the trauma incident, you might be expecting danger to be lurking everywhere! Relaxation might now feel like an impossibility.

• Reliving

You might be feeling stuck in the moment of the

trauma, reexperiencing  fragments of the trauma incident. This can make you feel like the trauma’s happening all over again.

• Negative Belief/Thoughts of Self

The trauma incident might have affected your feelings and self beliefs negatively! You might be overwhelmed by shame and guilt as your belief in your ability to trust others and feel safe might be compromised.

• Avoidance

Avoiding people and places might be a way to cope with the effects of trauma, and you might find yourself isolated further from your loved ones and resources.

Screening

If you can answer YES to at least three of the following questions, please consider seeing professional help:

• Had nightmares at night and felt your mind hijacked by thoughts of your trauma during daytime? 

• Tried hard to avoid people and places that remind you of what happened?

• Been constantly on guard, hypervigilant, and easily started?

• Felt numb, detached, and isolated from your loved ones?

• Been overwhelmed by feelings of shame and guilt while being irritable towards others?

Treatment

The trauma memory and its implications for your thoughts, beliefs, and feelings are processed, and healing follows. If you are suffering from PTSD, your loved ones are in it with you as well! Treatment sets you and your loved ones free from the burden of PTSD. It’s never too late! Seek help today.