Trauma and PTSD

Have you experienced any of these, or any other traumatic events?

•Crime victimization such as rape, assault, robbery, attempted murder,
•Near-death experience,
•Combat,
•Car or other accidents,
•Surgery or other medical procedures
•Witnessing violence
•Death of a loved one
•Natural disasters

If so, have you had any of these or other symptoms since the trauma?

•Nightmares,
•Anxiety or fears and avoidance behavior,
•Panic attacks,
•Depression,
•Hopeless, helpless, even suicidal feelings
•Phobias
•Addictions
•Hoarding
•Exagerated startle response,
•Re-experiencing the trauma in flashback images,
•Physical pain
•Symptoms triggered by symbols of the trauma
•A sense of doom
•Feeling detached from emotions and/or people

If so, you may have PTSD.

People with PTSD are often tormented with flashbacks (visual, auditory, and/or emotional re-experience of the trauma as if it were happening now, rather than in the past), or they may expect the trauma to happen in the future. They can forget pieces of the experience, have trouble concentrating or relating to others, feel irritable, and angry at people close to them. They can feel the need to be watchful, and have trouble sleeping, and we can begin to believe that they are doomed .

Feeling unsafe is common, as are rational and irrational attempts to find safety. Intense emotional and physiological responses to reminders of the trauma are also common. People often feel guilty or responsible for the traumatic event in some way, and this can be devastating to emotional health and healthy functioning. People who have had previous traumas may find themselves reliving, at least emotionally, those traumas too. They are also much more likely to have lasting symptoms from a trauma.

Another way to look at symptoms of PTSD is in three main categories, including:

Re-living: People with PTSD repeatedly re-live the traumatic event in images and other vivid sensory memories of the trauma. These may include flashbacks, hallucinations, and nightmares. They also may feel great distress when certain things remind them of the trauma, such as the anniversary date of the event, or objects present at the scene. All of this may cause harm to their performance at work, and their relationships.

Avoiding: The person may withdraw, and avoid people, places, thoughts, or situations that may remind him or her of the trauma. They may even panic in social situations they cannot escape. This can lead to feelings of detachment and isolation from family and friends, as well as a loss of interest in activities that the person once enjoyed. They may abuse drugs or alcohol, or have other addictions that are meant to help them cope with all of this. They may think about or attempt suicide.

Increased arousal: These include excessive emotions; problems relating to others, including feeling or showing affection; difficulty falling or staying asleep; irritability; outbursts of anger; difficulty concentrating; and being "jumpy" or easily startled. The person may also suffer physical symptoms, such as increased blood pressure and heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, nausea, and diarrhea. They may be hiding these symptoms from other people, and they may feel all alone with them.

The fastest, easiest, least painful and most effective treatment for PTSD is EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. EMDR does not involve medications.

What causes PTSD?

The medical understanding of trauma is any event that causes such overwhelming feelings, usually including fear, that our emotional system cannot handle them all at once. This causes our brain to go into crisis-mode, and parts of our brain shut down. We are primed to run away, fight, freeze (be invisible to predators who can only see movement) or collapse (appear dead to predators, who are uninterested in meat that is already dead before they kill it). These are the four natural responses animals have to threat, in an attempt to survive. For animals, after the crisis is over, there is a period of physical energy release--shaking, running, shivering, vocalizing, etc, and this seems to prevent any long term psychological effects. Very often, this process in humans, which would look like sobbing, shaking, fist pounding, screaming, processing in dreams with eye movements, etc doesn't happen, and we often do end up with long term psychological effects.

Generally, the first reaction to trauma is shock, numbness, disbelief. When our emotional systems get overloaded, we shut down regular operation to protect ourselves from the overload. While the numbness and disbelief may come and go and come again, feelings of anger, sadness, and fear erupt through it for various periods of time. This may last only for hours or days, if the traumatized person feels safe to express all the feelings to an empathic listener. When there is pressure or danger that dictates the person who experienced or witnessed the traumatic event cannot express the feelings involved, the symptoms of unresolved trauma can last up to a lifetime, without treatment.

There is also another kind of trauma, which not one dramatic event, but repeated emotionally hurtful experiences. For example, if a Nun in a school hit a child hard with a ruler across their knuckles so many times the adult years later doesn't even remember specific incidents, this is also trauma. Or if a parent gives a child a contemptuous look so often that it is part of how the child thinks about the father--as the one who shames her/him, that is trauma, and so forth.

What can I do about PTSD?

The most important things to do on your own to heal trauma are to talk with trusted people about your thoughts and feelings about what happened, and also express them physically--in crying, sobbing, punching/hitting something safe, playing sports while thinking about the trauma, etc. Also art, and writing, as well as other creative outlets can be healing.

People find it helpful to call on whatever spirituality they have. Even without any belief in God, focusing on what is still good, what is still safe, what is meaningful, what good may even come of tragedy, how we are strong, and where there is love can help enormously. Love is an antidote to fear, so going toward love and whatever is meaningful can help.

Anyone who feels suicidal or homicidal, very depressed or very anxious, is unable to function (sleep, eat, work, relate, love, make love, etc.) normally, or unable to feel anything, finds themselves addicted to anything or abusing alcohol, street drugs, or prescription drugs, is experiencing intrusive horrific images, or frequent nightmares should seek professional help.

What is EMDR?

EMDR is a revolutionary treatment which has been used, developed and researched for 20 years now. It offers a much faster and more humane way to resolve trama permanently, relieving symptoms left by the trauma. If you don't have a traumatic history prior to having had a single or a couple of traumas, and you're having PTSD symptoms, EMDR is almost certain to relieve you permanently of these aftereffects of the trauma. Any good treatment includes forming a trusting relationship with a therapist so that your feelings and thoughts associated with the trauma can be expressed, grieved, and healed. However, EMDR speeds up this healing process tremendously. if you've been traumatized, you owe it to yourself and those who love you to get good EMDR treatment. (If you're interested to know more about EMDR and trauma, please see my EMDR page, and my book recommendations page).

Here are some resources and links about PTSD and EMDR:

* Special Assignment video on EMDR and PTSD on YouTube - catch a glimpse of EMDR at work

* See a brain scan of PTSD before and after EMDR at http://www.sandiegoemdr.com/

* Brené Brown, PhD shares the effects of shame associated with PTSD.

Shame and PTSD Part 1

and PTSD Part 1 Shsham

Shame and PTSD Part 2

* Research on efficacy and frequent questions about EMDR: www.emdr.com

For 25 years, compassionately helping women heal from depression, and it's
destructive criticism, losses and traumas, while building self-acceptance and confidence.