PTSD stands for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It’s a psychological condition that results from a traumatic event. The nature of this traumatic event can be anything from bereavement to witnessing an accident. Many soldiers who return from theatres of war suffer from the condition.
PTSD expresses itself in a range of symptoms. The actual symptoms experienced are very subjective. However, it is possible to self-diagnose, to some extent. If you satisfy most of the following criteria then you should go to your GP, for further advice about post traumatic stress disorder.
Do you feel apathetic towards life, e.g. have your emotions been dulled? Many people with PDST feel like they are just drifting through life without any real aims or control. On the flipside, many sufferers feel very anxious, perhaps exhibiting signs of SA, Social Anxiety.
Do you have flashbacks to a very traumatic event, and if so what kinds of feelings does this cause? Reliving a traumatic event can obviously be very distressing, and often the flashbacks can be very specific and immediate.
Flashbacks can happen because a negative emotional memory essentially gets lodged in the short term memory, rather than properly digested in the more logical area of the brain. There are ways to “dislodge” painful memories, and EMDR training can equip professionals in something called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.
