Trauma and PTSD

Trauma can result from a wide range of experiences, such as facing accidents, natural disasters, physical or sexual assault, and witnessing or experiencing other violence or war.

Symptoms can vary from person to person, but may include:

• Feeling excessively alert and on edge
• Vividly recalling the event or events, while awake or during sleep
• Avoidance of anything that may be a reminder of the event, including places, people or even conversations
• Negative thoughts, including a lack of trust and loss of a sense of safety
• Feelings such as irritability and anger or emptiness

The intensity and duration of these symptoms can vary from person to person. Not everyone who experiences trauma develops long-term psychological effects; in fact, people often process and heal from traumatic events with time and support from family and friends. However, if symptoms persist and are left untreated, trauma can have long-lasting effects on our mental, emotional, and physical health.

When someone experiences several of these symptoms more than a few weeks in a row, this could indicate the presence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). if you are still being impacted by symptoms a week or two after the event, you may benefit from professional support.

A lot of veterans and service members worry that only people who have faced stress in combat should ‘legitimately’ be given a diagnosis of PTSD, or they worry that been given a diagnosis like this somehow might make them feel they’ve personally failed or have some sort of weakness. This is understandable. The reality is that PTSD is just a natural response to a potentially or actually life-threatening situation and or sexual assault, and these events can occur to anyone, in any location.

• PTSD isn’t a sign of brokenness or weakness—it’s our body and brain doing the best it knows how, as way of trying to protect itself after trauma.
• Veterans and service members often face extreme situations that push human limits. PTSD symptoms like hypervigilance or avoidance are survival mechanisms that were once useful in high stress situations like, combat, or when facing or witnessing serious assault or other violence but may now feel out of place in civilian life.