Related information
PTSD
What is PTSD?
PTSD is short for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. It is a severe type of anxiety that originates from a traumatic experience. These are events that you experience as threatening or violent in some way. The experience is traumatic because you feel powerless to stop it..
Examples are:
- Rape
- Emotional of physical abuse
- Severe accident
- Violent attack
- War
Often these types of experiences are too overwhelming to comprehend and cope with. Sometimes shame is involved as well. You are afraid to talk to others about the experience and are stuck with it. Unprocessed experiences can later on result in PTSD. PTSD can also occur in people who were not a victim themselves, but who witnessed violence or abuse.
The symptoms of PTSD are:
- Reliving, the feeling that the trauma is repeating itself continuously
- Invasive images or sounds of the traumatic experience (flashbacks)
- Severe stress caused by signals that remind you of the trauma
- Sleep disorders
- Problem with concentration
- Irritability, anger issues
- Severe startle responses
- Avoiding discussions, activities or locations that remind you of the trauma
- Emotional desensitisation, depression
Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event necessarily develops PTSD. It only occurs when you can’t process with the regular coping mechanism. Some people are more vulnerable due to previous traumatic experiences.
Treatment
PTSD is very treatable. In treatment your natural processing mechanism is reactivated, but this time in a safe environment with the help of a therapist. Mindspring uses modern and effective therapeutical methods, in particular EMDR and hypnotherapy.
