Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition whose inset is prompted when you witness or experience a traumatic event. While symptoms can appear within a month of the event, they can sometimes manifest years later. PTSD symptoms can affect your daily life, causing upsets in your professional and social relationships and situations. Although they can vary from person to person and with time, they are generally grouped into the four categories we will look out for below. Getting PTSD treatment from a specialist like Dr. Neal Taub is crucial to alleviating your symptoms and improving your function. Here is how you know you should seek help:
1. Changes in Emotional and Physical Reactions
Also referred to as arousal symptoms, PTSD can cause changes in your emotional and physical reactions. Common manifestations of this include:
- Overwhelming shame or guilt
- Aggressive behavior, angry outbursts, or irritability
- Trouble concentrating
- Difficulty sleeping
- Self-destructive behavior, such as overspeeding or drinking too much
- Always being on guard for danger
- Getting easily frightened or startled
2. Negative Changes in Mood and Thinking
In some cases, PTSD negatively affects your thoughts and mood, affecting how you view your life, past, and future. Symptoms in this category include:
- Feeling emotionally numb
- Trouble expressing positive emotions
- Lost interest in activities you previously enjoyed
- Feeling hopeless about the future
- A feeling of detachment from friends and family
- Difficulty maintaining relationships
- Memory problems, such as not remembering crucial details about the traumatic event
- Experiencing negative thoughts about the world, other people, or yourself
3. Intrusive Memories
Intrusive memories are difficult to control and often pop up in your mind unexpectedly and during inconvenient moments. PTSD-related intrusive memories can be:
- Upsetting nightmares or dreams about the traumatic event
- Vivid flashbacks that make you relive the traumatic event as if it were happening again
- Distressing, unwanted, and recurrent memories of the event
These symptoms can also be accompanied by severe physical reactions or emotional distress to things that remind you of the traumatic event.
4. Avoidance
People with PTSD can often avoid places, people, or activities that remind them of the traumatic event they experienced or witnessed. They may also avoid talking about it at all costs.
When Should You See a Doctor?
You know it is time to see a doctor when your PTSD symptoms – disturbing feelings and thoughts – persist for up to a month after the traumatic event that triggered them. You should also talk to your doctor if you are finding it difficult to get your life back under control or your symptoms are worsening.
If you are having suicidal or self-harm thoughts, call your local emergency number or 911 immediately. If someone you love has made a suicide attempt or is considering it, stay with them and call 911 or take them to the nearest ER if you can do so safely.
Conclusion
About 70 percent of Americans will be affected by trauma at some point in their lives and at least 8 percent will develop PTSD. This condition can be life-altering and it is important to seek treatment for symptoms from an experienced professional. AT Charlotte Ketamine Center, Neal Taub, MD uses ketamine therapy to address PTSD symptoms. This holistic treatment is effective and a good alternative to conventional treatments. To find out more, call the Charlotte office today.
