What does Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder look like?

Approximately 1 in 11 people in the United States will be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their life. Recognizing the signs is the first step in getting help.

• Reexperiencing the event. This can come in the form of recurrent, distressing, and involuntary memories of a traumatic event. Also, this can look like experiencing flashbacks where it feels as though the event is happening again.

• Sleep disturbances such as distressing dreams or nightmares, or trouble falling or staying asleep.

• Significant distress when exposed to reminders of the event. This is referred to as being “triggered”. There are oftentimes physical reactions to these triggers in which it may physically feel that the event is happening again.

• Avoiding people, places and things that are reminders of the event.

• Negative changes in mood or thoughts. These may be directly associated with the event, or just in general after the event has occurred.

• Changes in arousal and reactivity. This means you may be more “on edge”, irritable, jumpy, or feeling always on guard.

If you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, evaluation and therapy treatment can be really beneficial. Schedule an appointment with me and we can figure this out together.