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PTSD Treatments, Types, Symptoms, Causes, Effects
Mental health professionals define trauma as a set of mental, emotional, and behavioural symptoms that develop in response to experiencing or witnessing one or more unexpected incidents that are found to be highly threatening, dangerous or harmful.
Types of Traumatic Incidents
Symptoms of trauma can develop in response to any incident that is perceived to be highly threatening or dangerous. This can be from witnessing physical abuse to experiencing a natural disaster. Other common examples of traumatic events include:
- Mental, emotional, or sexual abuse.
- Bullying, harassment, mobbing, family violence.
- Domestic violence.
- Abandonment.
- Receiving shocking or tragic news.
- Auto accidents.
- Earthquakes, fires, pandemics, etc.
- Hold-ups and robberies.
- War and military undertakings.
- Torture.
- Bomb explosions.
- A loss of territory such as the loss of property or work.
- Conflicts concerning an invasion into one’s home or property.
- Separation conflicts such as the unexpected death of a spouse.
- A medical diagnosis shock.
- Falls.
- Surgeries and invasive medical procedures.
- Early childhood experiences of punishment.
Types of Trauma
Trauma can develop in consequence of experiencing one incident that lasts an hour or less, or it can occur as a result of encountering multiple long-term incidents such as family violence. It can also be complex whereby a person may experience multiple unrelated incidents over a period of time, such as childhood sexual abuse, neglect, physical abuse, then bullying at school, then harassment at work and domestic violence as an adult.
Symptoms of Trauma
When encountering a threat or danger, this activates the sympathetic nervous system – the ‘fight’, ‘flight’, ’freeze’ or ‘fold’ alarm reaction. This is our inbuilt survival mechanism, which when activated, propels a person to either respond with aggression towards a threat, run away from it, simply freeze and do nothing, or collapse into helplessness. When in this survival mode, symptoms can entail some or all of the following:
- Intense fear.
- Fast, maybe irregular heartbeat.
- Shortness of breath or a feeling of smothering.
- Chest pain.
- Nausea.
- Numbness or tingly feeling.
- Stomach churning or bowels feeling loose.
- Feeling dizzy.
- Nervous cold perspiration.
- Dry mouth.
- Tense or weak muscles.
In addition to the initial ‘survival’ response, other symptoms that can develop, immediately, or some time after the event include some or all of the following:
- Shock, denial, disbelief.
- Feeling completely overwhelmed/unable to cope.
- Uncontrollable worry.
- Dread.
- Anger, irritability, mood swings.
- Low mood, sadness.
- Feeling helpless, hopeless, powerless.
- Shame.
- Self-loathing.
- Feeling weak.
- Poor appetite.
- Confusion, difficulty making sense of the situation.
- Difficulties with concentration and memory.
- Difficulty sleeping.
- Guilt, self-blame, low self-esteem.
- Hyper-arousal.
- Feeling unsafe, hyper-vigilant.
- Intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, nightmares.
- Feeling numb/disconnected from others.
- Withdrawal and avoidance of anything that reminds you of the incident.
- Little or no interest in doing things.
- A shift in perception where you view the world, people, places, objects or situations as dreamlike, unreal or strange.
- Feeling stuck and unable to move forward.
Children may present with some or all of the aforementioned symptoms, as well as:
- Aggressive behaviour.
- Clinging, bed-wetting, thumb sucking.
- Inability to go to school, to learn, play with friends, etc.
- Chronic pain or fever.
Trauma symptoms may be experienced for a few weeks after the incident, after which the person is no longer affected by what happened. However, in many cases, even after 3 to 4 weeks following a traumatic event, symptoms can continue, causing a person intense distress, and affecting their ability to fully function.
Causes of Trauma
Why do traumatic symptoms persist in some and not others? This can depend on many factors. Primarily, it is because the person has no strategy for addressing the conflict at a mental, emotional, physiological, or environmental level. When we encounter a trauma(s), it is the meanings we attach to the incident(s) that determines the fear and ensuing freeze/fold reaction, as well as other associated negative emotions; thus strategies for altering cognitions, including memories of sensory impressions, and containing negative emotions are essential. Moreover, in the case of ongoing trauma, it is also the absence of a strategy to cope with or to get rid of the external stressor that can result in traumatic symptoms.
Other factors that can influence the severity of symptoms include the nature and intensity of the event(s); a persons prior mental health history, as well as available support networks.
Long-Term Effects of Trauma
Chronic traumatic symptoms can be distressing enough, and severely impair a person’s quality of life. However, if the underlying conflicts are not resolved at a mental, emotional, behavioural, and where possible, environmental level, the symptoms can cause more serious forms of one or more mental and physical disorders such as:
- PTSD & other anxiety disorders
- Depression
- Bipolar
- Schizophrenia
- Eating disorders
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Gastrointestinal disease
- Premature mortality
Unresolved symptoms of trauma, over time, can get significantly worse, having a more detrimental effect on your ability to fully function, and substantially increase the risk of developing serious mental and physical health disorders.
Healing From Trauma
However, it is possible to heal from trauma. The most effective way to do this is to work with a practitioner that has experience of applying diverse modalities designed to gently and safely help you to get better. This includes healing deeply ingrained negative core beliefs and emotions that can be very challenging, sometimes even harmful, if shifting prematurely.
Self-Care Strategies
Having said that, there are numerous cases where people have managed symptoms themselves by learning and applying self-care techniques such as EFT and others. Furthermore, if for whatever reason you cannot work with a therapist, you may find the self-help book ‘Overcoming Traumatic Stress’ by Herbert & Wetmore (2008) beneficial. Other self-care techniques that may help include:
- Art therapy
- Writing
- Group based mindfulness
- Exercise, physical movement
- Spending time in nature, especially forest bathing
- Autogenic Training
- Relaxation response training
- Abdominal breathing
The extent to which you are able to manage symptoms or heal them entirely depends on the severity of the problem, and your willingness and persistence in applying techniques to get better. In cases of severe trauma, it may be more beneficial for you to apply self-care as an adjunct to therapeutic support.
What is important when deciding on any treatment modality however, is to ensure that the techniques enable you to properly process and transform negative thoughts and emotions developed in response to traumatic events, and enable you to build diverse domains of your wellbeing. Therapeutic Modalities
If you choose therapeutic support, then there are various options available in terms of modalities. Following is a list of some that are proven to effectively heal trauma and its effects:
- Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
- Somatic Therapy
Depending on the nature and severity of symptoms, some people may choose to take prescription medicines. If you take this option, then I would strongly advise that you get some form of counselling and therapy if possible. Remember, trauma develops in response to experiencing one or more conflicts that result in maladaptive thoughts, emotions and behaviours, therefore it is essential to process what happened and transform negative emotions and cognitions in order to heal properly.
When to get Treatment for Trauma?
If you experience chronic mental and emotional distress that affects your ability to function properly in your daily life, then I would advise that you address this immediately. The longer your symptoms persist, the worse they will get, the more likely you are to develop other disorders, and the longer it will take you to heal. Therefore, you need not suffer needlessly, and know that there are many effective methods to help you to live a happy and fulfilling life.
I hope you found this article useful. If you would like further information about trauma or to discuss treatment and support options then feel free to send me a message.
Take care,
Sadaf
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