Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing trauma.
Trauma occurs when a situation takes place in your life that emotionally you can not handle or mentally process, this can be one large major incident or an accumulation of many incidents in a short period or over many years, these occurrences do not have to be related to each other but may have a common link, the main link is fear and fear of repeat of incident.
PTSD occurs when the incident or accumulation of incidents becomes locked, this occurs because your mind is trying to protect you. At that moment you can not mentally cope with the incident, your mind incapacitates the trauma and the emotions link with it.
If these emotions do not naturally filter or lessen over roughly the next 3 weeks the process of locking those emotions begins, the sign of PTSD will start to appear. Normally the first effected is sleep pattern or disturbed sleep, many victims experiencing nightmares and flashbacks, these symptoms generally increase with other symptoms developing.
PTSD has many levels, some displaying small character changes in themselves. PTSD at it highest level cause the inability to function in your normal manner, changing your reactions and ability to cope with situations that normally you would see as simple to manage.
The best way I can explain PTSD is that it is constant. Unlike Anxiety, we generally say it spikes, and Depression we generally say it deepens, with PTSD it is CONSTANT. Not to minimise the effects of Anxiety or Depression, as I work with many clients with both of these too, it’s the constant effect of PTSD I am trying to relay.
The most effective treatment for PTSD is EMDR therapy, this therapy communicates directly with area of the brain that hold your emotional memory. By clearing and dispersing those held or locked emotions, though repeated treatment, those locked emotions dislodge and become more fluid, allowing them to be released. Then we replace those emotions with a new, more positive set of emotions. EMDR is an extremely fast and effective therapy. It normally produces noticeable positive results within 8 to 10 weeks, as well as a reduction in the PTSD symptoms and increased ability to think. With an increased clarity of thoughts, the brain is no longer being constantly over active, leaving it more capacity to function with.
I hope this gives an incite into the cause and effects of trauma and PTSD, the effectiveness of emdr therapy, I have put many hundreds of clients though EMDR therapy, with excellent results. Occasionally therapy is repeated normally when treating multiple traumatic experiences or in cases of CPTSD. EMDR is extremely effective in reducing anxiety, works rapidly to reduce levels, restoring calmer thoughts.
Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt.
They may also have problems sleeping, such as insomnia and find concentrating difficult.
These symptoms are often severe and persistent enough to have a significant impact on the person's day-to-day life.
Any situation that a person finds traumatic can cause PTSD.
These can include:
PTSD is estimated to affect about 1 in every 3 people who have a traumatic experience.
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