Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a condition that is developed after exposure to a really stressful or traumatic event.
What kind of events can trigger PTSD?
Though the kind of events that trigger PTSD is very subjective and can change from one person to another, they are large events that are very stress-inducive, highly violent, or even life-threatening. So, what kind of events can trigger PTSD?
- Accidents
- Life-threatening situations
- Natural disasters
- Interpersonal violence
- Combat
- War
- Highly stressful events
What are the symptoms of PTSD?
PTSD has the ability to impact the daily functioning of the person and its symptoms can be extreme in some cases. Some may experience the symptoms in lower intensity, but keeping a lookout for these symptoms can help in the diagnosis of PTSD-
- Distressing and intrusive memories
- Nightmares
- Irritability
- Hypervigilance (preoccupation with danger)
- Flashbacks or dissociative reactions
- Very sensitive to stress
- Poor concentration
- Sleep problems
- Emotional Withdrawal
- Avoiding places or situations that remind them of the trauma
- Marked physiological reactivity to reminders
- Dissociative amnesia
- Self-destructive and reckless behavior
Though the symptoms mentioned in DSM-V are much more detailed and divided according to different criteria that have to be met for clinical diagnosis, these symptoms cover a wide range of commonly observed symptoms in patients with PTSD. Ensuring that you check yourself or your loved ones for these symptoms after a traumatic event and guiding them to the right treatment for PTSD is extremely important.
How common is PTSD?
According to research, about 8% of women and 4% of men have PTSD. Men who have served in combat are likely to develop PTSD due to the highly violent and stressful situation. Women have a higher risk of PTSD because of their likelihood to experience traumatic events such as sexual assault, and interpersonal violence.
PTSD is more common than you know and can have a huge impact on the person suffering from it as well as those around them.
How PTSD can be carried through generations
Rachel Yehuda, one of the leading theorists on PTSD has studied how parental PTSD can be a risk factor in their offspring developing PTSD.
Her groundbreaking research with Holocaust survivors helped in understanding how PTSD can be transferred through generations- something that has not been studied much in the PTSD literature.
Her study showed that children of Holocaust survivors who had PTSD were born with low cortisol levels, much like their parents. These low levels of cortisol, a hormone that plays an important role in stress response predisposes them to relive the PTSD symptoms like their previous generation.
A chronic case of PTSD can lead to suppressed cortisol levels, as has been observed in many survivors. According to the research carried out by Yehuda, the same low levels of cortisol are seen in veterans who have been to war and pregnant mothers who developed PTSD after the 9/11 World Trade Centre attacks and their children.
How Trauma gets transferred?
Trauma can be transferred throughout generations, as evidenced by Yehuda. But why and how does trauma gets transferred?
Trauma leaves a literal chemical mark on our genes and these genes are passed down to future generations. This mark leads to an epigenetic alteration. Epigenetics is the study of how our environment and behavior can change our genes. Epigenetics do not lead to a change in our DNA sequence but change how our body read a DNA sequence. Studies in epigenetics have become extremely important in understanding the current condition of human beings and their ways of adaptation.
These new ideas try and understand how PTSD or trauma faced by one generation of the family gets reflected in future generations. It is important that treatment of trauma and PTSD begins at the first sign of the symptom so that it is resolved with the person and is not transferred to future generations.
How to treat PTSD so that it does not get transferred to future generations?
The ability to seek help when faced with something traumatic like PTSD is not an easy step. It takes time and effort to find the right help that will help end this cycle of trauma. NABHS, a leading center for the treatment of PTSD has been working with patients in understanding their trauma and working closely with them to help lead a better life.
Treatment of PTSD is usually focused on –
- Equipping you with the needed skills to manage your symptoms
- Learn healthy coping mechanisms
- Helping create a positive sense of yourself and the world
- Treatment of other comorbid mental health issues that usually accompany PTSD such as depression, anxiety, or addiction.
At NABHS, we understand how the burden of trauma stays with you forever, but we know that you are not defined by your trauma and can lead a good life if you choose to treat your PTSD.
Psychotherapy, talking about the traumatic event, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Exposure Therapy, and Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) are some of the ways through which experts at NABHS equip you to get out of the trauma and break the cycle.
