Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a form of anxiety disorder that sometimes develops when someone has been through something so horrific that the experience overwhelmed their ability to cope. At Carolina Dunes Behavioral Health, we know how challenging it can be for a person to move through life after trauma, and we think it’s important to share accurate information about this condition to ensure that people with PTSD get the compassion and support they deserve.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma occurs when someone isn’t able to handle a really bad experience. What is traumatic for one person may be just somewhat stressful for a different person. This can be the result of having different coping skills, different levels of family or community support, or going through the traumatic event at a higher or lower level of stress.
Some events that are frequently identified as being potentially traumatic include:
- Experiencing warfare, either as a civilian or a member of the armed forces
- Homelessness
- Abuse such as emotional, physical or sexual
- Loss of a loved one due to death, divorce, placement in foster care or incarceration
- Natural disasters
- Vehicle accidents
- Physical injuries or illnesses
- Witnessing domestic violence
- Living in a community where violence is common
Common PTSD Myths
Misinformation and stigma have fueled a lot of misunderstanding about PTSD, such as:
- I survived it without getting PTSD so you must be weak. It isn’t just the painful experiences we have, but also the context around that experience that matters. For example, if you picture two cousins who lose a grandparent, that experience will be different if one cousin lived with the grandparent following removal from their parents, watching the grandparent die and no longer knows where they will live versus the other cousin living with two supportive parents, only seeing the grandparent periodically and being spared the details of their passing.
- Only Veterans get PTSD. The list of potential traumas listed above is not exclusive to Veterans, though Veterans are one of the largest groups of people to experience PTSD. In addition to Veterans, foster youth, sexual assault survivors, and members of the LGBT+ community are groups that frequently experience PTSD.
- If you went through trauma, you have PTSD. PTSD does not automatically occur following a traumatic experience. When people are believed, supported and protected from further trauma, they are far less likely to develop PTSD.
- If you don’t have flashbacks, it’s not PTSD. When you’re watching a movie or TV show, it’s pretty common to see flashbacks used as a sign of PTSD. In reality, however, not every person with PTSD experiences the same set of symptoms. Instead, some people with PTSD struggle with intrusive memories, nightmares and other sleep disturbances, avoidance behaviors, numbed emotions, detachment/dissociation, hypervigilance, negative mental changes like irritability, hopelessness and distrust of other people, loss of interest in once enjoyable activities, difficulty focusing, or memory issues.
- PTSD symptoms show up immediately after trauma. Because each person is different, the timeline for the onset of symptoms can vary. Typically, symptoms will show up within three months of the trauma, but it can take longer in some cases. Symptoms may also be sporadic or continuous, depending on how that person heals.
- PTSD goes away on its own. The faster a person gets support, the less likely they are to develop PTSD at all. If they do develop PTSD, getting help will help their symptoms to resolve faster than if they wait to seek treatment.
- There is no recovery from PTSD. Medications, support from loved ones, and therapy are great options for managing PTSD. Some of the most recommended therapy modalities for PTSD include talk therapy, prolonged exposure therapy, EMDR and cognitive processing therapy.
- You can tell if someone has PTSD. Some people are very good at masking their symptoms, avoiding their PTSD triggers, or using their coping skills. If you did not know them before they developed this disorder, you might not see the subtle indications of PTSD. It is important to recognize that a lack of external symptoms does not mean there are no internal symptoms. This is why Carolina Dunes is dedicated to providing trauma-informed care, where everyone will be met with a compassionate, safe environment.
- You will never have a normal life if you have PTSD. People with PTSD and other mental health disorders are often able to hold full-time jobs, find love, raise children, and have friends. You can have a great life, even while learning to manage PTSD.
- “Triggered” just means easily offended. While popular culture sometimes uses the word to describe people who are overly dramatic or easily offended, this word means something different when discussing mental health. When discussing a mental illness, a trigger is something that causes a person to experience one or more of their symptoms. It can be scary, embarrassing, and painful for a person with PTSD to be triggered. Some common triggers for PTSD include loud noises, certain smells, places where the trauma occurred, movies or shows that depict similar trauma, the anniversary of the trauma, or memories or flashbacks of the event.
At Carolina Dunes Behavioral Health, we offer acute care for people who are dealing with a mental health crisis or psychiatric symptoms requiring inpatient treatment. Our structured, therapeutic environment helps our patients to find ways to manage their symptoms and return to a better quality of life.
