Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Categories of Symptoms:
Intrusion:
Intrusive thoughts are unwanted memories, distressing dreams, or flashbacks of trauma. Flashbacks can feel so real that individuals may believe they are experiencing the trauma again, leading to fear and panic. These thoughts and nightmares can be triggered by reminders of the trauma or may occur unexpectedly.
Avoidance:
Avoiding reminders of the traumatic event(s) may include avoiding people, places, activities, objects, and situations that may trigger distressing memories. People may try to avoid remembering or thinking about the traumatic event. Additionally, they may resist talking about what happened or how they feel about it. Oftentimes, these behaviors lead to dysfunction in everyday life.
Changes in arousal and reactivity:
People with PTSD may describe being irritable and having angry outbursts, behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive way, being overly watchful of their surroundings in a suspecting way, being easily startled, or having problems concentrating or sleeping.
Dissociation:
Some individuals with PTSD will have the dissociative symptoms:
Derealization – The feeling that life is not real. Individual may describe feeling like they are in a movie or in a dream.
Depersonalization – The feeling that one is outside of their body.
Changes in cognition and mood:
People with PTSD often have symptoms of depression. These include feeling sad, losing joy, and no longer being interested in activities or people they used to enjoy. They may have trouble remembering, especially the traumatic event, and might have negative thoughts about themselves or others, such as believing "I am bad" or "No one can be trusted." They may also wrongly blame themselves or others for what happened. Additionally, they could feel continuous fear, anger, guilt, or shame, feel distant from others, and struggle to feel positive emotions or enjoy life.
“PTSD risk factors include:
Prior history of trauma (and the severity and frequency of events; perceived lack of support following event(s))
Childhood adversity/trauma
Female gender
Member of a marginalized group (such as non-white, LGBTQ+, living with a disability)
Immigrant status”
Information obtained from Psychiatry.org
Psychiatry.org - What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?