Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder
(PTSD)
It can be hard to move on when you have experienced abuse. Especially if you have get thoughts or feelings that overwhelm you. These might be flashbacks, uncontrollable feelings, or overwhelming worry. It can be a very frightening experience and can affect how you live your day to day life.
You could be living with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This is something that people who have witnessed or been involved in a traumatic event can experience. Trauma can be caused by many things - accident, rape or personal violent assault, ongoing emotional abuse, war or combat, or natural disasters. Here's a really helpful article from Teen Vogue going into further detail about PTSD.
It can feel like...
PTSD feels different for everyone, as it relates to your personal experiences. You might feel like you are reliving a particular event, you can have nightmares, or find yourself thinking continuously about the experience.
These survivors explains how it felt for them:
“There were two major ‘incidents’ when he shouted so loudly and physically threatened me that I became paralyzed. The paralysis lasted for a few hours each time because I was literally incapacitated from fright. Although I never experienced this after I left him, I still physically cannot process loud male voices. The terror manifests less physically but more emotionally now. I ‘shut down’ and cannot process anything for a while. I cannot distinguish between men who are loud because they are angry or because they just happen to be yelling. I stay clear of well-built men because I can’t stand even the faintest whiff of aggression; muscles are so not attractive—they’re terrifying to me.” - (India, 2018)
“After I fled my abusive partner I was on high-alert for sometime. I would panic every time my phone or the doorbell rang, even at my new place of work. I still struggle to answer either of them now, more than 2 years on. If someone raises their voice around me, or I see violence on the television, I have to remove myself from the situation as I find it too overwhelming. My ex partner still haunts my days in flashbacks and my nights in nightmares.” - (UK, 20s, 2019)
Different types and experiences of PTSD
PTSD and its symptoms are different for everyone. However, there are some common things that you might experience. The different types of PTSD are grouped in the following categories:
- Normal Stress Response is a common reaction to stressful situations and danger. If you suffer from Normal Stress Response you can recover completely within a few weeks with the support of your loved ones, peers who understand or have also experienced similar stressful situations.
- Acute Stress Disorder can develop after a serious traumatic event (for example being attacked or raped by your partner) and it can last from three days up to one month. If you have this you might feel distracted or not able to respond to what's going on around you. You might have nightmares about what happened and thoughts that keep repeating. This might stop you sleeping or make you feel on edge about everything.
- PTSD is when you keep re-experiencing the traumatic incident. You may also feel numb and have panic attacks [link]. It can be associated with other experiences such as depression, anxiety and addiction to alcohol or other drugs.
- Complex PTSD, also called Disorder of Extreme Stress,can occur if you have been exposed to severe and prolonged traumatic experiences. One example is if you have been abused as a child. You might have symptoms such as eating disorders, alcohol and/or substance abuse, aggressive and self-destructive behavior. Complex PTSD can make you suffer from problems like severe depression, panic attacks, and intense anxiety. Treating Complex PTSD takes longer than the other types of PTSD and it might progress slowly.
Signs of PTSD
These are symptoms that many people experience.
- Re-experiencing the traumatic event again through nightmares or recurring thoughts
- Feeling like you are numb
- Feeling of being in a daze
- Problems sleeping
- Poor concentration
- Hypervigilance and restlessness
- Finding yourself involuntarily unable to move, which “blocks” physical resistance
- “Dissociation”- where you feel disconnected in some way from the world around you or from yourself. It could feel like you are floating outside your body. It is a symptom of trauma to protect yourself from intensity and pain of the abuse. This podcast discusses it in more detail!
- Feeling hopeless, like you're permanently damaged and unable to feel emotions normally
Other symptoms may include:
- addiction
- anxiety
- depression
- people-pleasing
- over accomplishing
- staying busy
- being overly "nice" to everyone
- jealousy and blaming others
- feeling irritable
- feeling exhausted
- paranoia
- mood swings
- isolation
- amnesia regarding the events of the abuse
You do not have to tackle this all by yourself, if you wish for help. Feel free to give yourself permission to ask for support! If you would like to know more about how to get help, continue with the second part of the guide.
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