The symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder – watch youtube video 7 minutes long
Symptoms may vary in range and degree of impact
Symptoms can range from feeling emotionally out of control to mild anxiety and an inability to get a particular event out of your thoughts.
In order to be medically diagnosed as having PTSD you have to have exhibited a wide range of symptoms over a particular period. However we recognize sub threshold trauma, which may fall outside of the guidelines that the British Medical Association lay down. So you can still have a range of distressing symptoms that still a make your life miserable but not get a medical diagnosis of PTSD.
This means that someone who has been in a war zone and returned with full-blown PTSD can be helped just as a person who has had a bit of bullying go on at work and now keeps thinking about it and feels pangs of anxiety.
Lets take a closer look at the range of symptoms – you may not have every one of the signs listed below or may have them really badly or just a little. Either way you can be helped by experiencing the rewind technique, which we discuss in the last video.
Reoccurring flashbacks and nightmares
You could be doing something quite mundane and suddenly get the feelings and pictures in your mind that make you feel like you are re-living the traumatizing event. And you might find it hard to get to sleep and will frequently wake because of nightmares.
Panic attacks
Your anxiety will suddenly climb to a pitch where you feel as if your heart beat is going to burst through your chest. Some people feel as if they are going to faint or die because the symptoms of a panic attack can be so traumatizing in themselves. You can feel routed to the spot or want to just immediately escape from the situation you are in.
Unable to connect
Not being able to connect to people even those close, like your family and friends is a common symptom. You can feel completely disconnected from life and are not able to find joy in the things you used to enjoy doing or the people that you love. You might feel as if you are in a trance most of the time.
Can’t concentrate
Distracted by anxiety and unpleasant recollections of the event it becomes increasingly hard to concentrate on anything, so decision making, reading or following the most simple TV program can become impossible.
Avoidant behaviour
You will do anything to avoid anything that reminds you of the trauma. So if you have been bullied at work you will develop a great deal of anxiety around even thinking about work or the person who has done the bullying.
Emotional roller coaster – out bursts of anger or tearfulness and despair are commonplace
If you have PTSD you will be operating from a basis of fear; driven by the emotional brain it is hard to access logic and weigh things up. You will find that even the smallest thing can escalate your emotions and cause unpredictable and destructive flare-ups.
The physical symptoms
Can include poor gut function, lowered immunity and exhaustion. People often complain to us of feeling light headed and sensitive to pain.
All pretty distressing stuff isn’t it? Learn more by reading our next blog or watch our video 3 in this series to find out what is happening in the brain to cause this physical and emotional trauma.
Learn the rewind technique to stop PTSD and phobia’s
We have worked with thousands of people who have post-traumatic stress disorder and have seen first hand what a debilitating and overwhelming condition it can be. However there are techniques that safely transform the lives of people suffering from PTSD. These techniques can safely and effectively release people from the constraints and misery of PTSD, often in just one session. We use the ‘rewind technique’ reputed to be one of the most successful psychological tools available to safely and effectively lift PTSD, it will be fully explained in the forth podcast and blog.
If you would like to train in the rewind technique there are two main options
1. Face to face with Within Sight’s trainers: we hold a one-day course and the next one is Friday 9th September in Hove/Brighton. Check it out here Learn the rewind
2. Along with Uncommon Knowledge trainer Mark Tyrrell, Jill delivers an on line course which starts on September 8th. Learn the rewind
If you want to find a therapist who has been professionally trained to use the rewind in a client session, email us on info@within-sight.com let us know where you live and we will do our best to help you find someone to help you.
Read the Next post in this Mini Series here.
Is this the first post you read? Start from the beginning here.