You probably have heard the term PTSD and if you are on this page you are wondering if you qualify for the diagnosis.
There is a lot of information going around about PTSD in recent years so let me help parse out the four main components of PTSD below.
1. AVOIDANCE: Avoidance is one of the main components of PTSD so that’s why I list it first. Avoidance comes out in so many different ways when someone has PTSD. An example would be if someone has experience sexual assault in their lifetime, they may avoid movies that include anything having to do with sexual assault. This also would include avoiding talking, thinking, or feeling anything related to a traumatic event or a series of traumatic events.
2. RE-EXPERIENCING: Re-experiencing means that you will be reminded of the traumatic event or events when you don’t want to be reminded. For example someone with trauma might be driving down the road, listening to their favorite song and all of a sudden they think about something that’s related to their trauma. The intrusive memory could be a snippet of the traumatic memory itself, a feeling, the person that caused the trauma, a certain smell, etc. Intrusive memories also often come up that only during waking hours but also during sleeping hours in the form of dreams, nightmares, and night terrors.
3. COGNITIVE: Cognitive symptoms include changes in core beliefs about ourselves as well as people in the world around us. Common cognitive beliefs include that nobody can be trusted, the world isn’t safe, people want to take advantage of us, we are unlovable, and we are not enough. These are just some examples of some core beliefs that can arise from trauma but the list is endless. The main thing to pay attention to with changes in core beliefs is that the core beliefs are negative, over generalized and affect our lives in a negative way.
4. HYPER-AROUSAL: Arousal symptoms address the feelings, sensations and somatic experiences that stick around in our body after the traumatic event has passed. This includes The feeling of impending doom that’s present in our body, constant anxiety and scanning the room for danger, and overall levels of stress in our body. Arousal includes the symptoms that manifest in our fight, flight, freeze and fawn trauma responses.
If you relate to the main four components of PTSD above then that is a sign that you need to talk to a licensed psychologist, psychiatrist or therapist near you about having symptoms of PTSD.
Having an accurate diagnosis is really important and getting the right treatment and therefore the best results for whatever you were struggling with. This blog is not meant to diagnose but to give information to allow you to seek the proper resources.
If you have any more questions about PTSD or complex PTSD please reach out via the Metta Holistic Therapy contact page or email me directly at reneeminxtherapy@gmail.com
Thanks so much for reading until the end and hope you enjoyed it!
Metta Holistic Therapy 