Psychological stress was first
reported in the nineteen-hundreds by an Egyptian physician who described a
hysterical reaction to trauma. Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD) has, confusingly been given many labels over the
years. Previously known as ‘shell shock’
during WWI, ‘War Neurosis’ during WWII and ‘Combat Stress Reaction’ during the
Vietnam War it wasn’t until the late nineteen-eighties that its present term was
introduced.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop following
any event that makes you fear for your safety.
Any event (or series of events) that overwhelms you with feelings of
hopelessness and helplessness that leave you emotionally shattered can trigger
PTSD. This may happen especially if the event feels unpredictable and
uncontrollable. Characteristics of a
traumatic event are defined by its capacity to provoke fear, helplessness or
horror as a response to the threat of injury or death and can affect those who
have personally witnessed a traumatic event, are repeatedly exposed to graphic
details of trauma (such as a paramedic) or those who are there to care for
those effected by trauma as well as those who have experienced trauma.
During exposure to trauma you are in an intensively fearful
situation during which your mind suspends normal operations in order to cope as
best it can. This could trigger several
different behaviours: you might freeze on the spot, fight or run away
(otherwise known as flight). Until the
danger passes you don’t produce a memory for the traumatic event in the normal
way and unfortunately, when the memory is eventually presented for filing it
can cause a lot of distress which can manifest itself in the form of
nightmares, flashbacks and intrusive unwanted memories called
re-experiences.
Re-experiences or flashbacks is the mind attempting to file
away the distressing memory. They are
unpleasant and frightening and repeatedly expose you to the original
trauma. Imagine your memory is like a
filing cabinet but you’ve been too busy to complete your filing so you have
piled up your paperwork in the bottom drawer day after day, until the drawer
bulges. Now that you attempt to file all
the paperwork (or in this case the memories) the task has become so
overwhelming it makes you anxious: there are no reference numbers and you can’t
read the documents. You have no idea
where to file them, or who to turn to for help. Each time your mind attempts to
file the documents your state of awareness changes to the point that those around
you begin to notice. Your emotions begin
to suffer and symptoms begin to present themselves in ways that can show both
physically and emotionally. Physical symptoms are a shortness of breath, tight
muscles, sweating and a racing heart; whereas emotional symptoms are when you
feel on edge, hypervigilance or a feeling of panic.
Hyperarousal often increases emotional response although it’s
possible that PTSD sufferers also feel emotionally numb causing trouble in
communication about their feelings. In turn this can cause more anxiety and
irritability. Symptoms of PTSD become
unmanageable and uncomfortable to the point that avoidance linked to the
original trauma begins to occur, affecting day to day life drastically.