Empowered Creations

Learn about PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Let’s break it down into chunks beginning with first what it is. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that usually can occur after having been through a traumatic event. So you may ask what is a traumatic event? It’s anything that in your own mind is horrible or scary that either you witness or that it happened to you.

During the experience, you may think that your life or someone else s life is in danger. One of the biggest things about the experience is that you feel afraid or feel that you have no control (the victim) over what is happening.

PTSD is not just about being in war. Anyone who has gone through any type of life-threatening event can develop PTSD. Here are a few examples of events that could activate PTSD within a person:

• Combat or military exposure
• Child sexual or physical abuse
• Terrorist attacks
• Sexual or physical assault
• Serious accidents, such as a car wreck.
• Natural disasters, such as a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake.
• 9-11

After any event such as any of the examples above occur, you may feel scared, confused, or angry. The problem is if those feelings continue. If you seem to be thinking about the experience all the time or issues about the experience seem to get worse, this is when you may have to determine if you have PTSD.

When you are in the state of PTSD the symptoms may disrupt a small part of your life or for most your entire life, making it hard for you to continue with your daily activities.

Why Do People Develop PTSD?

Like I stated above PTSD begins when someone has lived through a traumatic event that had them fear for their lives, see horrible things, and/or feel helpless. This will create strong emotions (Go to How the Mind Works for more information) caused by the event. These emotions begin to create changes in the mind that creates a story. That story brings up emotions that may result in PTSD.

When a person goes through a traumatic event symptoms may begin to show up. Yet not everyone going through a traumatic event will develop PTSD. In my studies I found that Doctors are not clear why some people develop PTSD and others don’t. Yet they have provided a list that could have an impact on someone having  PTSD:

• How intense the trauma was or how long it lasted
• If you lost someone you were close to or were hurt
• How close you were to the event
• How strong your reaction was
• How much you felt in control of events
• How much help and support you got after the event

One of the other things Doctors found is many people who develop PTSD can get better at some time. But in saying that 1 out of 3 people with PTSD will continue to have some symptoms if they don’t get help.

Having PTSD myself I can say that with the right help the symptoms can go away. Your symptoms don’t have to interfere with your everyday activities, work, and relationships.

What Can A Person With PTSD Do?

There are many people out there that are ready, willing and able to assist you in conquering the issues related to PTSD.

The first is an organization that is full of love and going to do what ever it takes to assist you. Go To…  DOVE Dignity of Victims Everywhere is a Victim They are an Outreach and Resource Organization dedicated to
Victims of Violent Crimes. If they can’t help you they will look very hard to find someone who can.

What Have Others Done?

Dick one of the owners of http://www.dove-wa.org/index.html who lost his son Patrick, at age 13. Patrick was murdered in the late hours of April 30 or the early hours of May 1, 1983 . . . as close as anyone can tell that is; this crime remains one of King County Washington’s unsolved homicides. So Dick wrote a book The Value of a Smile which is now available for purchase at Booksurge.com, an amazon.com publishing company. Please Help Dick by purchasing his book. (All proceeds go directly to Dick).