If you have experienced a traumatic event, it can be so that you still experience stress because of this quite some time later. A trauma is an event which is often paired with an overload of stress and anxiety. So if you then remember the event, it can be so that you still experience stress and anxiety years later. This is also called post traumatic stress disorder. It is a disorder where one has experienced such scarring traumas, that the memories still cause you stress years later, which makes it so that you cannot function the way you did before the event. This article will describe the symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder and sum up possible treatment methods.
Post traumatic stress disorder: symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder
If you have a post traumatic stress disorder, this means that you have experienced a trauma which you cannot let go of even months or years later, and which still causes you so much stress that your daily functioning is difficult or simply impossible. A trauma can be anything: the passing away of a loved one, rape, a robbery,... It is an event which is paired with major emotions and often with major types of stress. But when do you have a post traumatic stress disorder? Not all traumas lead to such a disorder. it thus does not have to be a consequence of a trauma. A post traumatic stress disorder only develops when the stress of the event keeps following you and the memories of the trauma cause such stress that the daily functioning is compromised. Examples here are sleeping, buying groceries, having a drink with friends For example, after a robbery you might be so afraid of going out into the streets that you no longer dare to buy groceries. Oftentimes, memories of the event or trauma also flash before your eyes at random times, and this causes such stress and sometimes anxiety that you collapse, or that you cannot continue with whatever it was that you were doing. These memories are different for everyone, but they almost always have the same consequence: major stress, and often a deep feeling of anxiety or sadness.
Post traumatic stress disorder: treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder
If you suffer from a posttraumatic stress disorder, it is useful to work on both this stress as well as on the underlying cause of your stress. In this disorder that is then the trauma and the memories of the trauma. 15 Minutes 4 Me developed an online self-help program, which supports you in treating stress and the treatment of your trauma and your memories, which have been left over after the traumatic event has taken place.
Post traumatic stress disorder: take the stress test
If you want to know to what extent you suffer from stress after a trauma or in case you want to know to what extent you can treat your stress at the hand of the online program, you can take the online, free stress test!