11 PTSD Myths. 11 PTSD Realities.
PTSD Myth #1
Developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) requires exposure to a dramatic, life-threatening event like those that occur in war.
The Reality
It is now clear that domestic and repeated events that happen over time can also cause PTSD. For example, years of child abuse can cause PTSD as well being raped or witnessing a natural disaster. The actual event is less important than the fear or helplessness it evokes. It is not hard to see how a child strapped down to the gurney on his way to have his tonsils taken out might feel trapped, helpless, and terrified.
PTSD Myth #2
Symptoms of PTSD show up shortly after a dramatic event.
The Reality
While symptoms, particularly anxiety, usually develop within the first few months after trauma, they may not appear until months and occasionally years later. While you can try and buy wholesale hemp to ease your insomnia, your symptoms may still begin to appear later on in your life. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, irritability and others may subside and reoccur later in life. This is often the case with victims of childhood abuse. Some people don’t recognize that they have PTSD because they may not associate their current symptoms with past trauma. With domestic violence, the victim may not realize that their prolonged, constant exposure to abuse puts them at risk. If you’re looking for different solutions to treat your PTSD you could have a look into how to buy shatter online, providing it legal in your location of residence and your Doctor has given you the go ahead to try using cannabis as a relief for your PTSD. More people than you realize decide to take cannabis substances that can help relieve the symptoms of their depression, anxiety, and insomnia. Some may even decide to have a look at kings-pipe.com/ to see what products they can use to smoke their chosen substance through to help support their relief. This is definitely something that you should consider doing if you want to feel better in yourself and to improve your quality of life.
PTSD Myth #3
It is easy to distinguish the symptoms of PTSD from the symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI).
The Reality
It can be far from straightforward. PTSD and TBI have several symptoms in common. These include irritability, concentration deficits, and amnesia for the underlying event itself, reduced cognitive processing ability, insomnia and anxiety. There are findings that show PTSD can occur in patients with TBI. It seems that only those patients who remained conscious during the traumatic event are at risk for PTSD. Loss of consciousness may actually be protective with regard to developing PTSD.
PTSD Myth #4
The symptoms of PTSD are vague and nebulous.
The Reality
In general, there are 5 main clusters of symptoms:
a) Re-experiencing: Nightmares, flashbacks or having triggers that brings back thoughts of the combat zone. For example: loud noises, smells and sights. Understanding triggers can be valuable.
b) Avoidance: Don’t want to think about their time in the combat theatre or be exposed to people, places or things that remind them of their traumatic experience. They avoid talking about it, and attempt (usually unsuccessfully) to even think about it.
c) Negative thoughts and emotions: People with severe PTSD may have depression along with socialization issues. One of the symptoms of avoidance is what’s called a constriction of mood, or no full range of moods, just parts (usually the negative ones) of moods.
d) Another symptom is detachment, or the feeling that they’re not all there; their minds are elsewhere. Lack of trust abounds, and guilt may be present.
e) Arousal: Not sleeping well at night, being easily started, jumpy, hyper-vigilant or suspicious, anger, irritability, agitation and anxiety.
PTSD is also often accompanied by other serious problems – depression, sleep disorders, chronic pain, substance abuse and suicide. Sometimes these resolve if the PTSD does, but often they require specific attention.
PTSD Myth #5
PTSD is like being pregnant-you either have it or you don’t.
The Reality
Like most human qualities, the symptoms of PTSD are on a spectrum. Some people have more severe versions-severe anxiety, flashbacks, depression, insomnia and nightmares, for example. Others have milder versions-unpleasant memories, preferring not to revisit certain locations and being somewhat easily agitated. Just knowing someone has PTSD does not say anything about how severe the problem is.
PTSD Myth #6
Most people exposed to a true life-threatening event will develop PTSD.
The Reality
The majority of humans are inherently resilient. Only 10-20 % actually develop PTSD when exposed to a traumatic event. The number of people who receive a diagnosis after a life threatening event ranges from less than 10% of people after more than 12 months of exposure to general trauma versus 37% of people exposed to intentional trauma such as domestic violence as opposed to an accident or natural disaster.
PTSD Myth #7
Veterans who develop PTSD have spent more time on the front lines than veterans who haven’t been on the battlefront.
The Reality
With veterans, direct contact with battle is less essential for the development of PTSD than originally thought. At least two factors account for that. The first is that a higher percentage of veterans developing PTSD had troubled childhoods-social or family violence, poor neighborhoods and schools etc. Somehow these future soldiers are at risk by virtue of the obstacles they have already encountered in life. Also, it seems from a number of studies that PTSD is less the result of witnessing trauma than how well the veteran is integrated back in his community-friendships, family etc. A more integrated veteran is much less likely to develop PTSD. He will have a much easier time going forward in his life.
PTSD Myth #8
If you develop PTSD it’s because of a weak character.
The Reality
Anyone who experiences a traumatic event can experience post-traumatic stress disorder regardless of strength of character. These include victims of rape, domestic violence, and even car accidents. PTSD is epidemic, however, among soldiers. It’s not really clear why some people get PTSD and others don’t. Women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with PTSD than men are. However, women are more likely to be diagnosed with many mental disorders such as anxiety, depression and insomnia because they are more likely to seek help and receive a diagnosis. People who are exposed to domestic trauma such as sexual assault or warfare, are more likely to have symptoms than survivors of accidents or natural disasters.
PTSD Myth #9
PTSD makes you violent and dangerous.
The Reality
Most media accounts of the Fort Hood shooting, for example, emphasize that Specialist Ivan Lopez was being evaluated for PTSD. Unfortunately, this propagates the myth that individuals with PTSD can snap at any time or go on Rambo-like rampages. Every time the media links PTSD or veterans with violence, more veterans push their struggles underground, try to go it alone, and don’t seek help. It doesn’t have anything to do with inner strength. Sadly, if anyone gets hurt, it’s most likely to be the person with PTSD. The incidence of suicide in the Army has increased over the past several years, moving from below to above the rate of the general population. One in five suicides in the US are by a veteran.
PTSD Myth 10
The trauma was so long ago that it’s too late to do anything.
The Reality
The good news is that it’s never too late to address trauma. In fact many clients are middle-age survivors of childhood sexual abuse. There are a lot of reasons that someone would wait to get treatment, but the decades separating them from their trauma are not an obstacle. In fact, in some ways it is easier treating this group than individuals whose event was less than a year ago-much of their identity around the trauma has been settled, and to some degree so has the meaning of the event in their lives.
PTSD Myth 11
PTSD is a disorder of adults, not children.
The Reality
Children are more susceptible to PTSD because they have less fully developed resilience and coping mechanisms. Roughly 43% of the boys and girls will experience a traumatic event at some point during their lives. Roughly 6% of the boys and 15% of the girls develop post-traumatic stress disorder. A minimum of 33% of the youth exposed to community violence develop PTSD. More than 80% of the children who witness or experience sexual abuse, sexual assault, physical abuse or homicide will develop PTSD.
This is PTSD from “domestic” causes. The incidence of PTSD is worse than those in the military. It is appalling that as a society we allow this situation to continue.
