A person experiencing a flashback of an earthquake, which he witnessed in the past.
Post traumatic stress disorder occurs in a person after a terrifying incident or a traumatic experience, for example: rape, being kidnapped, child abuse, witnessing a natural disaster, or even in war veterans
Post traumatic stress disorder is a result of a personal harm done to the person or someone they loved deeply.
They feel the same stress and danger which they felt at the time of trauma accompanied by flashbacks and vivid recall of the experience.
This condition occurs usually within 3 months of the incidence, and it can happen to a person of any age, although it happens more frequently in women.
Post traumatic stress disorder causes persistent mental and emotional stress and should last for a minimum period of 1 month to be diagnosed as post traumatic stress disorder.
It is often accompanied by depression and other anxiety disorders, and substance abuse among people with PTSD is also high.
Psychotherapy, exposure therapies have been found effective in treatment of this disorder.
SYMPTOMS
- Physical symptoms
- Difficulty in sleeping
- Increased heart rate
- High blood pressure
- Changes in appetite
- sweating
Emotional symptoms
- Depression
- Intense guilt
- Emotionally numb
- Panic attacks
- Experiencing of flashbacks
FACTS
73% is the risk of women having PTSD after being raped or sexually assaulted.
CASE STUDIES
S D, 26 was working in a MNC, one night while returning home she was brutally molested and physically injured by a cab driver from whom she took lift to home. At first she seemed to be recovering gradually and her appetite was normal, but after a few months she started becoming depressed and highly anxious. She somehow got clouded by intense guilt and started blaming herself for that incidence. First her sleeping cycle got disturbed as she was unable to sleep at night, then she started encountering visual flashbacks of the night when she was molested. She stopped going to the office fearing something of that nature might occur with her again. She became extremely quiet and socially isolated. She started feeling disgusted and embarrassed of her own self, and would often stare at the ceiling for hours and cry. Her visual flashbacks appeared mostly at the same time of night when that incidence occurred. She put herself in a cycle of self pity and guilt, that’s when her sister got her to the clinic on a friend’s reference. Her immediate treatment and counselling started after understanding what she is going through.
