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What is Post Trauma
When exposed to a traumatic event, the emotional/psychological system is flooded with more stimuli than it can contain and process. The stimuli remain in the system, in their raw, unprocessed state and occasionally return, forcing their way onto “center stage” in their original form. Therefore, the victim re-experiences the traumatic situation, whether it was emotional or physical, exactly as if it were occurring all over again. Images, memories, noises and odors that were part of the traumatic experience return to assault the victim. Since the intrusiveness of the trauma is very painful, victims make an effort to avoid anything that might remind them of the traumatic event, creating a cycle of the intrusion and avoidance. This cycle is the heart of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which is known professionally as P.T.S.D.
Post-trauma is not a weakness.
Post Traumatic Symptoms
Post-traumatic symptoms are a normal response to an abnormal situation.
Every person has certain limits and it is almost certain that any person would develop P.T.S.D. if exposed to a sufficiently severe trauma.
Intrusion
People who have experienced traumatic events frequently have intrusive symptoms, meaning that they occasionally re-experience the trauma: feeling, smelling, thinking and seeing in their mind’s eye what they felt, smelled, thought and saw then. The sense of danger that overwhelmed them at the time, overwhelms them again and they might feel panic, an urge to flee and furor at themselves and others. These feelings concern them greatly and make it difficult for victims to concentrate or sleep. Usually, the victim does not understand what is happening to him and cannot control or halt the symptoms, which intensifies his suffering.
Intrusive post-traumatic experiences can be:
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Painful memories of the traumatic event – thoughts, images, odors or tastes that were part of the event. |
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Dreams and nightmares about the event. |
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Feeling as if the event is re-occurring: flashbacks |
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A feeling of distress as result of being exposed to something that is reminiscent of the traumatic event. |
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Avoidance
Since these intrusive experiences are directly related to the trauma that occurred in the past and cause the victim to repeatedly feel endangered, he takes a variety of steps to protect himself from additional experiences of trauma. He becomes more suspicious, tends to react angrily towards people whom he experiences as threatening and take defensive actions in order to avoid re-experiencing the traumatic event. As part of his defensive action, the person with P.T.S.D. will avoid things that might recall the trauma.
Avoidance is expressed by the following actions:
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Efforts not to think, feel or talk about the traumatic event. |
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Avoidance of places, activities and people who might be reminiscent of the traumatic event. |
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Difficulty remembering details of the traumatic event. |
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Difficulty feeling warm emotions towards people. |
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Avoidance of strong emotions in general. |
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The victim no longer enjoys activities that he previously enjoyed. |
Sometimes the victim is aware of the fact that he is making an effort to avoid things that remind him of the trauma but sometimes he does not see the connection between the traumatic event and his behavior. Either way, avoidance might leave him with the illusion that he is successfully dealing with the difficulties that he experienced as the result of being exposed to the traumatic event. Avoidance may serve the victim well in the short run but in the long-term avoidance becomes fixated and significantly damages the quality of his life. Furthermore, frequent use of avoidance is evidence that the intrusive element of the trauma is still present and will, sooner or later, return in the form of intrusive symptoms.
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Hyperarousal
The intrusive experiences and the attempts to avoid anything that might be reminiscent of the trauma are evidence that the person feels endangered, even if there no immediate, apparent danger. The traumatic experience severely harms the victim’s belief that the world is a good, safe place, the belief that most other people are good and the feeling of “it won’t happen to me.” After the traumatic experience, the victim feels that world is full of threats so he must be alert and constantly ready to react immediately to any renewed attack on him. This constant state of readiness to respond immediately to danger causes the victim to experience heightened physiological arousal and psychological tension, which did not characterize him previously and which can damage his ability to concentrate. For example, many victims are unable to read a book for an extended time, are easily distracted, have difficulty sleeping and it takes them a long time to complete tasks that they were previously able to do easily.
Hyperarousal is expressed by the following ways:
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Difficulty sleeping (trouble falling asleep and remaining asleep) |
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Anger, irritability and/or outburst of anger |
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Difficulty concentrating |
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Loud noises or an unexpected close approach of another person terrify the victim and make him “jump.” |
The symptoms of PTSD are not merely a pathological expression but rather an active attempt to organize the traumatic experience, from an emotional or psychological perspective, and even resolve it. However, without proper care the symptoms themselves can lead to allied difficulties. For example, a victim who attempts to avoid speaking about the traumatic event and feels that he is not being understood may progressively disconnect from more and more friends and family members. The disconnection leads to loneliness or isolation which may, in turn, increase his feeling of despondency and even cause depression. It is very important to interrupt this process before it effects an increasingly large portion of the victim’s life.
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