The Four Characteristics of PTSD

The most common events leading to the development of PTSD include combat exposure, childhood physical abuse, sexual violence, physical assault, being threatened with a weapon, and accidents.

What most people don’t know is that many other traumatic events also can lead to PTSD, such as fire, natural disaster, mugging, robbery, plane crash, torture, kidnapping, life-threatening medical diagnosis, terrorist attack, and other extreme or life-threatening events.

PTSD can also be caused by domestic violence, prolonged exposure to violence, prolonged stress, and any experience that brings into question our ability to remain safe from harm.

It is important to note that not everyone who experiences a traumatic event will develop PTSD. And not everyone who develops PTSD will experience it the same way.

All of our experiences, good and bad, are stored in the brain by encoding the experience in actual neurologic structural change, These connections are physically linked to other encodings (experiences) of similar nature. Just as a certain song on the radio may recall a pleasant time in high school. A particular smell or sound, for example, can bring up a traumatic event in which a similar smell or sound was involved. We call this a trigger. A trigger is whatever brings back the vivid memory of the initial traumatic event.

Most people who go through traumatic events may have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping, but with time and good self-care, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or even years, and interfere with your day-to-day functioning, you may have PTSD.

Getting effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can be critical to reduce symptoms and improve function.

What PTSD Looks Like

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms may start within one month of a traumatic event, but sometimes symptoms may not appear until years after the event. These symptoms cause significant problems in social or work situations and in relationships. They can also interfere with your ability to go about your normal daily tasks.

A person with post traumatic stress disorder may lose interest in things they used to enjoy and have trouble feeling affectionate. They may feel irritable, more aggressive than before, and even violent. Experiencing things that remind them of the incident (triggers) can cause them to relive the traumatic event, and could lead them to avoid certain places or situations that bring back those memories. Anniversaries of the event are often very difficult.

Ordinary events can serve as reminders of the trauma and trigger flashbacks or intrusive images. A flashback may make the person lose touch with reality and reenact the event for a period of seconds or hours or, very rarely, days. A person having a flashback, which can come in the form of images, sounds, smells, or feelings, usually believes that the traumatic event is happening all over again.

Characteristics of PTSD

PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions. Symptoms can vary over time or vary from person to person.

Intrusive memories

Symptoms of intrusive memories may include:

• Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the traumatic event

• Reliving the traumatic event as if it were happening again (flashbacks)

• Upsetting dreams or nightmares about the traumatic event

• Severe emotional distress or physical reactions to something that reminds you of the traumatic event

Avoidance

Symptoms of avoidance may include:

• Trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event

• Avoiding places, activities or people that remind you of the traumatic event

Negative Changes in Thinking and Mood

Symptoms of negative changes in thinking and mood may include:

• Negative thoughts about yourself, other people or the world

• Hopelessness about the future

• Memory problems, including not remembering important aspects of the traumatic event

• Difficulty maintaining close relationships

• Feeling detached from family and friends

• Lack of interest in activities you once enjoyed

• Difficulty experiencing positive emotions

• Feeling emotionally numb

Arousal Symptoms - Changes in Physical and Emotional Reactions

Symptoms of changes in physical and emotional reactions (arousal symptoms) may include:

• Being easily startled or frightened

• Always being on guard for danger

• Self-destructive behavior, such as drinking too much or driving too fast

• Trouble sleeping

• Trouble concentrating

• Irritability, angry outbursts or aggressive behavior

• Overwhelming guilt or shame

Intensity of Symptoms

PTSD symptoms can vary in intensity over time. You may have more PTSD symptoms when you're stressed in general, or when you come across reminders of what you went through. For example, you may hear a car backfire and relive combat experiences. Or you may see a report on the news about a sexual assault and feel overcome by memories of your own assault.

When to See a Doctor

If you have disturbing thoughts and feelings about a traumatic event for more than a month, if they're severe, or if you feel you're having trouble getting your life back under control, talk to your doctor or a mental health professional. Getting treatment as soon as possible can help prevent PTSD symptoms from getting worse.

If you think you may hurt yourself or attempt suicide, call 911 or your local emergency number immediately. Call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255) to reach a trained counselor. Use that same number and press 1 to reach the Veterans Crisis Line.

If you know someone who's in danger of attempting suicide or has made a suicide attempt, make sure someone stays with that person to keep him or her safe. Call 911 or your local emergency number immediately. Or, if you can do so safely, take the person to the nearest hospital emergency room.

The Role of Hypnosis

Because traumatic events are out of the ordinary and painful, those memories don’t easily connect with other life experiences. Hypnosis may be used to help link the patient’s strengths as well as a sense of calm and mastery to the original trauma. This aids in the healing process. Additionally, hypnosis can be used to enable the patient to visualize a happier, healthier future and a healing process generated by their own mind. Essentially, hypnosis can give the brain the tools and experiences it needs to reprogram itself for better functioning and diminished discomfort.

Several types of regression can be successfully used to help the client process all manner of traumatic memory. The hypnotherapist is able to use creativity and imagination to help the client work through the past event, but this time, with resources they did not have at the time of the original event. When this work is done in hypnosis, it changes the way the memory is stored and the way it functions in the body and mind. Clients are no longer held hostage by the past.

In a hypnotherapy session, the client is given multiple tools, resources, and opportunities to take back a sense of control. One method, called ego strengthening, employs a variety of techniques to help clients make direct contact to the parts of themselves that are strong, wise, and brave. By doing this, and providing a physical anchor to ‘lock in’ the resource via mind-body connection, clients gradually remember and reclaim their own agency. They are reminded of their own strengths and virtues, which is incredibly healing.

By using hypnosis, clients can access the pivotal events surrounding their trauma using guided and controlled regression. In trance, clients are able to change distorted and unhealthy beliefs and redefine their understanding of the events. Negative conclusions such as ‘I am bad’ are replaced with ‘I am good’ or ‘I am lovable.’

Too often, parts of ourselves become lost or shut off from the rest of us when a traumatic event occurs, often as a way of protecting that part of ourselves. To retrieve and reclaim lost parts is of immeasurable benefit to trauma survivors.

Part of my role as a hypnotherapist is to help the client to unfreeze their emotions and thoughts, process them, and release them. A major component of healing trauma is giving clients the ability to complete the action that they were not able to do when their trauma originally occurred. Trauma is rooted in the inability to take action that results from the ‘freeze’ response. This is where we begin to feel helpless.

In the safety of the controlled environment of the hypnotists office, we can create the space and environment needed for clients to resolve those emotional states. In hypnosis, the client can speak directly to their former self, instructing them and guiding them through the aftermath, or even through the event itself. This additional corrective experience can be monumental in helping a traumatized client release the past and move forward in their life.∎