Disasters such as earthquake, flood, landslide, avalanche, drowning hazard, fire; violence such as war, armed attack, torture, extortion, rape, kidnapping; occupational homicides such as falling under a dent in a mine, falling from a construction site; exposure to one or more of the situations such as traffic, sea or plane crash, and fatal allergic reactions, a family member or close friend’s
Hearing that you have been exposed, witnessing others being exposed can lead to PTSD.
PTSD has some symptoms. These; Constantly remembering the traumatic event, visualizing the images in the mind, behaving as if the event is in the present moment, feeling intensely distressed by any stimulus that reminds the event, nightmares with traumatic content, staying away from situations, people, places, activities, objects that remind of the traumatic event, missing important details about the traumatic event. being erased from memory, living in constant fear and dread, negative generalizations about oneself and the outside world (“I am responsible for his harassment, I am a bad person”, “no one can be trusted”, “the world is a very dangerous place”), loss of interest, emotional bluntness, detachment from the environment, being startled by sudden noises, having problems in sleeping, concentrating and maintaining work, suddenly getting angry at a small thing, and decreased tolerance.
Not everyone exposed to trauma develops post-traumatic stress disorder. Among the factors that constitute personal predisposition are introversion, high external locus of control, dysfunctional
coping attitudes, feelings of guilt about salvation, excessive anger, genetic and physical predisposition, the meaning of the trauma, recent stressful life events, personal or family history of psychiatric illness, alcohol or substance abuse history.
After trauma, some physiological changes occur in the person. Anxiety, fear, arousal, alertness, increase in selective attention, etc., which occur after the discharge of the sympathetic system, which is a protection system against the perception of danger in the body. are the biological responses of the individual to protect himself. Although increased blood pressure, sweating, and muscle tension can lead to the illusion that the person has a heart disease, these are temporary PTSD bodily reactions that do not pose a life-threatening condition.
There are multiple treatment methods applied for PTSD. Among these methods, EMDR Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Schema Therapy and drug therapy are the most used. It has been proven by many studies that the best treatment method is combined therapy, that is, the use of drug therapy and psychotherapy together.
