Facts on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Aug 20
11:08

2012

Dr. Eric Ryan

Dr. Eric Ryan

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In my Santa Rosa psychotherapy practice I have successfully treated a number of people with PTSD due to past abuse, trauma, and related stress. I would like to talk to you about your PTSD or related traumatic stress, and help you understand how PTSD and trauma may be affecting you, as well as how to get help to resolve these types of wounds.

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Hello,Facts on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Articles I am Santa Rosa California mental health treatment provider, psychologist, Dr. Eric Ryan - I help people learn to overcome their past traumas, nightmares, panic or anxiety, and related fears! I provide treatment for your Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and trauma.  In this sense I am a trauma or PTSD doctor, therapist, or counselor.  In my Santa Rosa psychotherapy practice I have successfully treated a number of people with PTSD due to past abuse, trauma, and related stress.  I would like to talk to you about your PTSD or related traumatic stress, and help you understand how PTSD and trauma may be affecting you, as well as how to get help to resolve these types of wounds.

If you or a loved one experienced a recent or past trauma, were abused as a child or in a current relationship, you may have PTSD or some traumatic stress related reaction.  Emotional trauma causes reactions like PTSD but also depression and other anxiety disorders like panic, phobia’s, chronic worry or generalized anxiety disorder, hyper-vigilance, numbing of normal responding, mistrust of others, social anxiety disorder, and many other concerns.  Here is some information regarding Trauma and PTSD:

PTSD Explained: To receive a formal diagnosis of PTSD, you must have experienced an event that “involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others” and must have reacted with “intense fear, helplessness, or horror”.  PTSD involves a cluster of 3 core symptoms: Flashbacks or intrusive thoughts and images (includes nightmares), Avoidance of situations that remind you of the event (includes blocking out memories of the trauma and numbing), and symptoms of Arousal (like getting easily startled, having excessive anxiety, being charged up on adrenaline and other symptoms). To learn more about PTSD, Trauma and its treatment, go to “What is Trauma and How is it Treated?”

The type, amount or duration, and age at exposure to trauma all play a role in its development. While psychological trauma can occur at any point in the lifespan, trauma has its most profound impact when it occurs during early childhood or adolescence and becomes less pervasively damaging with later onset. Trauma that occurs during these developmentally vulnerable times can lead to PTSD, but may also cause disturbances in emotional development, problems with clear thinking, physical problems, and can cause serious disruptions in your relationships!  In other words, if you grew up with physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, you may have more complex PTSD type symptoms.  The longer and more frequent the abuse, the more the core symptoms of PTSD (chronic anxiety and related arousal, numbing, intrusive thoughts, poor self-esteem) become intertwined with your personality development: past traumas become integrated into a core sense of who you are!

Important Facts about Trauma and PTSD:

  • Approximately 15 to 25% of any traumatic event leads to the development of PTSD and especially severe traumas called “high magnitude trauma” may double this rate!
  • Interpersonal violence, such as torture and assault, and prolonged and/or repeated events such as childhood sexual abuse, are more likely than natural events to results in a traumatic response.
  • The estimated lifetime prevalence of PTSD among adult Americans is 7.8%, with women (10.4%) twice as likely as men (5%) to develop PTSD at some point in their lives.
  • Across gender, sexual assault and interpersonal violence are associated with the highest PTSD rates overall.
  • Between 17 and 33% of women in the general population report sexual–physical abuse and between 40 to 70% of people receiving psychiatric treatment experienced a childhood trauma

The good news about trauma and PTSD is that there are effective psychologically based treatments that can really help!  Perhaps the most important factor in trauma or PTSD recovery is finding a psychotherapist that you can really connect with.  The degree that you feel ready for treatment coupled with the attachment or connection to your therapist, can lead to feeling truly better about yourself, especially if you are willing to gradually, at your own pace, talk about some of the past difficulties.  This can be a slow and gradual process but is essential for trauma recovery.  I hope this article was helpful and I wish you well!