PTSD Poll/Question Results for What is the Cause of you PTSD?
PTSD Poll/Question Results for What is the cause of your PTSD?
The results are now in for our latest PTSD Poll/question on 'What is the cause of your PTSD?
Once again the Poll received a great response. This was an anonymous poll and I would like to thank everyone who took part :)
***Participants could select multiple answers******
The results are as follows:
80.8% said Childhood Abuse (Physical, Sexual, Emotional/Psychological & Neglect) was the cause of their PTSD
37% said Rape or Sexual Assault as an adult was the cause of their PTSD
30.1% said Traumatic Loss was the cause of their PTSD
26% said Bullying was the cause of their PTSD
12.3% said a Medical Condition was the cause of their PTSD
12.3% said being a Victim of Assault was the cause of their PTSD
11% said being a Victim of Crime was the cause of their PTSD
11% said losing someone through Suicide was the cause of their PTSD
5.5% said being in a Major Accident was the cause of their PTSD
4.1% said experiences through Working in the Emergency Services (Fire, Police, Paramedics etc) was the cause of their PTSD
2.7% said Acts of terrorism was the cause of their PTSD
1.4% said Abduction was the cause of their PTSD
1.4% said Combat/Miltary service was the cause of their PTSD
13.7% said the cause of their PTSD was something else eg: Being sectioned, domestic violence, murder, parenting children with special needs, family illness
There are many experiences which could cause someone to develop PTSD as the above demonstrates. PTSD involves emotional/psychological trauma as a result of suffering stressful and distressing events which leads to a shattering of a sense of safey and security. This then can make those who have suffered those events feel helpless in what is often perceived as a dangerous world. Traumatic experiences often involve threat, threat to life, threat to safety. But any situation where you feel overwhelmed, distraught and isolated can lead someone to feel traumatised, even if it doesnt involve physical harm. Its not the objective facts that determine whether an event is traumatic, but an individuals subjective emotional experience of what they went through. The more frightened and helpless someone is made to feel, the more likely they are to become traumatised and subsequently this could then lead to PTSD.
@KristenHR @PuppyLove13 @MonBon @Anomalia @AutumnLeigh @MissZ @Laura @PhoenixPatronus @agreeableKite4304 @sujaypai @CalmCoach @jr50 @SmileYoureWorthIt @Isaac @QuickJazz @DeborahUK @RideaRainbow @generousWaterfall39 @invaderStitch
idk if its just be, but i feel like its weird to treat this as like, a game.
interesting results, thank you for sharing.
what stood out the most to you?
@Laura Hi Laura. As I was discussing with Rain that Childhood abuse stands at a glaring 80%+ evidencing that it emanates from the early years. Also the fact that the next major causes are rapes as an adult (calls for a greater need for legal protection and addressing this as society as well) and Trauma loss at a still substantial 30%.
@Laura what stood out for me, putting it together was I kind of expected childhood abuse and adult assault and rape to be fairly high but 80% was a massive percentage and this would fit with the kind of issues we support regular members with.
What was interesting for me, was seeing Traumatic Loss up there on the list and this is an issue we have introduced recently into our community and into our support sessions. We'd been planning to do so for a while and had been planning to for some time as traumatic loss features in a lot of the kind of issues our members struggle with. Loss too, doesnt have to be about having lost someone through death, it could be lost opportunities as a result of truama experienced, loss of childhood, loss of independence and so on.
There were no response for natural disaster which i was a little surprized about and also very surprised at the low percentage for Combat Trauma. We've had a section for Combat Trauma in the forums for a while now but activity was very low and so we have moved this and other forms of traumatic experiences such as natural disaster, refugee trauma into one thread, 'Other Traumatic Experiences. Having read up on PTSD within the military, whilst PTSD is very common for those who have been part of the armed forces, the numbers of those affected by PTSD is similar to that of the generla population
The majority of people serving in the armed forces, do not experience lasting psychological wounds as a result of their service. and for those who do, therapeutic treatments are often offered. Whereas for those who have suffered childhood trauma's, getting offered therapy can actually be an uphill battle. Around 1 in 25 Regular serving military personnel and around 1 in 20 Reservists will report symptoms of PTSD following deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan.
For those who have suffered long term trauma particularly childhood trauma, the PTSD they suffer has been compounded by attachment issues when they were children, where there may have been no safe caregivers and no feeling of safety for a child. For some people serving in the military they will have not experienced this necessarily and perhaps may be more equipped emotionally to cope better with the effects of their military service.
Furthermore, 1 in 5 Veterans are likely to suffer from a common mental illness - such as depression, anxiety or substance (generally alcohol) misuse - which has been caused or aggravated by their Armed Forces experiences and this may be the main issue they struggle with as opposed to having a PTSD diagnosis.
@dancingRainbow45
I'm just gonna throw out there that I responded with the top four answers. Child abuse led to withdrawal which led to bullying, and also sexual abuse and assault, and I've also watched two family members die.
@BeeLeigh That's right Leigh. We are just looking at that in the data analysed. And they are substantial numbers.
