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How does trauma relate to PTSD?

14 Answers
Last Updated: 03/08/2021 at 6:05pm
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Top Rated Answers
fantasticCloud95
December 25th, 2014 12:14am
When a person experiences trauma, their bodies go into a stress response. Hormones are released (such as adrenaline and cortisol) that keep your body pumped and wired to respond to the threat. Your body can only maintain this response for a certain amount of time, before it begins to tire out, just like tense muscles can't stay tense forever. Your body's response to this is to numb those responses to allow you to continue functioning. Unfortunately, this results in a body that acts like there's a stressor present, even when one isn't, leading to the familiar PTSD symptoms of flashbacks, increased startle response, trouble sleeping, and irritability. Treatments such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprogramming (EMDR) have shown promise in reactivating these trauma responses and gently deprogramming or turning them off so these symptoms go away.
kaska
September 30th, 2014 6:59am
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating mental disorder that follows experiencing or witnessing an extremely traumatic, tragic, or terrifying event. People with PTSD usually have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal and feel emotionally numb, especially with people they were once close to. PTSD, once referred to as "shell shock" or battle fatigue, was first brought to public attention by war veterans, but it can result from any number of traumatic incidents. These include kidnapping, serious accidents such as car or train wrecks, natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes, violent attacks such as a mugging, rape, or torture, or being held captive. The event that triggers it may be something that threatened the person's life or the life of someone close to him or her. Or it could be something witnessed, such as mass destruction after a plane crash. Most people with posttraumatic stress disorder repeatedly re-live the trauma in the form of nightmares and disturbing recollections during the day. The nightmares or recollections may come and go, and a person may be free of them for weeks at a time, and then experience them daily for no particular reason. They may also experience sleep problems, depression, feeling detached or numb, or being easily startled. They may lose interest in things they used to enjoy and have trouble feeling affectionate. They may feel irritable, more aggressive than before, or even violent. Seeing things that remind them of the incident may be very distressing, which could lead them to avoid certain places or situations that bring back those memories. Anniversaries of the event are often very difficult. PTSD can occur at any age, including childhood. The disorder can be accompanied by depression, substance abuse, or anxiety. Symptoms may be mild or severe -- people may become easily irritated or have violent outbursts. In severe cases, they may have trouble working or socializing. In general, the symptoms seem to be worse if the event that triggered them was initiated by a person -- such as a murder, as opposed to a flood. 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. Posttraumatic stress disorder can be treated, usually with a combination of psychotherapy and medications (for specific symptom relief, such as for the common accompanying depressive feelings). People with PTSD should seek out a therapist or psychologists with specific experience and background in treatment posttraumatic stress disorder. -PsychCentral on PTSD http://psychcentral.com/disorders/ptsd/
DrLadyZ
October 16th, 2014 5:55am
Trauma and PTSD. It is not just for Soldiers anymore ! Never was. Stalking, Rape, Abuse and more are moments of trauma that can cause serious issues with PTSD. Take it seriously, because ever time you have any added trauma it can and will effect it. Be aware PTSD can make you feel and relive situations and have uncontrollable fear. Traumas even auto accidents can cause it or help heighten it. You can live with it and eventually overcome it. Have faith in YOU ! Seek Help and Professionals when needed. Dont be scared. YOU HAVE places like this and Help !
Anonymous
October 25th, 2014 5:24pm
Most people handle trauma without any long term problems. Occassionally, weeks or months after, people might relive the event, avoid situations in which the same thing might arise, or feel a constant state of being more aware of warning signs. This is called PTSD, and there are special treatments for it.
Anonymous
October 27th, 2014 4:04pm
PTSD stands for post traumatic stress disorder, relating them in the sense that they both happen when one experiences a great amount of conflicting emotions that lead up to being scared of someone or thing
Anonymous
November 11th, 2014 2:07am
In some cases, trauma will result in PTSD. Not all trauma results in future PTSD symptoms. In fact, the same exact trauma in one person may lead to PTSD and not in another person. There are many factors. But basically the difference is how the trauma is processed at the time it occurs. Different people will process trauma differently. Most of the time it is processed in a way that avoids PTSD. But other times the trauma does not get processed correctly and PTSD results.
JulieAliH
November 11th, 2014 10:06pm
Trauma causes post-traumatic stress disorder. After experiencing a significant trauma, a person may be unable to cope and the trauma remains with them in the form of PTSD.
RalphBG
December 9th, 2014 10:38am
Because PTSD, is extreme anxiety from a traumatic event. It's not just anxiety, its from a traumatic event that happened in their life. For example, abuse, bullying, and anything else that happened that is traumatic.
EmmaV
- Expert in Domestic Violence
December 21st, 2014 7:44pm
Well PTSD occurs as a result of trauma. Basically your brain is trying to deal with something really really terrible and it struggles, resulting in many of the PTSD symptoms such as nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks, difficulty concentrating ect.
lafleursauvage
December 28th, 2014 6:08pm
Trauma is a direct precursor of PTSD. PTSD stands for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Contrary to popular belief, PTSD is not only found and recurrent in war veterans and soliders; the disorder can be found in many people and different ages.
Josefinagrima
January 6th, 2015 3:09pm
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop following a traumatic event that threatens your safety or makes you feel helpless. Any overwhelming life experience can trigger PTSD, especially if you feel that the event is unpredictiable and uncontrollable. It is normal for people to feel disconnected, numb, have bad dreams, and find it difficult to stop thinking about what happened after a traumatic event. For most people these symptoms are short-lived but with people that have PTSD the symptoms don't decrease.
Anonymous - Expert in Domestic Violence
November 3rd, 2015 4:59pm
For some people trauma - especially if prolonged exposure to trauma changes occur in brain chemistry and in some cases brain structure. The trauma was so severe to that person their mind was unable to process it leaving them distressing symptoms like hypervigilence flashbacks and distressing thoughts
Anonymous
February 12th, 2019 12:31am
Trauma relates to ptsd because when you experience trauma it sometimes causes ptsd which could be things like flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Trauma can relate to ptsd in so many different ways there are many ways to have PTSD but trauma is a factor in it. I know from what I have learnt is that the trauma that you experience can affect you majorly and when it does PTSD can occur. I am not sure the totally relation but there is a connection between the two. As far as I know
Anonymous
March 8th, 2021 6:05pm
When a person goes through Trama it leaves imprints in their brain. The actual brain chemistry changes and so does the structure of the brain. PTSD is one way your brain tries to process this trauma. PTSD can seem like the ghosts of the past constantly haunting you but you can rest assured that there is hope. Trama may cause PTSD but therapy can help resolve it. PTSD is a terrible thing and, personally, I struggle with it every day but, with help from my psychologist, I'm slowly getting better. You just have to have the determination to get better.