What is PTSD?

Introduction PTSD

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Continued

The psychological trauma arises because the normal

intense emotions and the resulting reactions

transition into long-lasting over time

stuck reactions.

One moves psychobiologically from a situation of defense, during the danger, to a situation of survival, after the danger. This, because in the end, nothing feels safe anymore, where all self-confidence is suddenly gone. A traumatized part of the person arises - a survival part and a healthy part. This way, the person is allowed to survive the situation.

In PTSD, a trigger leads to constant alertness of the body that leads to all kinds of feelings – it is a systemic biological response of the body that no longer corresponds to the here-and-now. As a result, one has lost all control in the here-and-now and thus begins to live, as it were, from memory.

A trigger is an event, object, image, or cue that evokes feelings of anxiety, fear, anger, or other types of personal strain and stress.

Triggers are often harmless but are associated with the original trauma.

For most people with PTSD, triggers aren't necessarily dangerous, but they remind them of their traumatic experiences.

Examples of triggers are;

• Leaving dishes in the sink at night
• People staring at you
• The aggressive attitude of others
• Siren noises
• Beacon lights
• Sudden loud bang
• The smell after an accident
• Incompetent leadership (occupational exposure)
• No respect for leadership (occupational exposure)
• People who don't understand you
• Smell of rubber
• Scent of gasoline
• The scent of diesel oil
• Long checkout lines at the supermarket 
• Being forced to stay in one place 
• Parking in crowded places 
• Choosing a spot with others in a packed restaurant or on a packed terrace 
• People with a different ethnic background 
• Appointments, especially with unknown people 
• Motorists who do not meet expectations 
• Slowness and slowness of thinking 
• People who are not interested in their work
• People who are late for appointments
• People who do not keep appointments
• Curious people who ask a lot of questions
• Unruly children
• Sexual advances from strangers
• Angry voice in the conversation
• Obligation to meet someone

The left and right amygdala (ancient brain) recognize the resemblance, and - not realizing that the danger is over - the amygdala produces a wave of fear that triggers the fight, flight, freeze, or faint response. Likewise, certain sights, sounds, smells, bodily sensations, places, activities, and situations can be triggers for people with PTSD and can lead to a wave of anxiety and a strong urge to flee or avoid.

Avoidance is a short-term strategy for escaping resistance and pain and a long-term strategy for running away from resistance and pain, causing perpetuate personal suffering.

No situation is taken for granted – life is suddenly full of insecurities and imperfections, and because one has lost self-confidence, helplessness, despair, and hopelessness come to the fore.

When additional dejection is often added, one is not only 'gloomy,' but everything has also flattened out in terms of mood and becomes 'weak.' The 'image' of life becomes 'black and white.' Who and what can still be 'beautiful' when everything has lost its color?

The latter makes self-acceptance, but also acceptance by the environment of the person with PTSD, so challenging.

Typical symptoms of PTSD are:

• Increased irritability 
• Re-experiences (*1) with nightmares (associated with poor sleep) and panic attacks 
• Memories (*2) Flashbacks (*3) and partial or complete dissociation (*4) 
• Avoidance of stimuli or numb response to the environment 
• Negative thoughts and gloomy and negative mood 
• Severe disturbance of the energy balance - being in action and 'recharging' becomes more and more difficult.

The associated symptoms can be confused with Burnout symptoms. However, I call Burnout "the new PTSD Trojan Horse", because it is unfortunately not well recognized by many, and therefore, valuable time is lost for someone with PTSD symptoms. (Read more about this in the PTSD in Beeld article: "Burnout - The new PTSD 'Trojan Horse' - It's not always what you 'see'..."

However, with PTSD, these symptoms persist even after one month after the trauma in question and strongly influence the person's daily life. Therefore, as the psychological problems increase, prompt help is critical.

The longer the situation persists, the greater the

disruption of everyday life is – not only from

the person with PTSD himself, but

including their partner, children,

extended family and work environment.

Work quickly becomes complicated because all kinds of unusual situations and unwanted moments arise at work, reactions often considered inappropriate by others. Ultimately, the uncontrolled unwanted moments lead to reprimands, absenteeism, or even suspension.

In the section Memory and Trauma, I will go deeper into re-experiences and memories. I will therefore describe the significant difference between these two. (*1, *2)

(*3) In a specific PTSD by Image article "Ongoing traumas don't exist – triggers that cause flashbacks and continuous stress reactions do!" I describe the various forms of flashbacks, the general character of which is an unpredictable and uncontrollable takeover of the conscious mind.

Break-up (dissociation) sometimes occurs in PTSD when several psychological functions no longer function properly, for example, consciousness, memory, identity (who you are), and the perception of the environment. Sometimes this seems like dreaming away and therefore no longer being present in the space where you are, and you are literally somewhere else with your thoughts.

However, partial or complete dissociation is more potent. You are, as it were, 'outside yourself' – 'detached from yourself'. The sense of time is gone for a while, and you don't even know how much time has passed during the 'dissociation.' There are then fewer thoughts and feelings at that moment and there is a clear distortion of the memory. Sometimes it even happens that there is no conscious memory for the entire traumatic experience or specific horrible details of the trauma - you can also speak of a 'blackout' (*4) with a complete dissociation.

The reason for this is described and explained in the section "Memory and Trauma." The first has to do with the unconscious choice to keep the situation 'workable' by unconsciously staying away from it. This is a straightforward way of unconsciously dealing with the situation and of literally surviving.

Anyone can get PTSD, but there is one obvious

increased risk of (occupational) PTSD in, for example, the police, army, air force, navy, fire brigade,

ambulance, hospital, education staff,

executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs.

Fortunately, we now know that every 'not properly processed' event does not lead to PTSD.

We also know that events that have not been adequately processed can indeed leave unconscious 'trails' in the memory. We also know that these 'traces' at a later stage can unconsciously give rise to automatic unwanted effects in daily life.