Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental disorder that occurs after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event, characterized by intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and heightened reactivity.
Traumatic events, such as the death of important people, accidents or traumatic childbirths, can cause a state of post-traumatic stress in which the affected person may have more or less serious symptoms that do not disappear on their own. These symptoms can be:
- Recalling the trauma (flashbacks), sometimes with nightmares or instantaneous and involuntary memories at any time of the day.
- A feeling of strong anxiety when coming into contact with people, places or any circumstances that remind us of the trauma.
- Palpitations, difficulty breathing, sweating every time the triggering event is remembered.
- Avoid conversations, places, people, in general anything that can be related to the trauma.
- Inability to remember important details of the event.
- Feeling psychically distant, numb and paralyzed by any normal emotional experience.
- Believing that life is going to be shorter than logically expected.
- Losing interest in hobbies and entertainment.
- Showing signs of hyperactivity: difficulty sleeping, irritability, inability to concentrate, or becoming very easily alarmed.
When the traumas have occurred during childhood, their effects can be much more complicated and difficult to manage, we can then talk about complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD).
