You and Your Loved Ones Could Have PTSD

So many of the people I see in practice think they can't have PTSD because their trauma wasn't "bad enough".

This type of thinking prevents many folks who are suffering from getting adequate treatment.

What I find myself teaching my patients multiple times per week is that

PTSD has nothing to do with the severity of your trauma.

It's got everything to do with if you recover or not.

Doctors think of PTSD as ptsD.

The Disorder part of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is what we consider when we're thinking about a diagnosis.

We determine

1. Is the client having symptoms like the ones listed here? https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

2. Are these symptoms interrupting the client's life?

Please visit the link above from the NIH and look at the diagnostic criteria for PTSD.

Tell me - do you see anything in the criteria that asks

"Was the trauma severe enough to take seriously?"

"Do other people have it worse than this client?"

"Is what happened to them as bad as going to war?"

NO.

You don't see those questions because they have nothing to do with a PTSD diagnosis.

Instead, you see criteria like

"To be diagnosed with PTSD, an adult must have all of the following for at least 1 month:

• At least one re-experiencing symptom

• At least one avoidance symptom

• At least two arousal and reactivity symptoms

• At least two cognition and mood symptoms

Re-experiencing symptoms include:

• Flashbacks—reliving the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating