Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health problem/ anxiety disorder that develops in reaction to physical injury or severe mental or emotional distress, such as military combat, violent assault, natural disaster, or other life-threatening events. It was first recognised by war veterans. It has had different names in the past, such as ‘shell shock’, but it’s not only diagnosed in soldiers.
Common symptoms of PTSD
These are some common signs and symptoms that you might recognise. Everyone’s experience is different, so you may experience some, none, or all of these things.
- Reliving aspects of what happened
- Alertness or feeling on edge
- Voiding feelings or memories
What can cause PTSD?
- The situations we find traumatic can vary from person to person. Many different harmful or life-threatening events might cause someone to develop PTSD. For example:
- being involved in a car crash
- being raped or sexually assaulted
- being abused, harassed, or bullied – including racism, sexism,
- experiencing violence, including military combat, a terrorist attack, or any violent assault
- doing a job where you repeatedly see or hear distressing things, such as working in the emergency services or armed forces