Symptoms of PTSD Diagnosis
Following are the symptoms due to which Best PTSD Treatment becomes necessary:
1. Intrusion: unwanted thoughts, images, impulses, or urges that can occur spontaneously or that can be cued by external/internal stimuli. Typically, these thoughts are distressing (hence “intrusive”) and tend to recur. Nightmares, experiencing flashbacks of the traumatic event. This can make people feel as though they are re-experiencing the trauma again and again.
2. Evasion: Evasion of things that trigger the traumatic experience such as, but not limited to situations, people, locations, activities, and certain items that played a role in the traumatic event. Individuals often try to forget or avoid remembering the events. They may internalize their emotions as a way to avoid their emotions and will not want to talk about what happened.
3. Modification in mood and cognition: many people cannot remember details of the traumatic event, some may have negative thoughts and emotions that lead to twisted thinking and distorted beliefs about self or others (“I am not likable,” “people are all bad”); distorted thought process about ramifications or cause of the traumatic event leading to inaccurately placing blame on others or self, some experience ongoing fear, anger, shame or guilt and do not enjoy activities they once liked, feeling disconnected or distant from others, or unable to feel happiness or experience positive feeling and/or emotions.
4. Adaptation in reactivity and arousal: this may cause symptoms of irritability, angry outbursts, negligence, or becoming self destructive, hypervigilance-being watchful over one's environment, feeling unsafe; heightened startle response, lack of concentration and problems falling or staying asleep.
For a person to be diagnosed with PTSD, the symptoms listed above must have lasted for longer than a month and must cause impairment in daily functioning. Multiple individuals notice symptoms within three months of the traumatic event, but symptoms may happen later on and will persist for months and/or even years later. PTSD can be linked to other mental health disorders such as depression, memory issues, substance use, and other mental or physical health problems, making PTSD Treatment necessary for improvement.