Understanding

post-traumatic stress disorder

understanding

post-traumatic
stress disorder

Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

This booklet is for anyone who experiences
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It explains
what PTSD is and the different types of treatment
available. It also suggests ways you can help
yourself, and what friends and family can do to help.

Contents
What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?

What causes PTSD?

How can I help myself?

What treatments are available?

10

How can friends and family help?

14

Useful contacts

16

Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?

If you are involved in or witness a traumatic event, it is common to
experience upsetting, distressing or confusing feelings afterwards. The
feelings of distress may not emerge straight away you may just feel
emotionally numb at first. After a while you may develop emotional and
physical reactions, such as feeling easily upset or not being able to sleep.
This is understandable, and many people find that these symptoms
disappear in a relatively short period of time. But if your problems last for
longer than a month, or are very extreme, you may be given a diagnosis
of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Theres no time limit on distress, and some people may not develop
post-traumatic symptoms until many years after the event. Additionally,
not everyone who has experienced a traumatic event develops PTSD.
Other terms for PTSD
The diagnosis PTSD was first used by veterans of the Vietnam War, but
the problem has existed for a lot longer and has had a variety of names,
including:

s hell shock
soldiers heart
battle fatigue
combat stress
post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS)

Today, the term PTSD can be used to describe the psychological problems
resulting from any traumatic event.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of PTSD can vary from person to person, although you
may experience some of the following.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?

Reliving aspects of the trauma:

vivid flashbacks (feeling that the trauma is happening all over again)
intrusive thoughts and images
nightmares
intense distress at real or symbolic reminders of the trauma
physical sensations, such as pain, sweating, nausea or trembling.

I feel like Im straddling a timeline where the past is pulling me

in one direction and the present another. I see flashes of images and
noises burst through, fear comes out of nowhere my heart races
and my breathing is loud and I no longer know where I am.
Alertness or feeling on edge:
panicking when reminded of the trauma
being easily upset or angry
extreme alertness
a lack of or disturbed sleep
irritability and aggressive behaviour
lack of concentration
being easily startled
self-destructive behaviour or recklessness.

I'm always left shaking violently afterwards and drenched in

sweat. I feel so ashamed of myself, yet I'm still too scared to look
up for fear of what's there.
Avoiding feelings or memories:
keeping busy
avoiding situations that remind you of the trauma
repressing memories (being unable to remember aspects of the event)
feeling detached, cut off and emotionally numb
being unable to express affection
using alcohol or drugs to avoid memories.

Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

I started experiencing symptoms of PTSD after my boyfriend

died. I suffered extremely vivid flashbacks that could happen at
any time, anywhere, and were deeply distressing I threw myself
into another relationship very quickly to try and avoid how I was
feeling, but then also would not express much affection to my
new partner.
You may also develop other mental health problems, such as:
severe anxiety
a phobia
depression
a dissociative disorder
suicidal feelings.

I was also deeply depressed and experiencing huge amounts

of anxiety, refusing to go anywhere alone or go near any men that
I didn't know [I] would lock my bedroom windows and barricade
my bedroom door at night.
(See Minds booklets Understanding anxiety and panic attacks,
Understanding phobias, Understanding depression, Understanding
dissociative disorders and How to cope with suicidal feelings for more
information on these problems.)

What causes PTSD?

The situations we find traumatic can vary from person to person and
different events can lead to PTSD. It may be that your responses have
been bottled up for a long time after the traumatic event has passed. Your
problems may only emerge months or sometimes years after a traumatic
experience, affecting your ability to lead your life as youd like to.

What causes PTSD?

traumatic event could include:

a serious accident, for example a car crash
an event where you fear for your life
being physically assaulted
being raped or sexually assaulted
abuse in childhood
a traumatic childbirth, either as a mother or a partner witnessing a
traumatic birth
extreme violence or war
military combat
seeing people hurt or killed
a natural disaster, such as flooding or an earthquake
losing someone close to you in disturbing circumstances.

I was mugged and then about a year later I was on the Tube
when the police were trying to arrest someone who had a gun. In
neither experience was I physically injured although in the second
one I thought I was going to die and that I was going to see lots of
other people die.
The following factors may also make you more vulnerable to developing
PTSD after experiencing a traumatic event, or might make the problems
you experience more severe:
experiencing repeated trauma
getting physically hurt or feeling pain
having little or no support from friends, family or professionals
dealing with extra stress at the same time, such as bereavement or loss
previously experiencing anxiety or depression.
Anyone can experience a traumatic event, but you may be more likely to
have experienced one if you:
work in a high risk occupation, such as the police or military
are a refugee or asylum seeker
have suffered childhood abuse.

Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

Different types of trauma can have different types of impact. If you

experienced trauma at an early age or if the trauma went on for a long
time then you may be diagnosed with complex PTSD. Treating complex
PTSD usually requires more long-term, intensive help than supporting you
to recover from a one-off traumatic event.

I was [] having uncontrollable flashbacks, regularly felt

suicidal. I was emotionally numb, kept people distant and was
prone to drastic loss of self control and anger.

How can I help myself?

I worried that I would never be able to go back to the job
I loved. I worried that I would be stuck like this forever. Had I not
been through it, I think I would find it hard to believe how real the
whole thing was at the time. Having got through it, it has made me
more hopeful about my ability to get through anything difficult I
got through PTSD, so I can get through anything!
After a traumatic event you may feel numb, dazed and disorientated.
Many people find it hard to accept what has happened to them and you
may behave as though nothing bad has happened. This response may
allow you time away from the trauma and you may subconsciously be
beginning to process what youve been through. When you feel ready, you
may find the following ideas helpful.

Talk to someone close to you

Talking about your feelings, when you feel ready, may be a good way of
coming to terms with the experience. You may turn to friends, relatives
and colleagues, or seek professional help when you decide you do want to
talk about what youve been through.

How can I help myself?

The things that helped me while I was going through the worst
of it [] I took up running (which helped me sleep, as it seemed to
clear the excess adrenaline); talking to lots of my friends and my
sisters, again and again; giving up sugar and alcohol (I was using
them as masks for my erratic behaviour).
Talk to people with similar experiences
It may be very helpful for you to share your experiences with others who
have been through something similar. This can be an extremely important
step in moving away from isolation and towards regaining control of your
life. Organisations such as First Person Plural can support you if you
experience a dissociative condition as a result of abuse in childhood.
PANDAS can support you if you have experienced birth trauma and their
website provides details of local support groups you can join (see Useful
contacts on pp.1617 for information).

Give yourself time

Everyone will have their own unique responses, and will need to proceed at
their own pace. Talking before you want to might not be helpful. It may
make you relive memories of the event, increasing the risk of flashbacks or
nightmares. Allow yourself to feel ready to talk about your experiences.

Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a technique for becoming more aware of the present
moment. It can help us enjoy the world around us more, and understand
ourselves better. Some of the ways you could practise mindfulness are
through meditation, tai chi or yoga. Some people find this helps them
manage anxiety and stress. Be Mindful has more information (see Useful
contacts on p.16).

Mindfulness I think has changed my life it has given me

amazing tools for managing difficult times, especially anxiety, and I
feel much more resilient as a result.
9

Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

Contact an organisation for support

You may find it useful to contact an organisation that specialises in PTSD,
such as ASSIST trauma care. They will be able to give you advice,
information and support. You may find it particularly useful to find a
specialist organisation with expertise in the particular type of trauma you
have experienced. For example, Combat Stress offers support for British
Armed Forces Veterans who have mental health problems. Lifecentre
offers support for anyone who has experienced sexual abuse. Freedom
from Torture offers support for people who have been tortured or who are
refugees (see Useful contacts on pp.1617).

Visit your GP
If you want to, you can ask your GP for help and discuss the support
options with them (see What treatments are available? below for more
information). Before prescribing treatment for PTSD, your GP or mental
health specialist will do an assessment so that they can match the
treatment to your specific needs.
Doctors and therapists should be aware of your cultural and ethnic
background. If you need an interpreter, they should arrange this for you.
They should also assess the impact of the traumatic event on all your
close family and provide appropriate support (see How can friends and
family help? on p.14).

What treatments are available?

At times I felt that nothing was going to end the distress I was
feeling, experiencing more than 10 flashbacks a day of the abuse I
suffered as a child. It was a long process of recovery, with lots of
bumps along the road, but the right medication and long-term
therapy with someone I came to trust, has changed my life.

10

What treatments are available?

If you have mild symptoms of PTSD or you have had symptoms for less
than four weeks, your GP may recommend watchful waiting. This means
monitoring your symptoms yourself to see if they get worse or if they
improve. If this is the course of action your GP recommends and you
feel comfortable with it, you should have a follow-up appointment within
one month.
Your GP may be able to refer you to a local practitioner who has been
trained in treating PTSD, such as a psychotherapist. Getting professional
help on the NHS can take time waiting lists for talking treatments in
particular can be long. You may want to consider seeing a therapist
privately but be aware that private therapists usually charge for
appointments. You can find a private therapist through the British
Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and the British
Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) (see
Useful contacts on p.16 for details).
There are different treatments available for PTSD and it is important you
are able to find the right treatment approach for you. Experts are still
evaluating treatments, although NICE (the National Institute for Health
and Care Excellence) suggests the treatments below may be an effective
approach. (See Useful contacts on p.17 for details of NICE.)

Trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)

CBT is a talking treatment based on changing the way we view things,
such as trying to change negative ways of thinking into more positive
ones. If you have been through a traumatic experience, you may expect
that you will go on experiencing the negative feelings associated with it.
You may also expect that certain triggers will always bring up old
unwanted feelings. Trauma-focused CBT helps you to recognise these
expectations, and try to find a more useful way of reacting and behaving.
It may help you to restart activities you have been avoiding, for example
travelling on public transport, and can help you to cope with other

11

Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

symptoms. Therapists delivering this treatment need to have special

training to practise (see Minds booklet Making sense of talking treatments
for more information about CBT).

Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR)

In this treatment, developed in the late 1980s, you make rhythmic eye
movements while recalling the traumatic event. The eye movements are
designed to stimulate the information-processing system in the brain. The
aim of the treatment is to help you process the traumatic events, and
speed up readjustment and recovery. (See Minds booklet Making sense of
talking treatments for more information.)

EMDR made a huge difference to me (I was quite sceptical

about it most of the way through, but it seemed in the end to work
some sort of magic!)
Medication
Medication is not normally offered as routine first-line treatment for PTSD.
However, you may be prescribed antidepressants as part of your
treatment if:
you are clinically depressed
you are having difficulty sleeping
you do not want to receive a talking treatment or dont feel ready to talk.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
have approved the antidepressant paroxetine for treating PTSD.
Antidepressants such as Mirtazapine, amitriptyline and phenelzine have
also been found to be effective and are sometimes recommended as well.
However, amitriptyline and phenelzine should only be used under the
supervision of a mental health specialist.
Since antidepressants can be difficult to come off they should be used
with caution and with full knowledge of their possible side effects. (See
Minds booklet Making sense of antidepressants for more information.)

12

What treatments are available?

What are the best practice guidelines for treatment?

NICE recommend that if you are offered psychological therapies such as
CBT or EMDR, you should:
b
 e offered sessions on a regular and continuous basis by the same
therapist for 812 weeks, with more sessions if needed
be given all the information about the treatments available to make an
informed decision.
NICE also cautions that if you have PTSD your GP should not simply offer
you a single, one-off therapy session focusing on talking about the
traumatic incident (often referred to as debriefing, or single-session
intervention). This is because research suggests that talking about the
incident in a one-off session after experiencing a trauma is not an
effective long-term treatment, and in some cases may even make your
PTSD worse.
You can look at NICEs website for full details of their guidelines on PTSD
treatments (see Useful contacts on p.17).

Other treatment options

There are other kinds of treatment options available which you may be
offered or choose to explore, for example:
Group therapy You may be given the option to receive treatment in
a group setting. You may be asked to talk about your experience of
trauma and the emotions you feel with other people who also have
PTSD. The aim of these sessions is to help you understand your
experience of PTSD and learn ways to manage your symptoms.
Psychodynamic therapy Psychodynamic therapy is based on the
idea that the past has an impact on your experiences and feelings in
the present. The therapy focuses on the emotions you have
experienced in response to a traumatic event. It aims to help you
learn ways to manage intense emotions.

13

Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

Experts are still evaluating evidence for which kinds of talking treatments
can be effective for PTSD, and you may want to discuss this with your GP
or therapist before pursuing these options. (See Minds booklet Making
sense of talking treatments for more information.)

How can friends and family help?

This section is for friends or family who wish to support someone who has
PTSD. If you are a work colleague of someone who has PTSD, this section
may also be useful for you.

Listen
Social support is really important in helping someone with PTSD seek help
and recover.
You can help by:
listening to their experience, if they want to tell you about it
giving them time to talk and tell their story
allowing them to be upset
not judging them.

Look out for warning signs

You might see a change in the behaviour or mood of the person you want
to support. Some of these changes might include:
a change in performance at work, lateness or taking sick leave
a change in mood, such as anger, irritability or depression
a change in energy levels, such as alertness or a lack of concentration.
If you notice a change in the behaviour of someone close to you, you
could ask them how they feel. If they are going through a difficult time,
this might encourage them to seek help.

14

How can friends and family help?

Help them seek support

If they want you to, you could help your friend or family member seek
support. This could start with you exploring sources of support together
(see Useful contacts on pp.1617 for information about organisations
who can offer advice and support).

Learn about PTSD

You may find it helpful to find out more about PTSD, especially if you
know someone close to you has experienced a traumatic event. This will
help you to support the person and better understand what they might be
going through. Anxiety UK has information about PTSD which you may
find helpful (see Useful contacts on p.16).

Look after yourself

A traumatic event can have a major impact, not just on those who lived
through it, but also on that persons family, friends and colleagues. There
are sources of support available for you too. Lifecentre provides help for
people supporting survivors of sexual abuse. ASSIST trauma care also
provides support for families, friends and carers of people with PTSD (see
Useful contacts on p.16.)

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Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder

Useful contacts
Mind
Mind Infoline: 0300 123 3393
(Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm)
email: [email protected]
web: mind.org.uk
Details of local Minds and other
local services, and Minds Legal
Advice Line. Language Line is
available for talking in a language
other than English.
Anxiety UK
helpline: 08444 775 774
(Monday to Friday 9.30am
to 5.30pm)
web: anxietyuk.org.uk
Provides fact sheets for anxiety
disorders (including PTSD).

British Association for Behavioural

and Cognitive Psychotherapies
(BABCP)
tel: 0161 705 4304
web: babcp.com
Online directory of accredited
therapists.
British Association for Counselling
and Psychotherapy (BACP)
tel: 01455 883 300
web: bacp.co.uk
Information about counselling
and therapy. See sister website,
itsgoodtotalk.org.uk for details of
local practitioners.

Combat Stress
helpline: 0800 1381 619
ASSIST trauma care
(24 hours)
helpline: 01788 560 800
email: [email protected]
web: assisttraumacare.org.uk
web: combatstress.org.uk
Support, understanding and therapy Charity specialising in the treatment
for people experiencing PTSD, and
and support of British Armed Forces
families and carers.
Veterans who have mental health
problems.
Be Mindful
The Compassionate Friends
web: bemindful.co.uk
helpline: 0845 123 2304
Explains the principles behind
web: tcf.org.uk
mindfulness, and gives details of
For bereaved parents and their
local courses and therapists.
families.

16

Useful contacts

First Person Plural

PANDAS foundation
web: firstpersonplural.org.uk
helpline: 0843 289 8401
Survivor-led organisation for people (Monday to Sunday 9am to 8pm)
living with complex dissociative
web: pandasfoundation.org.uk
conditions after experiencing abuse UK charity supporting families
in childhood.
suffering from pre (antenatal) and
postnatal illnesses.
Freedom from Torture
Post traumatic stress disorder
web: freedomfromtorture.org
web: ptsd.org.uk
Provides direct clinical services to
For ex-servicemen and women, and
survivors of torture who arrive in
the UK. Has access to interpreters. anyone who has PTSD.
Lifecentre
adult helpline: 0844 847 7879
under 18s helpline: 0808 802 0808
web: lifecentre.uk.com
Telephone counselling for survivors
of sexual abuse and those
supporting survivors. Also offers
face-to-face counselling and art
therapy groups in West Sussex.
National Institute for Health and
Care Excellence (NICE)
web: nice.org.uk
Offers clinical guidance on PTSD.

17

Notes

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This information was written by Lily Marsh

Published by Mind 2014 2014
To be revised 2017
ISBN 978-1-906759-94-0
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