The Little Blue Book

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can be very dangerous. It is an intense psychological response to witnessing or experiencing deeply unsettling traumatic events. For sufferers, PTSD poses risk of chronic anxiety and depression and an elevated risk of self-harm and suicide. It may also be accompanied by poor physical health, family problems, chronic sleep disturbance, hyper-vigilance, outbreaks of anger, heavy alcohol and drug use, panic attacks, sadness, and withdrawal and isolation among a long list of mood and behavioural disorders. triggers PTSD can affect anyone. However, those who have been exposed to prolonged trauma, such as domestic violence or childhood abuse, or survivors of sexual violence, aggravated bullying, psychological abuse, assault or intimidation can be at particular risk. So too, people who may have witnessed deeply unsettling events, or caught up in events that made them deeply fearful (such as aggravated robbery) may also be at elevated risk. While the stress reaction can be on a scale of severity and disablement, without help, the psychological injury the PTSD sufferer carries can give rise to a host of other disorders and health problems. Like poor or neglected health, rapid weight-gain or loss, withdrawal and isolation, chronic gambling or misuse of alcohol and drugs. Responses of this type are commonly to do with ‘numbing’ the pain, blurring the torrent of images, and – though dangerous – may be understood as a self-administered coping mechanism in response to the psychological trauma they carry. But which can compound the feelings of chronic anxiety, and, for some, increase risk of depression, self-harm and suicide. POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD): RECOGNISING DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND OTHER DISORDERS 64