Post-traumatic stress disorder, which is PTSD for short, is a mental health problem that happens in people who have experienced a tragic event.

Often, these people were right there when it happens, and the scene continues to play in their minds.

Hence, if there is anything that reminds them of that painful incident, they exhibit negative reactions.

People struggling with PTSD often experience nightmares and flashbacks to the incident. Most of them experience anger, sadness and even get depressed.

Symptoms of Post-traumatic stress disorder

Generally, there are four broad categories of PTSD symptoms that patients experience

• Relieving the memories

This is the point where people suffering from PTSD continuously remember the incident and dwell on the memories of the traumatic event. Relieving these memories could be through nightmares, flashbacks, dreams, and hallucinations.

• Avoiding places that remind them of the incident

The person experiencing PTSD will try to avoid places, people, and anything that reminds them of the incident. This is one of the reasons why some of them become detached and isolated because they are trying to protect what’s left of their mental health.

• Alterations in mood and cognition

At this point, the individual begins to have distorted beliefs about themselves. For instance, some of them begin to believe that they were the cause of the unfortunate incident. Then, they begin to experience different emotions like anger, shame, guilt, fear, etc.

• Alterations in arousal

Reactive and arousal symptoms are also typical of people experiencing PTSD. They tend to behave in reckless or dangerous behaviors. Some of them will have trouble with concentration or focus.

Treatment for PTSD

The essence of PTSD treatment is to step down the physical and emotional symptoms and help the person to manage the incident that caused the disorder. Generally, treatment for PTSD could be psychotherapy which is counseling, medication, or a combination of both of them.

PTSD can cause complications in an individual’s life, so it is best to seek treatment before it gets too late.

When we are stressed or afraid, our usual response to these conditions is to be anxious. Anxiety helps us to recognize danger so that we can be more proactive. However, anxiety disorder is way different from regular feelings of anxiousness.

Anxiety disorder is a mental health problem that affects many people who are not even aware. You can know that anxiety disorder is in play when your ability to properly function has been impaired.

In addition, if you react more than expected when your emotions are triggered, you might be suffering from an anxiety disorder.

Similarly, if your responses to different situations cannot be controlled, it might be an anxiety disorder.

People have different tendencies to develop anxiety disorder and this is because it depends on a combination of environmental and genetic factors. First off, people who are at higher risk are those who have some personality traits.

If you are always shy or uncomfortable around people or gatherings, you can develop anxiety disorder without knowing.

In addition, people who had traumatic or stressful events while growing up or even in adulthood can come down with anxiety disorder.

Again, someone with a family history of mental health conditions like anxiety and depression is likely to have anxiety disorder.

Symptoms of anxiety disorder

Some of the common signs of anxiety disorder include

• Nervousness, feeling tensed
• Increase in heart rate
• Trembling
• Feeling tired or weak
• Inability to concentrate
• Inability to control worrying
• Insomnia
• Gastrointestinal problems

Treatment for anxiety disorder

If you are certain that you have anxiety disorder, the first step is to see your doctor to ensure that your symptoms are not caused by physical problems. Once an anxiety disorder is diagnosed you will be assigned a mental health professional who will collaborate with you to get the best treatment.

You can also learn some effective stress management techniques that would make your treatment more efficacious.