How do you recognize post-traumatic stress disorder in critical incident survivors?

There are changes in the brain that occur with PTSD, including neurochemical shifts and long-term changes in brain circuits involved in stress responses (cortisol, norepinephrine, glucocorticoids), which increase hypervigilance and fear behaviors, impact new learning, and interfere with memory consolidation. Specific areas of the brain are affected: the hippocampus (impacted verbal declarative memory and learning), amygdala (increased emotional response and fight/flight/freeze/faun), and medial prefrontal cortex (impacted executive functioning).

Trauma are in fact, a physiological condition, the body keeps the score. Unfortunately people in general think of trauma as a mental health issue due to the false narrative that a human could been breakdown into a body AND a psych. When in fact humans are more than the sum of their parts and shouldn’t be separated. That’s trauma.

With the brain changing and body chemistry changing because of the body keeping score of it; of course different behavior responses happen. Therapy, EMDR, medicine and wellness practices can be impactful with helping one who suffers from trauma.

Too much focus is on biochemistry, labels, and brain changes. Not enough focus is on acknowledging what occurred without labels. As a nutritionist in functional medicine with scores of papers in medical journals after 9-11, Gulf war, police officers entering meth kitchens on a domestic violence call, military rape victims..., it's body-mind-spirit and they all count. So many of us have experienced trauma. I walk them through the incident as many times as it takes to release the spiritual charge so it goes from reactivity to -- heck this happened; it just is. I do ensure they are nutritionally sound because that is the only way they can have the energy to face the incident. And there are usually earlier incidents. Start at the top.

Children with Special Educational Needs who are naturally hypervigilant by nature can experience PTSD. Bullying and stress-induced situations can result in this occurring very easily.

the risk factors is massively affected by emotional trauma to make decision critically. 1. Socially deviant/ distance to others-( For those who was in the Grief, making sense of suffering ) 2. Self- Esteem critical sabotage ( guilt/ resentment) 3. physical disoriented ( sexual orientation with gender Identity) The High risk is more than benefits. The good news is this is treatable with holistic resilience program.

A psychologist can diagnose PTSD after one month of symptoms that significantly disrupt normal activities. Symptoms include the following: recurrent re-experiencing of the trauma (for example flashbacks, nightmares, and/or dissociative reliving of trauma); avoidance of people, places, and/or situations that remind the person of trauma; negative changes in thinking and emotions, such as low self-esteem, self-blame, guilt, shame, depression, detachment, inability to experience joy, withdrawal; increased reactivity and changes in arousal, such as irritability, anger, insomnia, poor concentration, self-destructive behaviors, hypervigilance; suicidal ideation; feelings of mistrust; somatic symptoms; substance abuse.

N.b.: Within the first six weeks, these symptoms are normal (!) reactions to an abnormal situation! Thus not PTSD which can be diagnosed afterwards, be it because these symptoms of Acute Stress Reaction persist, or if they appear afterwards, after things had looked "normal" and compensated for a longer time.

As a spiritual counselor, I have come to understand that most of us exhibit SOME form of PTSD. How could we not, when the vast majority of our societal constructs normalize greed, vast inequality, bullying, competition for underpaid jobs & overpriced housing, 'meritocracy', racism, misogyny, victim blaming mentality, and a hierarchical system of domination. Western civilization is on a doomed path; as a Facilitator and Integration Specialist for Psychedelic Assisted Healing, I'm not interested in servicing the current system. I'd rather support the individuals who will be at the forefront of building a new, equitable, functional society. Who does it serve to offer healing, then plug those people back into the system that traumatized them?

With the emphasis on mental health care for employees, there comes a responsibility to respect the category of mental illness, which means: Don't give your coworkers advice to "talk with someone about this" lightly. First - you don't know whether they are suffering with an issue that requires treatment. Having read some articles about what PTSD might look like doesn't give you the expertise or authority to diagnose it or even suggest it "out of friendship." It's also an arrogant and insulting move to play expert with the other person. You don't know. If you care about them, ask if there is something going on or if they'd like to talk. We like to name things, identify things, handle things, but beware of making assumptions.

When I treat PTSD patients, I treat with psychotherapy,,counselling and Homoeopathic medicine Arnica montana has been found immensely helpful to start with. It helps to reduce the severity of trauma and .stabilises the patient. At next stage role of constitutional medicines becomes important. They further help in reducing anxiety/ depression, insomnia.Patients then start communicating with surroundings, better mood and ready to start their regular routine.

Being As Mental health professional well being provider in these years.. I personally will not encourage to have medication based on preliminary diagnose. Because, the medication dosage can cause emotional numbness as well. so it depends on the physical responded to the when the medication is on. also watchful the medication withdrawal period. this is all related to the Neuro +sensation system in our body to be function daily. and also the side effects for long term underlying factor .

Before you do anything, get a sense of the person's history. They may be coming in for treatment of a single trauma in adulthood, after a relatively stable life up to that point. With that person, any of the therapies mentioned - CBT, PE, EMDR, and CPT will be helpful. If the person has a history of traumatic experiences, it will be important to screen for dissociation. If that screening indicates the possibility of a dissociative disorder, slow down and don't try either prolonged exposure or EMDR - those two modalities are powerful, best used for single traumas, and can overwhelm the complex trauma survivors. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is the recommended treatment for complex trauma and dissociative disorders.

In my personal and professional experience, psychotherapy and medication effectively treat some of the emotional and behavioral symptoms and cognitive distortions of PTSD. However, trauma is also stored in the body, and somatic intervention is essential for healing the mind, body, and spirit. Some examples are somatic experience, yoga, biofeedback, dance therapy, reiki, tai chi, acupuncture, etc. Healing PTSD and other mental health issues ideally involves a holistic approach.

Be able to support PTSD is vital to set a respectful boundary to maintain healthy relationship for mutual understanding. The elements of Empathy is a way to show to someone who has ptsd without resistance mechanism. that will help he/she to open up more to release their negative emotions to face the trigger button. To explore more Spiritual struggles , so that will be able to fine tune the doubt and awakening. be generalisation, so that will feel much easeful environment from the support voice.

Practice patience and reflective listening. When someone we care about is in distress, we tend to become uncomfortable and want to offer solutions to ease their pain and fix the problem. When we do this, however, it is invalidating and minimizing. Instead, listen without interrupting and simply say, "I hear you." Ask if there is anything you can do, rather than inserting your opinion or offering advice, because you don't know what the person is experiencing or what they need.

Recognition the Stress pattern with the Projecting Trauma Scenery will replay itself. We know it , but do we response differently this time?Wisdom can't be donated. we have to experience in certain way to have self-coping. For example. a toddler was being burnt by the fire accidentally. it was a minor trauma. However. if the toddler has a proper counselling. - he will know- he will have to ensure safety 1st. and he will say be kind to himself. Don't play with the fire please!

In the early days following a traumatic event, it can be helpful to attend to and ask for help with your most basic needs such as hydration, nutrition, sleep, social support, brainstorming resources and needs with friends, and moving your body to support your physiology as you psychologically process the event.

For critical incident responders mental and emotional preparedness and health maintenance prior to and during a response are vital.

PTSD can go undiagnosed for months or even years and can have a severe impact on your daily life. However it is never too late to seek the professional support of a psychotherapist

PTSD has been caused by all trauma pattern memory in our physical and Non physical form. Being a spiritual psychotherapist. We provided cognitive spiritual treatment to a deep down subconscious mind to rewire the whole Mental picture with the pattern Behaviour and etc. our body restore memories. when things trigger. the neuroplasticity responded naturally. Also,PTSD is curable and reversible with quality time and holistic treatment. The Willing Heart does matters.. Hence psychology Safety plays a major component to the whole spectrum for our resilient emotional trauma projects. We advocate Mental Health well-being. Not Mental illnesses here. Thank you.

It is important to note that the vast majority of individuals who experience a trauma do not develop PTSD. Though this can occur, research in Canada has found that while about 76% of us have experienced a significant trauma in our lifetimes, only 9% later developed PTSD. In addition, depressive symptoms can be equally present as the symptoms of acute stress may be--if not more so--after a critical incident. This may be overlooked and it is beneficial to consider (particularly in disaster scenarios, as feelings of loss and grief are quite common.)