Articles

About PTSD PTSD is a non-curable, yet treatable and manageable disorder. When you have reached the level for a PTSD diagnosis, you have reached the peak of many individual disorders rolled into one. Don’t freak out about non-curable, it just means once your brain has endured this level of distress, you can heal and manage symptoms, though another event could heighten symptoms, or make them worse as time goes on. Some people fully recover and experience little or no ongoing duress due to lack...

To answer this question, lets first define a psychological trigger. A trigger is an activated traumatic memory due to your present environment via one or more of your five senses, sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. A trigger will result in a symptomatic or behavioral response. To fully understand the difference between trigger and stressor, please read Stressor vs. Trigger (recommended reading). Many sufferers and supporters view triggers negatively, as they provoke a negative action...

A repetitive question by spouses and loved ones is that their sufferer walked out of the relationship with little to zero prediction of such event occurring. Some may have concluded that the end of the world would happen before their partner walking away from them would have. At this point I can only say, I'm sorry for the pain you're enduring right now. Two questions often follow this predicament: Why did they leave me? What can I do to save the relationship? There are many possible...

Nearly a decade ago (2006) I wrote The PTSD Cup Explanation, a simple view of how PTSD causes symptoms in day-to-day life. This article is an update to that original piece. Regardless of the type of trauma endured, the PTSD Cup does not change, deviate or apply differently to your circumstance. The PTSD Cup is a basic representation of your capacity for tolerating stressors. As your cup fills, symptoms get worse. When your cup overflows, you may break down crying, become psychotic or manic...

PTSD Diagnosis - Adult To fully understand the below diagnostic criterion, read the discussion after the diagnosis, which outlines specific meaning and understanding from the DSM V. PTSD Diagnosis for a child is contained at the end of this article. -------------------- Note: The following criteria apply to adults, adolescents, and children older than 6 years. For children 6 years and younger, see corresponding criteria. A. Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual...

Cognitive distortion forms the backbone of PTSD. Whether you know it or not, all moods and behavioral patterns originate from your cognitions-- your thoughts. The first thing that happens is a thought, and then a mood or behavior occurs. When you allow an area of your life to become dominated by negative thoughts, you'll come to believe things are as bad as you -- frequently incorrectly-- imagine them to be. This leaves us at identifying cognitive distortions and rationalizing them. An...

Most people exposed to a major traumatic event do not develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), nor is PTSD passed through genetics (Yehuda, Bierer, 2009). There is no rhyme or reason as to who gets PTSD and who does not. To make things worse, experts find evidence to support some risk factors, while others fail to find supporting evidence of the same factors. One aspect majority agreed upon is dose-response (Dead Link Removed), as this encompasses multiple factors. Dose-response...

PTSD Definition Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder formed by exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. It is linked to physiological changes within the brain, affecting the hippocampus, amygdala, and prefrontal cortex. PTSD has biological, psychological and environmental causation and implication. Post traumatic stress disorder can be treated, though has no medical cure to date. PTSD Symptoms There are eight criteria to be...

In part one of this two-part series, we worked through the ways that recognizing, naming, challenging, and then converting negative thoughts to neutral ones may directly clear the way for positive action. At times, however, merely completing the initial re-framing will not be enough to make action possible. Why? Because it is possible to re-frame a negative, but still believe in it. Part One: https://www.myptsd.com/threads/solving-the-problem-reframing-negative-thoughts.86470/ This doesn't...

How many times have you heard yourself say, "I can't?" Everyone has these moments. Problems can seem too intricate to solve, and challenges can appear too difficult to face. For people living with PTSD, there is an additional piece that will easily make anything seem impossible: negative thinking. Negative thinking is choosing to have thoughts that discount any positive, hopeful, or desirable outcome. These negative thoughts often arise out of cognitive distortions. You can use your...

Triggers are part and parcel of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). If you have PTSD, you have triggers of some kind that cause a symptomatic reaction. The positive to triggers is that with time and effort you can remove them or lessen the symptomatic impact to non-distressing levels. Many years ago, I wrote about stressors vs. triggers due to the confusion that stemmed from the use of these terms. If you are unsure about the difference, you should read that article first, as we directly...