What is PTSD?
You feel on edge. Nightmares keep coming back. Sudden noises make you jump. You’re staying at home more and more. Could you have PTSD?
If you have experienced severe trauma or a life-threatening event, you may develop symptoms of post traumatic stress, commonly known as post traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, shell shock, or combat stress. Maybe you felt like your life or the lives of others were in danger, or that you had no control over what was happening. You may have witnessed people being injured or dying, or you may have been physically harmed yourself.
Some of the most common symptoms of PTSD include recurring memories or nightmares of the event(s), sleeplessness, loss of interest, or feeling numb, anger, and irritability, but there are many ways PTSD can impact your everyday life.
Sometimes these symptoms don’t surface for months or years after the event or returning from deployment. They may also come and go. If these problems won’t go away or are getting worse—or you feel like they are disrupting your daily life—you may have PTSD.
