Everyone goes through different traumatic events, which leaves them with bad memories. However, some people may find it difficult to recover from these bad memories and their lingering effects on them in a matter of weeks or months, and sometimes years. However, if this is the case, the team of leading psychologists and psychiatrists at AKA CHI are available at your support. You can access help through telehealth from anywhere in America. Make an appointment online and schedule a call with trained professionals with AKA CHI physiatry. Learn more through our website about how you or someone you love can deal with PTSD.
PTSD can be defined as a mental health issue that individuals may develop after a life-threatening situation, trauma, war, automobile accidents, environmental disasters, or sexual assault. Most people find it hard and difficult to cope up with the trauma. People suffering from PTSD experience nightmares, unpleasant memories, trouble sleeping, and edginess. Usually, one can start to recover after several weeks or months. But that's not the case with people with PTSD; issues remain to persist for more than just a few months.
PTSD is a disorder that can develop in anyone, not just veterans. Various factors impact whether a person gets PTSD or not and how severe the case can get, including:
Social support from people around you is helpful and makes it less likely to develop PTSD, but for the most part, the factors that lead to PTSD are largely out of your control.
Typically, PTSD symptoms manifest soon after the traumatic event. However, they may not start to show up until months or even years later in some cases. They also can come and go over time.
There are 4 types of major PTSD symptoms:
Every person experiences these symptoms but in a different way. If you are unable to get through these symptoms and they are causing you great distress, then it's important you seek professional help. Moreover, learning about PTSD and how to deal with it and manage your symptoms. Often, dealing with these symptoms on your own can lead to unhealthy ways of coping like alcohol consumption and drugs.
PTG is usually confused with resilience. However, the two are different constructs. PTG is considered synonymous with resilience because becoming more resilient as a result of the ongoing struggle with trauma can be an example of post-traumatic growth (PTG)—but PTG is different from resilience. To evaluate the extent to which someone has achieved growth after trauma, psychologists use a variety of self-report scales. It looks for positive responses in 5 areas:
Additionally, the scale is being revised to add new items that will expand the "spiritual change" domain.
At AKA CHI, we treat mild to severe PTSD cases that involve over-the-counter medications and therapy, specifically cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and mindfulness techniques. Our practice team consists of skilled therapists who understand the sensitive nature of this disorder and take a full mind-body approach to combat the effects and help you overcome the life hurdles. With medication management and therapeutic treatment, many people with PTSD have successfully gotten rid of their symptoms altogether or minimized them enough to live everyday life.
Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS)
The STSS helps to get a self-report. The inventory is designed to assess the frequency of STS symptoms in professional caregivers. Respondents can indicate on a 5-point Likert scale, where 1 equals "never" and 5 equals to "very often." Any respondent can assess how often they experienced each of the 17 STS symptoms during the week.
