Terrible events are hard to deal with. Sudden, traumatic experiences can shatter people’s lives and leave a profound mark on the way they feel about themselves and their lives. Traumas hurt!. Often they not only cause terrible physical injuries but emotional injury as well, which can be far more painful and take much longer to heal. The effect of trauma can be a lingering feeling that your world has changed utterly. Suddenly, even little things can feel overwhelming and there is a sense that things are no longer within your control. It is as if your bubble of safety has burst. All the beliefs you held about yourself and your world before the trauma seem to have changed and are not longer felt to be true. You are in the Grip of Trauma!
You may have been told by your doctor, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist or any other mental health care professional, that you are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is the term given to a particular range and combination of reactions following a trauma. It conveys to a health care professional which reactions you may be experiencing and how best to help you. If you continue to experience the responses described in the previous section for longer than a month, it is likely that your reactions will be classed as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This diagnosis will also depend on how many reactions you are experiencing in each of the three symptom groups and how frequent, severe and disabling they are to you.
Whether you have full-blown Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Reactions, the sooner you start working through the effects of the trauma and the more you understand what is happening to you, the better, equipped you will be to take control of your recovery process.
(Faure - "Pavane")
