If you’ve ever been in an accident, you probably felt shocked, shaky, afraid, angry, and/or guilty. Common stress reactions to most situations involving trauma.
Everybody has a post-traumatic stress story, says Dr. John Langevin. A Ph.D. psychologist, he’s the assistant dean for student support services and director of counseling at the University of New England. He’s also a board-certified expert on traumatic stress and spoke at a post-traumatic stress seminar I attended.
The gist of the seminar was that trauma related to military service or a terrible accident or event may be a major cause of post-traumatic stress (PTS), but other seemingly minor things can also cause PTS.
After a bad fall
For example, several years ago, I was walking down my stairs when I overstepped a bottom tread and pitched forward through an open door. As I sailed through, my head hit the edge of the striker on the door jamb and I landed on the floor in a pool of blood. Fortunately, my daughter was home. Someone else might have fainted at the sight, but she remained calm and got me to an emergency room. I needed 27 stitches in my forehead and scalp.
Several weeks passed before I got up the nerve to go down those stairs again, but I knew it was important to do it. I confess that I am still a bit paranoid about going down any stairs, but it doesn’t stop me. I’m just more cautious.
For some people, the stress following a traumatic event sticks around. They may have flashbacks about what happened or feel physically ill — have headaches or feel nauseous. All normal and pretty common, says Dr. Langevin, and most of the time, people are eventually able to move on with their lives.
If someone can’t seem to move on, when the trauma or event they experienced or witnessed was especially horrific, they can develop an anxiety disorder known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Not all post-traumatic stress leads to a full-blown anxiety disorder.
Different ways of coping with stress and trauma
We all have different ways of reacting to and coping with stressful or traumatic events. Some people are more sensitive and reactive while others are more resilient. And sometimes it’s difficult to understand or even sympathize with another person’s situation. “The key,” says Dr. Langevin,” is perception. We need to be careful not to project our perception of how others should adapt and realize that we each have our own personal perceptions and history and capacity for resilience.”
Dr. Langevin shared a long list of possible signs of post-traumatic stress. Some may last days, weeks, months, and occasionally longer depending on the severity of the event.
Physical signs of post-traumatic stress
- Aches and pains
- Diarrhea or constipation
- Nausea, dizziness
- Chest pain, rapid heartbeat
- Loss of sex drive
- Frequent colds
Cognitive signs of post-traumatic stress
- Mental slowness
- Confusion
- General negative attitude or thoughts
- Constant worry/anxiety
- Mind racing at times
- Difficulty concentrating
- Forgetfulness
- Difficulty thinking in a logical sequence
- The sense that life in overwhelming and problems can’t be solved
Emotional signs of post-traumatic stress
- Irritation
- No sense of humor
- Frustration
- Jumpiness, over excitability, overwhelming anxiety
- Feeling overworked
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Sense of helplessness
- Apathy
Behavioral signs of post-traumatic stress
- Decreased contact with family and friends
- Poor work relations
- Sense of loneliness
- Decreased sex drive
- Avoiding others and being avoided because always seem cranky
- Failing to set aside time for relaxing activities
What can help relieve the stress
You should let your healthcare provider know if you are experiencing symptoms of stress after a traumatic incident. Understanding and support from employers, co-workers, family and friends can help symptoms of post-traumatic stress pass more quickly says Dr. Langevin. He also recommends learning the practice of mindfulness to relieve symptoms. “It’s a powerful, scientifically proven medicine,” he explains. “Think prayer, concentration, being aware in the moment, right now.”
10 mindfulness tips to relieve stress
- Take a time out
- Eat well-balanced meals
- Limit alcohol and caffeine
- Get enough sleep
- Exercise daily
- Take deep breaths; count to 10 slowly
- Accept that you can’t control everything
- Welcome humor
- Learn you anxiety triggers
- Talk to someone
When symptoms persist, get worse or develop into PTSD, a person may need professional counseling, “This does not imply mental illness or weakness,” says Dr. Langevin, “but simply indicates that this particular event was just too powerful to manage alone.”
Simply being aware that we are all different can help a great deal whether you or someone else is experiencing stress. We also need to expand our thinking about what trauma is and about the stress that it can cause. “It’s not about what’s wrong with you,” Dr. Langevin says. “It’s about what happened to you.”
If you’d like to learn about post-traumatic stress and its effect on the brain, Dr. Langevin recommends this book: The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D.
I often wonder how to tell if babies experience PTSD. My granddaughter had surgery the day after she was born and for almost a month had a feeding tube which she managed to pull out on her own a few times — only to have put back in. I wondered what the effects of the surgery and month in the NICU were on her. She is growing into a normal girl of elementary school age, but for the first 3 -4 years of her life, she cried at the drop of a hat. I suppose young children are more resilient, but maybe age is not a factor.
Betsy, I will ask Dr. Langevin to comment.
Betsy,
My apologies for not replying sooner…vacation (talk about stress relief!). I agree with Dean that there does seem to be clear research which suggests resiliency in infants. Unfortunately we also see that over time, other stressors can re-traumatize. In fact, with most Veterans diagnosed with long term PTSD, there is often an earlier trauma that affected their ability to cope and was then exacerbated by war trauma.
And, most importantly, each of us cope in different ways, even as infants and developing children. The biopsychosocial model takes in to account our biological, psychological and social development to help identify times in our lives that have affected us. Certainly our experiences as infants and young children can influence much of how we cope with the rest of our lives, in fact we see it in children who have been molested early on. Each developmental change they experience can be more difficult for them to cope with than children who have not had trauma.
However, we can all learn to cope and develop new neural pathways that lead to increased resiliency. Introspection, mindfulness, and awareness of our history and its impact can go a long way toward moving in a positive direction.
John
Hi Betsy. You raise an interesting concern. As a pediatric nurse, and one that has worked in several neonatal ICU’s and pediatric facilities inside and outside of Maine, absent disease or anomalies, babies are seemingly born with a certain amount of resiliency, as you mention. Having said that, however, nurses and parents make every effort to minimize “trauma” whenever they can and build resiliency by providing frequent human contact, leaving wearing apparel worn by the babies mom with the baby, minimizing harsh lights and noise, soft soothing music, etc. There is a lot of research going on re: infant mental health thus, caregivers work hard to minimize/prevent as much “insult” to babies/young children as they can, while still accomplishing the quality of care necessary for newborns to thrive.
I love the “spirit” demonstrated by your grandchild when she removed her feeding tube….as in, “I’m a fighter; get this thing outta here!! And since babies can’t talk, we need to give your granddaughter high praise for her efforts. 🙂
Great post, Diane! It’s interesting to note the similarities in the signs of post-traumatic stress and depression. Thank you for shedding some light on this topic.
Thanks Charity. From what I’ve read, depression is very common in both women and men with PTS and PTSD.
Great post, Diane. So many of us are affected by experiences that we never connect to the symptoms you describe. I grew up witnessing my stepfather being physically abusive to my mother, but never made the connection to some physical and emotional “stuff” until decades later – and PTSD had a name.
Thanks, Roxanne. As I’ve learned more about PTS, I made a similar connection. I grew up in an alcoholic home and although there was no physical abuse, it was not always a comforting environment. About 30 years ago, our family did a successful intervention on my father. (I wrote a post about it: dianeatwood.com/catchinghealth/discovering-my-father.) We worked with a trained substance abuse counselor who helped us understand how we had been affected by his alcoholism as children and continued to be into adulthood. I had several enlightening moments when I though “Aha!So that’s why I do or think this or that.” To this day, certain situations will cause a stress reaction that I know stems from my childhood. Because of the intervention and other work I’ve done, I’m able to recognize it for what it is and move on. It’s still not always easy though.