When most people hear PTSD, they picture combat. A veteran coming home from war, struggling with what they saw.
But PTSD doesn’t have a single face. And the assumption that it only happens to soldiers has kept millions of people from recognizing what they’re actually dealing with.
PTSD can develop after any experience where a person felt their life, or someone else’s, was in danger. That includes car accidents, natural disasters, medical emergencies, sexual assault, childhood abuse, domestic violence, or witnessing something traumatic happen to someone else. It can even develop after the sudden, unexpected loss of someone you love.
About 12 million Americans are living with PTSD right now. Most of them aren’t veterans.
Here’s what PTSD actually looks like. Flashbacks and nightmares that pull you back into the experience as if it’s happening again. Avoiding anything, people, places, conversations, that reminds you of what happened. A nervous system that stays on high alert long after the danger has passed. Feeling numb, disconnected, or like you’re watching your own life from a distance. Difficulty sleeping. Difficulty trusting. Difficulty feeling safe anywhere.
A lot of people live with these symptoms for years without ever connecting them to something that happened. They assume they’re just anxious, or difficult, or broken in some way they can’t explain.
They’re not broken. They’re carrying something real.
“It wasn’t that bad. Other people have been through worse.”
PTSD doesn’t require the worst thing that ever happened to anyone. It requires an experience that overwhelmed your nervous system’s ability to process it. That threshold is different for every person. Comparing your trauma to someone else’s doesn’t change what it did to you.
The good news is that PTSD is treatable. Evidence-based therapies including EMDR, Cognitive Processing Therapy, and Prolonged Exposure have strong track records. People recover. People get their lives back.
If something in this sounds familiar, it’s worth talking to someone about.
We work with individuals navigating trauma and PTSD. Reach out today.
Sources:
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. How Common is PTSD in Adults? https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_adults.asp
American Psychological Association. PTSD Treatment. https://www.apa.org/topics/ptsd