Before I get into things, some acronyms to make things easier:
PTSD = post traumatic stress disorder
cPTSD = complex post traumatic stress disorder
EMDR = eye movement desensitisation therapy (the current “gold standard” treatment for cPTSD/PTSD) About EMDR – PTSD UK
So 27th June each year marks International PTSD awareness day. International PTSD awareness day was originally started in the USA, but has now become more widespread. The day brings to light the silent struggle of millions of people, myself included, showing the public that PTSD is a real condition that can be treated. The movement of this can help encourage those of us who live with PTSD or cPTSD to feel able to ask for help without shame (PTSD Awareness Day 2023 – PTSD UK).
Research has shown that up to 10% of people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives, but there’s an estimated 70% of people with PTSD & cPTSD in the UK that do not receive professional help at all.
Onto a few facts and some myths to bust then….
PTSD is a condition that some people develop after experiencing or being a witness of a traumatic event, the defining characteristic of which is as follows:
‘its capacity to cause fear, helplessness, or horror as a response to the threat of injury or death, and therefore can affect anyone’. What is PTSD? – PTSD UK
In effect, PTSD is a ‘memory filing error’ caused by a traumatic event, because when you experience something really traumatic, your body just shuts down its usual processes, and doesn’t produce a memory in the usual way. So when it comes to the time for your brain to process the trauma, and your mind presents the situation as a memory to be filed, if it gets a sort of ‘404 not found’ and it doesn’t exist yet in your memory, it instead sees this as though it is happening right now, which can be extremely distressing. More information here: Causes of PTSD – PTSD UK
Complex PTSD, similarly, is caused in the same way, but usually if someone has experienced repeated or sustained (long term) traumas, which may be a variety of different types of trauma. Some additional symptoms occur too.
Myths
– Experiencing PTSD or cPTSD does not mean you are weak or ‘can’t cope’. Anyone can develop the condition – it is not known why some people do and others don’t develop the condition.
– PTSD isn’t exclusive to war veterans or survivors of mass disasters. It can happen to people that have experienced domestic violence, life changing injuries, medical trauma, deaths of loved ones, prolonged stress, emotional abuse….there is no one thing that will mean you will or will not develop PTSD/complex PTSD.
– PTSD does not mean someone is dangerous. Some symptoms are absolutely terrifying to experience and can show in behaviours. Experiencing a flashback is horrible.
– PTSD isn’t something to just ‘get over’ and doesn’t mean someone can’t just ‘move on’ from what happened – it is their brain telling them they are back in the dangerous / traumatic situation. It isn’t their fault.
– Trigger isn’t always an innocuous word, or one that should be thrown around as a joke. Yes someone’s triggers aren’t always able to be avoided, but that doesn’t mean someone should be left out. Experiencing mental illness can be very isolating and it can be hard to
feel accepted or understood. Ask the person what you can do to help them. From experience, open and honest communication makes a big difference.
So to finish, I’ll touch on why this blog, and the subject is important to me (and why I wanted to write this). Alongside other things, I have my own experience of complex PTSD.
So briefly then, my cPTSD comes from experiencing periods in my life of trauma – being bullied for a decade while going through the education system from the ages of 8 to 18, and among other experiences, being emotionally abused for 11 months by my now ex manager at a former workplace because of my mental ill health and reasons outside my control – I was unaware I was autistic at that time which impacted me. When my symptoms first started, the flashbacks were so terrifying, happening unpredictably for a while until I was able to work out what was happening to me, and the hypervigilance left me exhausted most days. Sudden noises left me on edge due to my fight/flight response, and I experienced ‘freeze’ responses too (being frozen in place due to fear and terror). I didn’t want to tell people really because I was afraid of being judged, and not being believed.
It’s taken a lot of time, money (fortunately I was able to pay privately for EMDR and talking therapy/counselling) and really, really hard work from my perspective to get to the point I’m at now, where I’m able to manage day to day life.
This doesn’t mean I am cured though. It means I now know my triggers, I can manage them through techniques I’ve learned and I hardly ever experience flashbacks any more. Living with cPTSD isn’t easy, but being non-judgemental and kinder to others is.
York Ending Stigma
To find out more about our work and to join us to end mental health stigma in York, please refer to our website https://yorkcvs.org.uk/york-ending-stigma/ or email us on yes@yorkCVS.org.uk