- [Voiceover] So,
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, which is often shortened to PTSD, is the serious anxiety
problem that can develop after your safety, or even your life, has been threatened in some way, or after you've seen some
kind of traumatic event. Even though, when you hear PTSD, you might think of trauma
from fighting in a war, it's also very possible
though, to experience PTSD from other traumatic events, like natural disaster, car
crashes, rape, and others. So when you're posed with this potential traumatic event, or serious danger, like one of those though, your body gets into this mode, where it's ready to either defend against the danger, or avoid it. This is called the fight
or flight response. Think about it. If you're hiking along in the woods, and all of a sudden, this
huge grizzly bear comes into view, your body's
natural reaction is gonna be either to get ready to fight back, if it attacks you, or get out of there. And this response is completely normal, and actually helps protect
us from harm in many cases. With PTSD, though, this
reaction is changed, or damaged, or dysfunctional in some way. And people with PTSD might feel anxiety, stress, or even frightened when
they're no longer in danger. Now most people, after a
traumatic fight-or-flight type event, will be affected
in some way, and coping or adjusting afterward
can be hard for everyone. With time and care, though,
most people typically get better, and aren't
considered to have PTSD. People that don't get better
though, and develop PTSD, have issues coping with
this anxiety for months, or even years after the event. And when someone has PTSD,
there are a couple different types of symptoms that
might present themselves. And the first type is intrusive memories. These involve experiencing
the trauma again, through your thoughts and
memories of the event. These might cause
problems with the person's every day routine, and might be triggered by that person's own
thoughts, or they can also be triggered by other outside words, objects, or situations that
remind them of the event. So for example, if you had PTSD from fighting in a war, anxiety
might be triggered by you spontaneously thinking about a gun, or it might also be triggered by you seeing a police officer
with a gun on their belt. Now, a second type of
symptom is called avoidance. This is where patients
with PTSD start to avoid places, or particular situations, because they think going to these places, or doing these things,
will lead them to thinking or talking about the
event, and cause anxiety. This can often have a major impact on their normal daily routine. For example, if you survived a traumatic car crash, you might now avoid driving, or riding in a car to work every day, even if it meant taking way longer. You can imagine how this might impact your day-to-day life. And a third symptom of PTSD is negative thinking and mood, which is pretty self-explanatory,
and it's where patients have negative feelings
about themselves or others, and have a hard time
experiencing positive feelings. They might feel emotionally numb, and lack interest in things
they used to enjoy doing. This can make it especially hard to keep close relationships
like you used to. Finally, there are hyper arousal symptoms, which have to do with you
being overly alert, and tense. So you might be easily startled, or feel on edge. and have
difficulty sleeping. This state of hyperarousal can be presnt constantly, even when you're not thinking about the particular stressful event, and can make it very difficult to perform normal daily tasks, like sleeping,
eating, or concentrating. Treatment of PTSD is completely
dependent on each patient, but it usually composed of either psychotherapy, or medication, or both. Cognitive behavior therapy
is a form of psychotherapy. And two types of therapies within that, that have been shown to be effective are exposure therapy, and
cognitive restructuring. Now exposure therapy helps people control and face their fears, and even expose them to trauma they experienced, but obviously in a safe
and controlled way. This could be with mental
imagery, or writing, or even visits to the place
where the event happened. Cognitive restructuring,
on the other hand, is where we try to help patients make sense of their bad memories. Sometimes, patients have
inaccurate memories, or perceptions of what happened, and might feel shameful or guilty. And we wanna help them think about these events in their memories, in a more realistic, positive and healthy way. Apart from psychotherapy,
medications can also be prescribed, and there have been two types of anti-depressants
that have been approved by the FDA for treatment of PTSD. The first is called Sertraline, but maybe more commonly know, as Zoloft. The other is called Paroxetine, AKA Paxil. These are both selective seratonin re-uptake inhibitors,
or for short, SSRI's, and are also used to treat depression. They can especially help treat
negative emotional symptoms like anxiety, sadness, worry and anger, and might also help when going
through with psychotherapy. Besides anti-depressants
though, in some cases, anti-anxiety medications
will be prescribed. Like benzodiazepenes, which
help you relax and sleep. The only thing though, is
that these medications are more likely to lead to dependence. And so, they'll likely not
be taken for the long term. Both psychotherapy and medications can be effective in helping
patients recover from PTSD. And this recovery can
be improved even moreso, ,by the support of family and friends. who will listen and offer comfort.