Common symptoms of PTSD
Some common symptoms that people with PTSD experience include:
- intrusions or re-experiencing the event: such as intrusive memories, nightmares, flashbacks, distress triggered by reminders of the event
- avoidance: such as avoiding thoughts, feelings or memories of the event, or avoiding people, places, conversations or situations that are associated with the event
- arousal and reactivity, or sense of current threat: such as irritability, being overly vigilant, being easily startled, concentration problems, sleep problems.
Find a PTSD symptom checklist at Beyond Blue
Impacts of PTSD
PTSD can impact someone’s physical, mental, social and occupational functioning. For example:
- being able to work, perform day to day activities, and relate to friends and family can be affected
- other mental health problems may be occurring at the same time, including depression, anxiety and alcohol and drug misuse
- there can be physical health issues, such as musculoskeletal pain and effects on the cardiovascular system.
When to seek help for PTSD
Many people experience some of the symptoms of PTSD in the first two weeks after a traumatic event, but most recover with the help of family and friends. For this reason, a diagnosis of PTSD is not made until at least a month after the event, sometimes even years after the event.
However, if the event is very distressing and emotions and reactions are intense, it is advisable to seek help as early as possible to understand what is happening and help recovery to start.
A person who has experienced a traumatic event should seek professional help if they:
- don’t feel any better after two weeks
- feel highly anxious or distressed
- have reactions to the traumatic event that are interfering with home, work and/or relationships
- are thinking of harming themselves or someone else.
Some of the signs that a problem may be developing are:
- being constantly on edge or irritable
- having difficulty performing tasks at home or at work
- being unable to respond emotionally to others
- being unusually busy to avoid issues
- taking risks or not caring what happens to oneself
- using alcohol, drugs or gambling to cope
- having severe sleeping difficulties.