The month of June is Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder Awareness Month,
also known as PTSD.
According to the US Department of
Veteran Affairs, about 6 out of
every 100 people in the US will have
PTSD at some point in their lives,
and about 5 out of every 100
adults in the US has PTSD.
In any given year, women are more
likely to develop PTSD than men.
At about eight of every 100 women and
four of every 100 men will have PTSD
again at some point in their life.
So today I am joined by our counselor,
a familiar face here on News 19 this morning,
Miss Jennifer Wolf,
to talk about exactly what
this disorder looks like.
First of all,
thank you so much for joining us.
Right, Whitney. Well, thank
you so much for having me back
and to talk about.
Something that's so incredibly
important, the awareness,
absolutely.
So I want to start with this,
we hear the word PTSDA lot.
What exactly is it?
Well, PTSD stands for Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder and it's
basically an anxiety condition
that can develop from people that
are exposed to a traumatic event.
And there are many components
that that tie into that.
The research shows that people that have
been exposed from to more prolonged
trauma or human inflicted trauma
may be more impacted just because
and I want anybody is susceptible
to post traumatic stress disorder.
However, it's important to understand
that everybody who's exposed
to a traumatic event or trauma
doesn't necessarily develop PTSD.
There are in fact you don't
really don't diagnose it.
Until 30 days after the
exposure to a traumatic event.
And that's a misconception.
I believe that it's overused somewhat.
Thank you so much for clearing that up.
And I love that you pointed out the fact
that PTSD does not discriminate anybody.
Can get PTSD but there are levels
to to all of this. Absolutely.
Now I want to ask about this.
So we've been talking about,
you know anybody can get PTSD.
How do you know that you're
struggling with this What are
the signs what are the symptoms?
Right. Right.
Well there's three
areas usually we call it there's re
experiencing the event where you're
reliving it over and over again.
I always say it's.
It's the tape recorder in the head
and the the visions the so there's
reliving there can be avoidance also,
just I don't want to be exposed to this.
There's triggers involved and
then there's the hyper arousal,
the arousal symptoms where you're
having difficulty sleeping,
you're having the difficulty with
your the the whole belief system.
Example, if my mother tells me
hey be nice to people then they'll
be nice to you and I am and you
hurt me in some way and expose me,
then my whole well,
wait a minute what do I believe?
And the three about the world,
about myself,
the three areas are that are impacted the
most usually after after exposure or trust,
safety and predictability.
So it's it's,
I want to say also.
But it's not necessarily
just an emotional thing.
It's more of a physiological thing,
like it implants in the body.
So it's the body's way of
handling what has overwhelmed.
If
somebody hears what you're just
saying and says, I think that's me.
I think that I'm struggling with PTSD.
What resources are available?
Oh, there's several, Whitney, and thank
goodness we're talking about this to.
You just help decrease the stigma there.
The one of the best website is National
Center of PTSD, which is online that
has a lot of good information. It's that
is the main one that I can think of.
There are several, I mean to see a
therapist to there several online.
What's important though is to make
sure that if you seek out a provider
that they are specifically trained in.
Trauma. There are a lot of folks out
there that are saying I am that,
that now aren't necessarily are there?
And then some people say, well,
I don't want to go see a therapist.
I don't want to go look at
medication because I'm not sleeping.
There are several.
Things that you can do on your own
There's several several apps that
you can download on your phone.
PTSD Coach is when I'm thinking about.
There's several if you just Google
hey best apps for PTSD.
There's lots of information there so you
can you can. Self managed on your own.
It's also extremely important that families
and loved ones understand what it is.
Yeah.
And what it isn't and how they can help.
What's helpful?
What's not.
That's such good information.
Jennifer, thank you so much for coming
on this morning to raise awareness
about this, break the stigma.
And remember, we say this all the time.
There is never any shame in getting help.
Thank you again, Jennifer.
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Absolutely.