Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Aftermath Of A Trauma
According to Neuropsychiatrist Dr.Sanjay Chugh, “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition that may develop when a person has been exposed or has witnessed a threatening, serious situation that can be dangerous and traumatic. These may include death, serious injury, sexual violation, fatal accident, terrorist attack, a war/combat situation, etc. He also said, “Affected people tend to relive the traumatic incident in the form of recurrent flashbacks or nightmares, accompanied by severe anxiety.”
PTSD can be developed in anyone irrespective of their age. But children are impacted more adversely from PTSD. They are even more prone to experience PTSD as it becomes grating for their underdeveloped brain. Symptoms like bed-wetting, emotional numbness and negative impact on their education are common among them.
Emotional events like pregnancy and relationship breakups can also become underlying causes of PTSD. Also, PTSD is also observed in subjects who have gone through workplace bullying and become a major factor which impacts their productivity drastically.
Chugh said, “Research has highlighted how bullying at work can lead to the development of PTSD symptoms in people. People who are bullied tend to believe that they are powerless and helpless. This keeps them in a constant state of vulnerability and anxiety. They always think that they will be threatened, abused or attacked by their environment. This could result in having nightmares about work, avoidance to go to the office, difficulty in sitting through office hours, crying, worrying which leads to extreme stress and impaired functioning.”
Post-traumatic stress disorder affects around 10 per cent of the population in the world and is twice more common in women. Symptoms of PTSD include intrusive symptoms like nightmare and flashbacks, avoiding talks about the event. Subjects also develop arousal symptoms which leads to difficulty in sleeping, irritability, panic attacks, and anxiousness. There are also chances of physical symptoms due to which they tend to sweat, shiver, have milder headaches, and a weakened immune system.
Time taken in recovering from PTSD differs from people to people. Dr.Chugh suggests a combination of psychotherapy and medication as the most effective treatment. “Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is recommended as the treatment of choice with anti-anxiety medication. Studies have also found Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) extremely effective as one of the latest treatment modalities for PTSD patients.” he further said.
In India, the situation is worse in the Kashmir and Northeast due to sporadic events of violence. On this serious issue, Dr.Chugh commented, “Sensitive areas that are more prone to attacks and unrest will have a higher population of people who have been affected and are emotionally vulnerable. Incidents of terrorist attacks, physical and or sexual violence, deaths invariably leave deep physical and emotional trauma that causes disturbed psychological reactions in victims and those who have been a witness to such horrors.”
Even serious ailments like Post-Traumatic stress disorder often find negligence from Indian society. The dearth of awareness among people is the underlying cause for this negligence. Moreover, a 20 % decrease in the fund of the National Mental Health Programme shows hostility towards PTSD and other mental health ailments from the government.
