Navigating Daily Life and Stress

PTSD.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a serious mental health condition. It affects how you live your everyday life, and causing significant distress for the person. It is caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event. This can be caused by being part of an event, or witnessing an event. A person must exhibit the five following symptoms.

1. Exposure.
Experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Such as, threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Even learning about an event that happened to a close family member or friend. As well as repeated or excessive exposure to a traumatic event, example: sexual assault. 

2. Symptoms.
- Re-experiencing the event such as flashbacks or distressing memories about the traumatic event. In children, they can express repetitive play where the themes revolve around what happened during the traumatic event. 

- Dreams where the traumatic event replays. Objects in the dreams may or may not be completely clear, but you still know the event is replaying. 

- Intense or prolonged psychological distress after the traumatic event occurred. 

- Psychological responses to internal or external that represent or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event
(Kumar, n.d.)

3. Avoidance.
Beginning after the traumatic event, the person may begin avoiding certain environments, places, people, conversations or things associated with the traumatic event.

4. Altered Mood.
People who suffer with PTSD often have an inability to recall the events that happened during the traumatic event. They can also suffer from negative beliefs or expectations about themselves, or others, blaming themselves for the event, significate reduction in things they used to find enjoyable, feelings of detachment, and inability to feel positive emotions.

5.Altered Reactivity. 
Changes in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic event begin or worsen after the traumatic event occurred. This can be angry outbursts, irritable behaviour, impetuous or self destructive behaviour, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle reaction, and insomnia. 

Traumatic Grief.

Traumatic grief is a significant loss caused by an alteration in your circumstances, relationships, or ideas about life. With symptoms of loss of trust, safety, self-esteem, identity, or deep sense of deprivation from one's psycho- spiritual life. This can be caused by a sudden loss of a friend or family member from suicide, a car accident or drugs. Traumatic grief differs from normal grief because the emotional pain of loss often causes prolonged, intense and disruptive symptoms.

Depression & Anxiety.

Depression.

Depression, also called major depression disorder, is a serious mental health condition, characterized by persistent feelings of sadness, loss of interest in things they used to find enjoyable, and can affect how you think and feel, affecting you in your everyday life.  

Symptoms:

• Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness
• Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters
• Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports
• Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much
• Tiredness and lack of energy, so even small tasks take extra effort
• Reduced appetite and weight loss or increased cravings for food and weight gain
• Anxiety, agitation or restlessness
• Slowed thinking, speaking or body movements
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or self-blame
• Trouble thinking, concentrating, making decisions and remembering things
• Frequent or recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide
• Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches
  (Sawchuk, n.d.)

Anxiety.