• Question: what is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

    Asked by anon-355710 on 13 Mar 2023.
    • Photo: Emily McDougal

      Emily McDougal answered on 13 Mar 2023:

      Post-traumatic stress disorder (also known as PTSD) is an anxiety disorder. It usually develops when a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. Someone with PTSD might experience severe anxiety or flashbacks, which can be triggered by something that reminds them of the event. This could be something they see, hear, smell or taste.

    • Photo: Eileen Xu

      Eileen Xu answered on 15 Mar 2023:

      PTSD happens sometimes when someone experiences a traumatic event. Your brain can “shut down” so that you survive the trauma, but then sometimes your brain never really processes it and the memories stick around. People with PTSD can experience flashbacks (feeling like they’re re-experiencing the event) and hyper-vigilance (feeling like they have to look out for danger). Our brains and bodies prioritise survival above all else so often people with PTSD feel stuck in fight-or-flight mode,

    • Photo: Hannah Fawcett

      Hannah Fawcett answered on 31 Mar 2023:

      PTSD is a stress response to a situation where your life or wellbeing is at significant risk. That can be due to a bad car accident, childhood trauma, experience of war, death of a loved one or many other things. There is also something called indirect trauma – this is when someone experiences symptoms similar to PTSD (disturbed sleep, flashbacks, hyper vigilance etc.) as a result of hearing about the the trauma of others. Examples of this would be a psychologist who hears about their client’s trauma, or a journalist hearing about the experiences of people in a war zone. We are currently carrying out research into the indirect trauma experienced by jurors who hear difficult criminal cases. Treatment can help alleviate the symptoms of trauma and indirect trauma but there are no overnight fixes unfortunately.

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