June is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month, and the Tulare County Health & Human Services Agency is seeking to raise awareness about post-traumatic stress disorder, focusing on what it is and urging people to seek help for themselves or someone they feel is suffering from it.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, series of events, or set of circumstances. An individual may experience PTSD as emotionally or physically harmful or life-threatening, affecting their mental, physical, social, and/or spiritual well-being.
Symptoms:
PTSD can be very complicated because not everyone who experiences a traumatic event develops PTSD, and the symptoms are often unique to the individual.
A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs illustrates veterans' vulnerability to developing PTSD. It notes that veterans are more likely to be exposed to a traumatic event, so their risk of developing PTSD is higher.
However, PTSD can occur in all people of any ethnicity, nationality, or culture and at any age; therefore, service members or veterans aren't the only ones who experience PTSD but are however, at a great risk. Anyone who has gone through an intensely traumatic experience could be affected by PTSD, events such as physical or sexual assault, war-related combat stress, terrorism, natural or man-made disasters, and other threats to a person's life can ultimately expose an individual to such disorder. But help is available.
PTSD can be managed through various venues. Visiting a mental health professional or contacting your local Veteran Services office for more information are just a few ways to seek help. Self-care and seeking effective treatment after PTSD symptoms develop can help reduce symptoms and prevent symptoms from worsening.
For more information, visit: https://tchhsa.org/eng/human-services/veterans-services-office-vso or https://tchhsa.org/eng/mental-health