Recognizing PTSD and the Path to Recovery

BY BREE MINGER, AMFT

As we honor those who have served and continue to serve this Veterans Day, it is important to discuss a diagnosis that impacts many people, especially veterans. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly referred to as PTSD, impacts about 6% of the U.S. population. The disorder is even more likely to impact veterans. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, 23% of veterans using VA healthcare will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. PTSD is much higher among veterans using VA healthcare because every veteran is screened for PTSD. Not every veteran uses VA healthcare, and many circumstances for civilians can result in PTSD; therefore, there are likely many people struggling with PTSD and going unnoticed in civilian healthcare. A friend or family member of yours may be grappling with symptoms of PTSD, regardless of military service.

What To Look For

Deployment, intense accidents, sexual assault, natural disaster, death of a loved one and countless other situations can result in PTSD symptoms for veterans and civilians. Symptoms can have lasting impacts on mental health, relationships and lifestyle. Here is what to look for: 

  1. Intrusions: Involuntary memories like nightmares or flashbacks may feel so real, it is as though someone is re-living that moment. 

  2. Avoidance: Perhaps they never want to go to a certain restaurant, or they don’t want to go for a bike ride. Avoiding activities, objects, places, or people related to a stressful and traumatic event may be a form of coping to forget and avoid how they felt during that time. 

  3. Dark thoughts or emotions: experiencing lower mood, feeling angry, numb, guilty, shameful, or difficulty trusting others. These changes in mood can also result in feeling detached from others or much less interest in previously enjoyable activities.

  4. Hyperarousal: They may feel on edge or easily startled. It may result in poor sleep, difficulty concentrating, irritability, or angry outbursts.

Most of these symptoms naturally occur within days after a traumatic event. In order to be diagnosed with PTSD, the above symptoms must occur for a month or longer and the symptoms must be significantly impacting the person’s functioning in daily life. If you notice these symptoms in yourself or a friend, it will be helpful to seek treatment. 

A PATH TO RECOVERY

Reaching out for help is often the hardest part for many people, but especially for those with PTSD symptoms, as avoiding memories and feelings about the event is natural. However, different forms of therapy can be helpful towards recovery. 

  1. Talk therapy can be helpful to learn coping skills to manage symptoms and change negative thoughts or feelings into better ones about yourself and others. 

  2. EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) is especially helpful to reprocess a traumatic memory safely with a professionally trained EMDR therapist. 

  3. Animal therapy leads to healing for many with PTSD. Whether a service dog, or equine therapy, the relationships formed with these animals can help to decrease symptoms of PTSD and improve quality of life. 

  4. Medication can also be helpful to reduce symptoms and improve quality of life. It is important to seek medication from a psychiatrist and coordinate care with any other medical or mental health professionals. 

There is hope for healing. If you or a loved one is experiencing symptoms of PTSD, it is important to receive care. Look for a therapist or provider who can assist you as soon as possible. Other resources include: 

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Help Line: 1-800-950-6264

Suicide and Crisis LifeLine: Call or Text 988 

Veterans Crisis Line: Call 1-800-273-8255 or Text 838255

https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/common/common_veterans.asp

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd#:~:text=People%20with%20PTSD%20have%20intense,or%20estranged%20from%20other%20people.

https://health.mountsinai.org/blog/how-can-you-tell-if-someone-you-know-may-have-ptsd/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355973

https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments

There Is More When It Comes To Listening To Your Body

By Bree Minger, AMFT

Often, the phrase “listen to your body” makes one think of the body’s basic needs like hunger, thirst, and sleep. For all of those needs our bodies send us clues that tell us to grab an extra snack when we are hungry, drink a glass of water after a long walk, or head to bed a little earlier on days that just felt like too much. 

Outside of those needs, our bodies communicate other messages that are often more subtle and harder to notice. These messages are related to our emotions. They don’t just exist in our heads; emotions are held and experienced throughout our entire bodies. 

In fact, the body, through the nervous system, can inform us of our emotions before our brains can identify our feelings. Have you felt butterflies in your stomach and that is when you realize you’re nervous for a big presentation? Or have you noticed your heartbeat pick up when you are feeling lost in a place you’ve never been? What about that feeling of pins and needles on your arms as you think about having a hard conversation with a loved one? 

Each body experiences emotions differently based on past experiences, stories, or traumas. Some of these described sensations may feel familiar, and if some feel unfamiliar, you are not alone. Day to day, many people live in their head and ignore their bodily cues, sensations, discomfort, or pain. Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk in The Body Keeps the Score, describes this as a muffling of one’s senses. Why may living in your head, and ignoring your body, be dangerous? A lack of connection between the brain and the rest of the body has the power to influence our interactions and relationships, as well as block the path to healing past traumas and difficulties. 

Wondering how to start listening more closely? 

  1. Mindfulness is key. Paying attention to bodily sensations can allow one to more closely understand the waves of their emotions and therefore gain more control over them according to Van Der Kolk. A helpful meditation practice may begin with deep breathing or a body scan. 

  2. Yoga can be an effective exercise to restore the brain and body connection. The combination of deep breathing, different postures and meditation has powerful effects. 

  3. EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) therapy is an effective way to treat trauma. Different from talk therapy, EMDR allows access to memories and can be helpful to observe experiences from a different context of external stimulation, including eye movement, tapping, or other stimuli.  


Ultimately, the word “emotion” comes from the Latin word emovere or “to move out.” This tells us that healing from past traumas, both big “T” and little “t,” involves listening to our bodies and discovering the movement, rest, postures, mindfulness, and/or processing it requires. There is so much to learn about your body and how it informs who you are today. 

Curious to learn more or get started with a therapist? We have made this easy. Visit our website and fill out the intake form today.     

References: Van Der Kolk, Bessel. The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books, 2014. EMDR Institute, Inc.