What is PTSD and how to deal with it
5 June 2025In June, events are held to mark the month of awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and to help people who have experienced traumatic events.
PTSD - is a mental health disorder that can develop after a traumatic event, such as violence, war, torture, genocide or any other event that threatens the life or health of a person or their loved ones. Such a disorder can change the way a person thinks, feels and behaves, can cause significant distress and affect the ability to function normally.
According to WHOAccording to the World Health Organization, around 70% people worldwide have experienced at least one potentially traumatic event in their lifetime, of which 5.6% may have PTSD. The diagnosis of PTSD can only be made by a psychiatrist. For Ukrainians, anxiety and worry during the war turned into a collective PTSD that has become part of our lives. According to National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) The number of Ukrainians with PTSD is on the rise.
Symptoms of the disorder appear at least four weeks after the traumatic event, or within the first three months. If the symptoms appear earlier, it is called an acute stress reaction. At the same time, PTSD cannot occur suddenly after a few years if everything was fine before.
Manifestations of PTSD.
- Symptoms of re-living the traumatic eventThe experience of being in the middle of an event, dreaming or returning as a recurring memory with a sense of being inside the event, nightmares. Life on full alert, when a person instantly flares up, becomes irritated, anxious and preoccupied with thoughts of their own safety.
- Avoid mentioning the traumaThe unwillingness to talk about the event or to be around people who remind you of it. Emotional emptiness, detachment from loved ones and loss of interest in once-favourite things, problems with memory and emotional sphere.
- Panic attacks: a feeling of intense fear, shallow breathing, dizziness, palpitations, a feeling of tightness and burning behind the sternum, headaches, nausea, diarrhoea, cramps, low back pain.
- Troubles in everyday lifeProblems with work or finding a job, school or relationships, distancing from a partner, loss of trust in people and a belief that the world is dangerous, alcohol and drug abuse.
- Suicidal thoughts. If you have such thoughts, tell your loved ones and seek psychological support.
PTSD develops people who have experienced a life-threatening or dignity-threatening situation, primarily: war veterans; civilians who have been or are still in the war zone; victims of sexual and/or physical violence; prisoners of war and victims of torture; witnesses of terrorist attacks; people who have been in a natural disaster zone; other people in crisis situations that can traumatise the psyche.
Treatment.
It is very easy to harm a person who has experienced traumatic events, so if you have symptoms of PTSD, you should seek help from your family doctor, psychiatrist and mental health professional whenever possible.
How to support a loved one with PTSD
It is important for a person with PTSD to know that they can always turn to you if they need to, so follow a few rules when communicating:
- Do not devalue the person's feelings and experience, be there for them;
- Be sensitive, listen as long as necessary and make it clear that the person's feelings are important;
- Use direct communication, don't make people guess what you want to say;
- do not force a person to talk about an unpleasant experience, do not give advice if you are not asked for it;
- emphasise the strengths of the individual.
The material was prepared within the framework of the All-Ukrainian programme "Are you okay?" (https://howareu.com/), initiated by First Lady Olena Zelenska.
https://phc.org.ua/news/cherven-misyac-obiznanosti-pro-posttravmatichniy-stresoviy-rozlad-ptsr
https://moz.gov.ua/article/health/scho-take-ptsr-ta-jak-iz-nim-borotisja
https://moz.gov.ua/article/health/chi-vsi-mi-matimemo-ptsr
