Stress and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Let's face it, in your life it's very likely you'll be faced with a stress. It could be an important decision, or you could be about to take the biggest exam of your life. No matter what it is, if it's stressing you out then you need to deal with it! Leaving stress alone will just make it grow, so it's much better and easier to deal with it at the beginning.

Stress

What is stress?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary stress means a state of extreme difficulty, pressure, or strain. Stress can often build up in you making you aggressive, making you loose your concentration, even making you suicidal. Stress can be caused by anything, including things like exams. Although stress can be minor or major, it's important to deal with it.

What happens when you're stressed?

Stress can affect you in lots of ways. It can affect your body, your feelings, and you're behaviour.

When you're stressed, you're body starts to produce more "fight or flight" chemicals which make you ready to face an emergency. Adrenaline and Noradrenaline raise your blood pressure, increase the rate at which your heart beats and increase the rate at which you sweat. Also, it slows down the rate at which you digest food and lots of sugar and fats are released into you're system. All of these make it easier for your body to ever fight or run away. All these changes weaken your immune system (which fights disease and infection) making stressed people more likely to become ill. When you stay stressed your body can't use the chemicals it makes to protect you and these damage your health. You may start to get headaches, you may start to feel ill and you may suffer indigestion. You may breathe more quickly, sweat more, have palpitations (when your heart "misses a beat") or suffer from different aches and pains. Stress for along time will put you at higher risk of suffering from things like strokes and heart attacks.

When you get stressed, you may notice many different feelings, including nervousness, fear, anger, frustration and depression. These feelings can feed on each other and can themselves produce physical symptoms - making you feel even worse.

Stress can affect your behaviour by making you withdrawn, indecisive or inflexible. You may not be able to sleep properly. You may be irritable and short tempered or tearful all the time. There may be a change in your sexual habits, and even if you were previously mild-mannered you may suddenly become verbally or physically aggressive.

Who is affected by stress?

Stress can affect ANYONE. Most people can say they have had something mentioned above. About 12 million adults see their doctors about mental problems, most related to stress. Some people seem to be more affected by stress than others. For some people, just getting out of the door on time each morning can be a very stressful experience. Others are more relaxed and easy going and seem to cope better with pressure. If you think you are prone to stress there are various things you can do to help yourself.

If you suffer from stress, what can you do to help yourself?

1. You can't help yourself, and no one can help you, until you realise you have a problem. Stress can be an illness and is very dangerous. Don't ignore he signs like tense muscles over-tiredness, headaches or migraines.

2. If you find yourself becoming angry or upset you may find it helpful to take time out, even if it's only for five minutes. Get yourself a drink of water or take a walk around the block until you feel calmer.

3. If you notice you are becoming stressed, try to relax your muscles and calm yourself down by slow, deep breathing. Start by taking a deep breath, hold this for a count of three and then slowly breathe out. Continue this slow breathing until you feel more relaxed and then continue with what you were doing.

4. Once you have known you are suffering from stress, try to figure out the what's causing it. Sort the reasons for your stress into those with a something that you can do to help, those that will get better anyway, given time, and those you can't do anything about. Try to let go of those in the second and third groups - there is no point in worrying about things you can't change or things that will sort themselves out.

5. Some problems may be more difficult and need to be dealt with head on. It is important, that if you can't get rid of your stress alone, to find help. Most schools have trained counsellors that you can talk to.

Getting professional help

Do not be afraid to seek the help of a doctor or a counsellor if you feel that you can't manage things on your own. Many people don't want to seek help as they think that it is a failure. This is not the case and it is very important to get help as soon as you can so you can begin to get better.
The first person to talk to is your family doctor. He or she should be able to advise about ways to get better and may refer you to another local person such as a counsellor. Treatment can involve talking your problems through with someone trained to deal with stress and may also mean the use of medicines for a short time. There are also a number of charities and groups (like TSC) that can help you to get rid of the causes of stress and help you get better.

 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

What is PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is means as the making of distinctive symptoms following a mentally distressing event that is 'outside the range of usual human experience'. For example, a very close relative of mine killed himself; this may have helped me develop PTSD. This includes torture, sudden destruction of one's home or community, threat or harm to close relatives and friends, and so on. Common symptoms include re-experiencing the event, for example in nightmares and flashbacks, avoidance of things associated with the trauma, which can trigger severe anxiety and sometimes physical panic responses, sleep disturbance and poor concentration. All these are essentially normal reactions to abnormal events. However, where survivors develop severe, extreme or long-term mental health problems that seriously hamper their ability to live normally, a diagnosis of PTSD may be helpful in terms of opening doors to help and support from the health service. People are usually told they have PTSD after 2 months of experiencing the symptoms.

What can be done to help?

The most effective way to cure long term, severe PTSD seems to be a series of talking sessions with a counsellor or physiologist, in which the person with PTSD is encouraged to talk through the event in detail. Antidepressants medicines may also be prescribed to relieve depression, a common feature in trauma survivors, and enable the person to get the most out of any psychological treatment. Counselling may be helpful too in the early stages of recovery, particularly from counsellors experienced in the treatment of PTSD.

Useful contacts for Stress and PTSD (UK based)

· Traumatic Stress Service, 99 Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AZ, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7919 3458. Assessment and treatment to people experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma related difficulties.

Trauma After Care Trust (TACT), Buttfields, The Farthings, Withington, Gloucestershire GL54 4DF, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 (0)1242 890 306 (helpline), Fax: + 44 (0)1242 820 498. Email: tact@tacthq.demon.co.uk Website: www.gulfweb.org/org_show.cfm?ID=6 TACT provides treatment, support, advice and awareness training throughout the country and seeks to raise standards of care.

Victim Support, National Office, Cranmer House, 39 Brixton Road, London SW9 6DZ, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7735 9166, Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7582 5712. Email: info@victimsupport.org.ukWebsite: www.victimsupport.com An independent national charity. Trained volunteers based at local schemes contact people following a crime to offer free, confidential support and information.

Victim Supportline, PO Box 11431, London SW9 6ZH, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 (0) 845 30 30 900 (9am-9pm Monday-Friday; 9 am-7 pm Sat and Sun; 9 am-5 pm Bank Holidays). Provides emotional support and practical information for anyone has suffered the effects of crime, regardless of whether the crime has been reported

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The Samaritans - http://www.samaritans.co.uk/

Other Useful Sites
1. www.stress.org
2. www.stressmanagement.co.uk
3. www.ptsd.com