What are the symptoms of PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening, or distressing events. PTSD can develop immediately after an event or it can happen weeks, months, or even years later. PTSD can be caused by something like a road accident or long-lasting stress caused by something like abuse in childhood or domestic abuse.

Some women experience post-traumatic stress after pregnancy. This may be caused by having a traumatic birthing experience, miscarriage, or neonatal death. This may lead to fear of childbirth in the next pregnancy. It can be very difficult to come to terms with a traumatic event, but PTSD is treatable. The important thing is to try and confront your feelings with help from healthcare professionals.

What are the symptoms of PTSD?

PTSD symptoms include:

• flashbacks to the experience
• nightmares about the experience
• repetitive and distressing images or sensations
• physical sensations such as pain, sweating, feeling sick (nausea), or trembling
• constant negative thoughts about the experience
• trying to feel nothing at all (emotional numbing) and trying to distract yourself to avoid thinking about what happened
• avoiding places, people, or other things that remind you of the traumatic event
• watching out for danger or threats and being easily startled
• anxiety
• irritability
• difficulty concentrating
• angry outbursts
• sleeping problems
• headaches
• stomach pain.

Some women with post-traumatic disorder find it difficult to bond with their babies.

What should you do?

It may be very difficult to talk about your thoughts and feelings, especially after a distressing experience. Remember that we won’t judge you. Experts at Access Health Services understand that PTSD is a mental health condition. It is not your fault or something that you just need to ‘get over or move on from. We will focus on helping you find the right treatment and support so you can take care of yourself.

You may want to write down what you want to say first, or you may want to have someone with you when you talk to them. The important thing is to let someone know so that the right help can be found as soon as possible. It can be very difficult to come to terms with a traumatic event, but it’s never too late to ask for help. PTSD can be treated many years after the event happened.

Treatment for PTSD:

The main treatments for PTSD are therapy and medication.

We will carry out an assessment of your symptoms before you’re referred to a mental health specialist for more assessments. Your mental health specialist should talk to you about:

• how to cope with any feelings of fear
• how to cope with any other symptoms you have
• your options for the birth that may help.

You may have eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EDMR). This is a therapy that uses eye movements to dampen the power of the memories and the emotions linked to them.

You may also be offered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is a type of therapy that aims to help you manage your problems by changing how you think and act. This is also helpful if you have tokophobia. Tokophobia describes a severe fear of childbirth, where a woman is so afraid of giving birth that she does not want to go through with it. You may also be offered group therapy so you can talk to other people about their experiences. You will probably only be offered medication if talking therapies don’t help.