{"id":1155,"date":"2025-11-20T06:08:59","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:08:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/?p=1155"},"modified":"2025-11-20T06:08:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T06:08:59","slug":"how-do-i-know-if-i-have-ptsd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/how-do-i-know-if-i-have-ptsd\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do I Know If I Have PTSD?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying, life-threatening, or deeply distressing event (combat, sexual assault, serious accidents, natural disasters, sudden loss, childhood abuse, etc.). Not everyone who goes through trauma gets PTSD about 6\u20138% of adults will develop it in their lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The four main symptom clusters (DSM-5 criteria) must last more than one month<\/strong> and cause significant distress or problems in daily life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Intrusion symptoms<\/a><\/strong> (at least 1 required)\n
      \n
    • Repeated, unwanted memories of the event<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Nightmares related to the trauma<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Flashbacks (feeling like the event is happening again)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Intense distress or physical reactions when reminded of it (racing heart, sweating)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Avoidance<\/strong> (at least 1 required)\n
        \n
      • Deliberately avoiding thoughts, feelings, or conversations about the trauma<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Avoiding people, places, or activities that trigger memories<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      • Negative changes in mood and thinking<\/strong> (at least 2 required)\n
          \n
        • Persistent negative beliefs about yourself or the world (\u201cI\u2019m broken,\u201d \u201cNo one can be trusted\u201d)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Blame of self or others for what happened<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Feeling detached or estranged from others<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Inability to feel positive emotions (numbness)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Memory gaps about important parts of the event<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • Hyperarousal \/ reactivity changes<\/strong> (at least 2 required)\n
            \n
          • Irritable or aggressive behavior<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Reckless or self-destructive behavior<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Being easily startled<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Hypervigilance (constantly \u201con guard\u201d)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Problems concentrating<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Sleep disturbances (trouble falling or staying asleep)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            Other signs: feeling \u201con edge\u201d most of the time, survivor\u2019s guilt, loss of interest in life, or physical symptoms like chronic pain or stomach issues without clear medical cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Important: Only a qualified mental health professional (psychiatrist, psychologist, or licensed therapist) can diagnose PTSD. Self-diagnosis is not reliable. If several of these symptoms started or worsened after a traumatic event and have lasted longer than a month, seek a proper evaluation. Early treatment (trauma-focused therapy such as CPT, PE, or EMDR, and sometimes medication) works very well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            You\u2019re not weak for having these reactions PTSD is a normal brain response to abnormal events. Help is available and recovery is possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) develops after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying, life-threatening, or deeply distressing event (combat, sexual assault, serious accidents, natural disasters, sudden loss, childhood abuse, etc.). Not everyone who goes through trauma gets PTSD about 6\u20138% of adults will develop it in their lifetime. The four main symptom clusters (DSM-5 criteria) must last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1156,"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155\/revisions\/1156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindfulsolutionswa.com\/faqs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}