You Might Have High Functioning PTSD if...
People often think of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as something only veterans experience after coming home from war. But in reality, PTSD can affect anyone. So let’s break it down.
The key is right in the name. Post, meaning after, someone has experienced a life threatening event (i.e. trauma), your mind and body may experience the stress of trying to hold onto and “make sense” of what happened, or what you witnessed.
The problem is, we aren’t meant to “make sense” of terrible things.
Sometimes this world really doesn’t make sense, and bad things happen to good people. Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason to why a car crash happened. Sometimes it’s trauma you’ve witnessed; for example, how can a little girl “make sense” of her parents, who say they love her and each other, scream, fight, and get physically aggressive? Love = hurt doesn’t compute with how our brains are naturally wired.
And then sometimes, there’s a global pandemic with politically charged information around staying safe, where everything feels threatening… or at least, confusing. All of this can be scary, especially if you or a loved one have seen the devastating effects of COVID-19 when it claims lives.
So, after a time, our brains don’t process what has happened to us directly, or what we’ve seen indirectly. And the results are catastrophic…
Re-experiencing the trauma through unwanted, distressing memories or thoughts of the event.
Flashbacks of painful memories
Emotional numbness
Avoidance of places, people, and activities that remind you of the trauma (even a smell or sound can be a trigger).
Feeling hyper-alert and anxious, leading to difficulties concentrating, feeling jumpy, and being easily irritated and angered.
Troubles sleeping due to insomnia, nightmares, or night terrors
These leave us thinking: “Why do I keep having flashbacks?” “How can I stop thinking of the person who hurt me?” “Why do I feel so numb?” “What can I do to avoid triggers that send me in a tailspin?”
But here’s the thing, our brains have come up with amazing ways to try to help us. It may:
Block out memories
Keep us in denial
Push us towards ambition, goals, and overworking as a distraction
If you have witnessed terrible events in the past, or have experienced events that made you feel fearful for your life or the life of someone you love, you may have symptoms of post-traumatic stress.
Then, if you tend to avoid feeling your emotions, ignore the bad things, and try to keep living your life day-in and day-out… you may be experiencing High-Functioning PTSD.
What this means is you “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” and do the things you need to do… even if you had terrible nightmares and couldn't sleep the night before.
It means you try to ignore the painful memories and simply “push through” being intimate with your partner...while also trying to ignore the pesky voice of guilt thinking, “I love him, but why can’t sex be easy for me like it seems to be for everyone else?”
It means you stuff your feelings and work really hard at your job, rising the ranks and succeed… even though you’re plagued with anxiety and intrusive thoughts.
You see, our minds and brains aren’t meant to “make sense” of terrible things. And it does the best it can with the coping skills that it has.
But it doesn’t have to stay that way. We know that we need three things to start to heal trauma:
An empathetic, listening ear
Non-judgement of you or your story
A feeling of being physically and emotionally safe
That’s where therapy can help.
With therapy techniques and training like Eye-Movement Desetisiation and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), the Developmental and Relational Trauma Assessment (DART) and many other therapy modalities, a therapist can help you walk through your story, desensitize and see the truth of the traumatic events, and help you “recognize” both the facts and the feelings your brain has been trying to process for weeks, months, years, or even decades.
If you’re ready to feel like this part of your life is a chapter in your story that is “closed”, and not a re-living every day kind of story… then call us at Cypress Counseling Group. Let us help you get paired with a trauma trained therapist today.
Take your life back from post-traumatic stress, and feel more confident, healed, and whole. Contact us at ccgtherapy.org/contact.
Written by Carly Samudre, LPC-MHSP