PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is an anxiety disorder that very commonly occurs after a person has been through a traumatic act or event. A traumatic event means that something horrible and alarming happened to or was witnessed by them and this can cause panic attacks and a variety of other symptoms directly after the event or even later in life. During the event people recall how they considered their’s or other’s lives to be in jeopardy and felt totally out of control and afraid of the circumstances they were put in.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was first realized and given a public name during the years of the Vietnam War. Many soldiers would come home with symptoms such as nightmares and panic attacks. Also many movies and books have been written or depicted on that time period and soldiers that we alike to ones in real life that suffered from the panic attacks and behavioral changes as caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. The full spectrum of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is still being examined and many people never request treatment due to shame, guilt or just being unsure that there is anything wrong with them.
Other common life-threatening events can cause Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and panic attacks such as terrorist attacks, serious car or other type of accidents, natural disastrous occurrences like floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes and fires. Also physical or sexual assaults or attacks whether occurring while in childhood or in later life report for a great number of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and panic attack sufferers. These symptoms disrupt the lives of sufferers and make it very difficult to continue daily life. However people with panic attacks and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can both be helped with therapy directed for anxiety disorders that often involves psychotherapy and anti-anxiety medications.
Also shown to help are ideas like behavioral therapy and cognitive therapy as they can be effective in treating things like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or panic attacks as well as several other anxiety disorders. Behavioral therapy’s focus is on changing particular actions by using different techniques to decrease or help stop unwanted behavior, as an example, using training to reduce panic attacks and anxiety by deep breathing. As panic attacks as caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder involve hyperventilating the practice of taking slow deep breaths can physically calm the body down.
Cognitive therapy works in much the same manner, by teaching patients to have a different reaction to bodily sensations and frightful situations then they have been having. These old ways of dealing trigger panic attacks and continue the cycle of negative reenactments. Basically cognitive therapy can help someone suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by changing their thinking patterns and awareness of their own actions. For an example, one would be someone who becomes dizzy learning that he is not going to die when having a panic attack but that it is just a little dizziness that he can handle.