What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness. It involves exposure to extreme trauma involving death or the threat of death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Extreme trauma is a terrifying event or ordeal that a person has experienced, witnessed or learned about, especially one that is life threatening or causes physical harm. It can be a single event or repeated experience. The experience causes that person to feel intense fear, horror or a sense of helplessness.

PTSD is not about what's wrong with you. It's about what happened to you. 

Seventy percent of the population will at some point in their lives experience a traumatic event, 20% of those people will develop PTSD. Individuals who work in high risk occupations such as First Responders are guaranteed to be repeatedly exposed to critical incidents. It's not a matter of if they will be exposed but when and how often. They are therefore at very high risk for developing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Signs and Symptoms of PTSD

  • Reliving the event through nightmares or intrusive images that come at any time
  • Avoiding reminders of the event
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Withdrawal from family and friends
  • Extreme emotional or physical reactions
  • Losing interest in every day activities or activities you used to enjoy
  • Being on-guard on hyper aroused all the time
  • Anger, irritability and moments of rage
  • Emotionally numb. 

PTSD can be prevented with the proper awareness and care for your mental and physical health. Learn more about our courses and working with us to find out how. 

To learn more about PTSD visit these websites: