What Is PTSD?
4. Symptom Types
The symptoms of PTSD are often broken down into four separate types. These are avoidance, intrusive memories, mood, and negative changes in thinking. As the name suggests, avoidance means the patient will try and avoid thinking about the event, and avoid anything they fear might trigger more distress.
Intrusive memories mean that the patient will have flashbacks and dreams of the event, and suffer distress over reminders of the event. Mood symptoms include the patient having negative feelings about themselves, feeling numb emotionally, memory problems, and feeling detached. Changes in thinking include feeling shame or guilt, difficulty sleeping and concentrating, self-destructive behavior, irritability, and always being guarded.
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