By Mariam Dandachli | Staff Writer
Whether it’s the economic crisis, Covid-19, the Beirut port explosion, or the recent earthquakes, many terrifying events have occurred in the past few years in Lebanon that have affected our mental health. Sometimes, we think we are over an event, only to find ourselves reliving the exact moments of fear and stress in an upcoming situation. This sudden resurface of emotions and traumatic feelings can be triggered by various factors like a picture, another event, or simply the lack of ignoring past events.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that is caused by experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Most people experience short term symptoms after a traumatic event, but if the symptoms last for more than a month and interfere with a person’s ability to perform routine tasks, he/she might have PTSD.
Symptoms often appear immediately after the traumatic event or can appear months or years later. PTSD symptoms fall into 4 categories: re-experiencing, avoidance, alertness and reactivity, and cognition and mood symptoms.
- A) Re-experiencing symptoms:
It is the most common symptom, which involves the involuntary and vivid remembrance of details of the event. It occurs in the form of flashbacks and reoccurring nightmares when a person feels like they are in the situation all over again. It can be accompanied by physical sensations such as sweating, trembling and heart racing.
- B) Avoidance symptoms:
It is when a person avoids any place, person, food, or smell that reminds them of the incidence. One could also avoid any thought or feeling that they experienced that day, thus deliberately forgetting that day. It may be accompanied with feelings of numbness and going through great measures to avoid any possible trigger. This avoidance and forced forgetting come as a defense mechanism against the traumatic experience.
- C) Alertness and reactivity symptoms:
A person would be in a constant “fight or flight” state since the body continues to release cortisol and adrenaline, even after the threat has gone. They might be on edge and always alert to their surroundings. This can cause problems in concentrating, sleeping, eating, and performing everyday tasks. Note that this is opposite to the avoidance symptoms, where instead of forced forgetting, your mind is in constant thought of the experience.
- D) Cognition and mood symptoms:
It causes people to forget details of the incident and blame themselves for the event and distance themselves from others. In addition, they do not feel safe and might have difficulty experiencing positive emotions or enjoy activities they once loved. The person may be constantly angry, irritated and might engage in self- destructive behaviors. This might even cause them to develop other mental conditions like anxiety and depression.
If you think you have experienced these symptoms for more than 4 weeks, it is important that you visit a mental health specialist. PTSD is a clinical disorder that can only be diagnosed by a certified health professional by performing a physical exam, a psychological evaluation and referring to the criteria in DSM-5.
Even though PTSD is a mental condition, it has physical effects too. When under stress, cortisol decreases the function of some systems, such as the immune and reproductive system, to direct most of the energy to deal with the stress. However, when someone suffers from PTSD, their stress response system is continuously activated, thus leading to too high or too low cortisol levels. This hormone imbalance causes easy skin scarring, poor digestion, which leads to weight gain, constant body aches, and coldness of the hands and feet. This shows how mental and physical aspects of the body are directly related.
PTSD is one of the most common psychological disorders in the Middle East. In 2016, 25% of people in Lebanon had PTSD, with the number expected to have increased in the recent years. Anyone and at any age can develop PTSD, whether it is from witnessing a war, or from suddenly losing a close person. Also, women are more prone to develop PTSD than men.
Out mental health is as important as our physical health. This is why we should treat both with equal significance and seek help from a professional in both cases. It is true that the topic of mental health remains to be partly a taboo in Lebanon, but it is vital to understand the significance of treating these conditions. And since the symptoms of PTSD start in the mind, it is important for each individual to be able to identify it, because people around us might be oblivious to our mental state. Having PTSD neither defines nor stops you; and with the proper medical care, it is possible to fully recover from it.