PTSD

Sports Illustrated recently posted a very inspiring story about Jaashawn Jones, a running back out of Delaware State University, who has a dream to play professional football. The story details the tremendous number of odds he has overcome, including witnessing the murder of his brother and the subsequent development of PTSD. This story is an inspiring account of how PTSD can be overcome and does not have to interfere with your dreams. Share your thoughts about this article in the About.com PTSD forum, as well as your own story about overcoming PTSD.

The experiences you have throughout your life can influence how you respond to and evaluate your emotions, especially in regard to the development of negative beliefs about emotions. People who have experienced traumatic events at some point in their life may be especially likely to develop strong negative beliefs about emotions. These beliefs may become further pronounced when a diagnosis of PTSD is thrown into the mix. PTSD may lead to strong and unpleasant emotions that may feel out of control, harmful, or unpredictable. It is understandable then that people may begin to view their emotions in a negative way. This article from About.com presents some common negative beliefs about emotions, provides information on where they may come from, and discusses ways to address these negative beliefs.

There are a number of effective treatments for PTSD, and after completing these treatments, many people experience a long-lasting, if not permanent, reduction in their symptoms. However, long-standing recovery from PTSD requires that you maintain and continue to practice the healthy coping skills you learned in treatment. Some people may start to experience symptoms that could be warning signs that PTSD symptoms or other problems (for example, depression) are coming back. Given this, it is very important to be on the look-out for certain symptoms, as they could be signs that you are experiencing difficulties coping with heightened levels of stress. This could put you at risk for experiencing PTSD symptoms or other problems, such as depression or other unhealthy behaviors, like alcohol misuse. This article from About.com presents some warning signs that you want to be on the look out for.

If you have a diagnosis of PTSD, it is very important to work on developing healthy ways of managing stress. Daily life stress and how you cope with that stress can have a major impact on your symptoms of PTSD and the symptoms of PTSD can increase your experience of daily life stress.

One major stressor that all citizens of the U.S. face each year is tax day. The IRS deadline for 2011 taxes is looming and is generally a major source of stress for most people. This stress might be even greater for people with PTSD. The symptoms of PTSD (e.g., concentration problems) can interfere with even the simplest activities and can make more complicated activities (such as completing your taxes) feel impossible. Given this, as the tax deadline approaches, it is important to take some steps to manage your stress in a healthy way. The American Psychological Association has put together some tips on how to manage tax-related stress. You can also find some healthy strategies for managing your tax-related anxiety at About.com.

As the weather starts to warm up, now may be the best time to start a regular exercise program if you have PTSD. People with PTSD have been found to be at high risk for a number of mental health disorders, such as depression, other anxiety disorders, and substance use. However, in addition to these mental health problems, people with PTSD may also be more likely to suffer from a number of physical ailments, such as chronic pain, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.

Regular exercise can be an excellent way of reducing this risk. Regular exercise has a number of benefits. It can contribute to many positive physical health outcomes (such as improved cardiovascular health, weight loss, and greater flexibility and mobility). In addition to these physical health outcomes, exercise can also have a positive impact on mental health. Regular exercise can reduce anxiety and depression. There is also some evidence that exercise can help reduce the severity of PTSD symptoms.

You can learn more about the benefits of exercise if you have PTSD and potential obstacles to starting regular exercise in this article from About.com.

It is common for someone with (or in recovery from) post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to experience anger. In fact, because the experience of anger is so common among people with PTSD, it is actually considered one of the hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD. Although anger can often lead to unhealthy behaviors (for example, substance use or impulsive behavior), the experience of anger in and of itself is not a bad thing. It is a valid emotional experience that can provide you with important information.

However, according to Seeking Safety (a treatment for people with PTSD and substance use problems, developed by Dr. Lisa Najavits), anger can be expressed and experienced in two ways. It can be constructive or destructive. Constructive anger helps you understand your situation, other people, and yourself. Destructive anger is anger that is responded to in an unhealthy way. For example, a person may act out aggressively towards others. The anger might also be turned inward, resulting in deliberate self-harm or substance use. It is important to recognize these two types of anger.

In addition, if you have PTSD, it is very important to learn ways of managing anger. Anger is a difficult emotion to cope with; however, there are some healthy coping skills that can reduce the intensity of anger, as well as help you control your behaviors when you are feeling anger. You can learn some of these coping skills at About.com.

There are a number of treatments out there that have been found to be successful in reducing PTSD symptoms; however, just because you have successfully completed treatment for PTSD does not mean that your work is over. PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety symptoms, or other maladaptive behaviors can come back if you don't continue to engage in the healthy behaviors and coping skills that you learned during treatment. Therefore, it is very important to take steps to make sure that the skills you learned in treatment stay fresh in your mind. Check out this article for some tips on things you can do to maintain your recovery from PTSD.

CNN.com is reporting that there has been a shooting this morning at a high school outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Although information is limited, it appears as though there was only one shooter involved (who is now in custody) and 5 students were wounded in the shooting. Three have died as a result of injuries sustained during the shooting. You can follow this story at CNN.com.

Events such as this have the high potential to result in the experience of PTSD symptoms. Articles relevant to this story are presented below.

• PTSD Symptoms That May Develop After a Shooting
• Does the Experience of Traumatic Events Lead to PTSD All the Time?
• Preventing School Violence Since the Tragedy at Columbine
• What Increases Risk for PTSD After a Traumatic Event?
• Building Resiliency After a Traumatic Event

If you have PTSD, then you likely experience frequent and intense anxiety and stress. Fortunately, there are a number of healthy coping skills that work incredibly well in managing anxiety when it occurs. For example, diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, mindfulness, distraction, and behavioral activation are all coping strategies that can help you safely make it through intense experiences of anxiety and stress.

However, these coping skills are not always easy to implement. Anxiety and stress often drive us to avoidance, and this avoidance often takes the forms of unhealthy behaviors, such as drinking. Although these avoidance behaviors might work incredibly well in the short-term, they often fail in the long-term, further increasing stress and anxiety. Healthy coping strategies, on the other hand, can be very difficult to implement in the short-term because they often force us to approach our distress to some extent.

Therefore, if you are learning new coping skills, it is very important to spend some time getting used to them and practicing them over and over again. Don't expect the coping skill to work well immediately. It may take some time. In addition, the more you practice them, the more likely they will become a habit and be easier to implement during times of stress. You can learn more about practicing new coping skills in this article.

Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars (OEF/OIF) have been found to be at high risk for the development of a number of mental health problems. Of those problems, anger in veterans of these wars has been frequently observed. In addition, it appears as though veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may be particularly at risk for developing anger problems. A recent study examined potential risk factors for anger problems among OEF/OIF veterans. You can read more about this study here.

Anger can be a very difficult emotion to deal with. However, you can do a number of things to better manage anger. First, addressing symptoms of PTSD through therapy may also help reduce feelings of anger. Many treatments for PTSD even incorporate anger management skills. Even if you don't have PTSD, these skills can be helpful in your everyday life.