PTSD Recovery Group-Client Manual

What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can result from exposure
to trauma. PTSD involves four main types of symptoms:
1. Re-experiencing (repeatedly reliving) the trauma. This can be in the form of
nightmares, intrusive memories or images, flashbacks, or intense emotional or physical
reactions to reminder of the trauma. These symptoms frequently leave you feeling like
you are going crazy.
2. Hyperarousal. This includes sleep problems, anger/irritability, concentration
problems, always feeling on edge or on guard, jumpiness, and being easily startled.
Increased arousal could also include physical symptoms, such as pounding heartbeat,
sweating, dizziness, and rapid breathing. These symptoms keep you stressed and
eventually exhausted.
3. Avoidance of trauma reminders. This may include trying not to think or talk about the
trauma, or trying not to have feelings about it. It may also include staying away from
activities, people, places, and situations that bring up trauma memories. These
symptoms leave you feeling apart from the people and surroundings in your life.
4. Emotional numbing. This includes losing interest in activities that used to be
important to you, feeling detached or estranged from important people in your life,
feeling unable to have normal emotions, and losing a sense that you have a long-term
future. These symptoms diminish your relationships with those closest to you.
PTSD is diagnosed when these symptoms last longer than a month and cause
significant distress or impairment in functioning (American Psychiatric Association,
2000).
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