Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which occurs after a sudden event such as the loss of a loved one, an accident, an earthquake or a war, negatively affects a person's life. Noting that the process that makes the traumatic process the healthiest is the mourning process, experts emphasize that this period should be experienced in the healthiest way. Experts said, "Living mourning to the fullest will help to experience this event without turning into PTSD." Experts point out the importance of sharing the event in cases of high levels of fear and anxiety and point out that men in our society show more PTSD symptoms.
Üsküdar University NP Etiler Medical Center Specialist Clinical Psychologist Serkan Elçi pointed out that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which occurs after situations such as earthquake, war, loss of relatives, significantly affects the life of the person and pointed out the importance of early intervention.
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Serkan Elçi said, "We cannot continue life in the same way after a sudden event. In a so-called traumatic experience, the person has experienced, witnessed or faced a real death or threat of death, a serious injury or a threat to the physical integrity of themselves or others. The person's reactions may include extreme fear, helplessness or horror."
If you experience these for more than 1 month, pay attention
Noting that in order for this traumatic experience to be called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the following conditions must be experienced for more than 1 month, Specialist Clinical Psychologist Serkan Elçi listed them as follows:
- Fear, anxiety and nightmares about the event continue with similar intensity,
- Flashbacks to the moment of the event,
- As with depressive symptoms, extreme unhappiness, low mood, disturbed sleep and appetite,
- The presence of PTSD may be indicated by reduced concentration and distractions.
5 important steps in the post-traumatic process
Serkan Elçi noted that many people show the classical reactions to loss, that grief is considered a normal reaction to traumatic loss and that this process is handled in 5 main steps, and listed these steps as follows:
Denial: After a traumatic experience, people deny what happened. This cannot be real.
Anger: How could he do this? How could this happen to me? Questions such as "How could this happen to me?" can arise in people's minds.
Bargaining: It is possible to see the flow of thoughts such as 'I won't do this anymore, as long as he/she doesn't leave', 'Let my child be born, let him/her become a grandfather' and so on.
Depression/Collapse: This is the period when we begin to understand and realize the source of our feelings. During this period, it is common to experience depressive symptoms such as loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, confusion, tearfulness, self-neglect, etc.
Acceptance: Mentally: First of all, mental acceptance takes place and it is a period of understanding, making sense of and grasping what is happening.
Emotionally: After mental acceptance, it manifests itself with understanding, making sense of and accepting what you feel.
Serkan Elçi noted that experiencing this process shows the course of a normal traumatic experience and said, "Getting stuck in one of these experiences and not being able to move forward, making changes in life that we can call radical (divorce, getting married with a sudden decision, changing jobs unexpectedly, starting substance use) also show that we are under risk factors."
Mourning process should be experienced
Serkan Elçi, noting that the process that makes the traumatic process the healthiest is the mourning process, pointed out the importance of experiencing this period in the healthiest way and said, "Living the mourning to the fullest will help to experience this event without turning into PTSD. Because not every traumatic event always causes trauma. Therefore, we expect the mourning process to be healthy. The mourning process includes cultural processes as well as individual ones. The belief systems of the culture will also change the way people experience the traumatic experience."
Cultural differences in grief are shown
Stating that the mourning process is culturally experienced in different ways, Serkan Elçi said, "Culturally, the way countries in the Mediterranean region and our country mourn is very similar; Greeks, Turks, Italians want to dress in black and become untouchable. When I went to Van as a support team after the Van earthquake, I learned that refusing the tea offered to you during tent visits would be considered as not respecting them and I had to drink tea in every tent."
Men are more traumatized!
Specialist Clinical Psychologist Serkan Elçi said, "A healthy grief process will help to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder. If there is no loss, that is, there is no situation to grieve, but in cases where fear and anxiety are at a high level, it is very important to share the event, to talk, to express emotions. The main reason why men show more PTSD symptoms in our society is that their emotional expressions are limited or inaccurate. The stereotypes of 'men do not cry, men are not afraid', which is one of our basic social myths, prevent them from revealing the sadness and fear they feel."
EMDR Therapy is applied
Noting that preventive and regulatory treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be addressed, Serkan Elçi said, "The most widely used therapy technique for trauma is EMDR Therapy. EMDR Therapy, which means 'Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing' in Turkish, is a technique that helps us to change the negative stereotypes that exist in the person about the memory called traumatic and to reprocess that thought. It is also accepted by the World Health Organization as the most effective trauma treatment. In addition to EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Schema Therapy are other therapy techniques used in post-traumatic stress disorder. In order for the therapy to be sufficient, the process must continue for a certain period of time. But while this process continues, life continues. In order to get a faster result, receiving psychotherapy along with medication will help accelerate recovery. Finally, I would like to give the perspective of the twin brothers who were pulled out of the cave-in hours after the 99 earthquake as a clear example of psychological resilience. One of the twins described the air coming from the light turned on by the rescue team as 'I felt the cold breath of death', while the other said, 'I felt the fresh air in my lungs'. The strangest thing is that the one who said 'the breath of death' had minor scratches, while the twin who saw it as fresh air had very serious problems in his leg."
