Causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is essentially a memory filing error caused by a traumatic event and can affect anyone who has been exposed to a traumatic event (this can include the trauma happening to you, or being a witness to trauma).
The defining characteristic of a traumatic event is its capacity to provoke fear, helplessness, or horror in response to the threat of injury or death and therefore can affect anyone. Examples of traumatic events include:
- Serious accidents such as road traffic accidents
- Being told you have a life-threatening illness
- Bereavement
- Violent personal assault, such as a physical attack, robbery, or mugging
- Medical staff
- Military combat and service
- Abuse, including Childhood and Domestic Abuse
- Emergency Service Workers
- Burglary
- Employment where you repeatedly see distressing images or hear details of traumatic events
- Natural disasters such as flooding or an earthquake
- Terrorist attack
- Being kidnapped or held hostage
- Traumatic childbirth (in men and women)
- Refugee and asylum seekers
- Miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy
- Sexual Assault or rape
- Prison Employees
- Admission to an Intensive Care Unit
- Any event in which you fear for your life
It’s not clear why some people develop PTSD whilst others who’ve been in a similar situation don’t develop the condition. We do however, know that anyone can develop PTSD, but some people are at greater risk.
Some of the risk factors for developing PTSD include:
- repeated trauma
- lack of support after the trauma
- having had a mental illness in the past
- a history of abuse or trauma in childhood
- the type/severity of the traumatic event
Traumatic events can also cause depression, generalised anxiety, and agoraphobia – and if you experience any symptoms for longer than one month after a traumatic event, it’s important to talk to a doctor or other medical professional as soon as you can.
Treatments for PTSD
It is possible for PTSD to be successfully treated many years after the traumatic event occurred, which means it is never too late to seek help. For some, the first step may be watchful waiting, then exploring therapeutic options such as individual or group therapy – but the main treatment options in the UK are psychological treatments such as Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprogramming (EMDR) and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
Traumatic events can be very difficult to come to terms with, but confronting and understanding your feelings and seeking professional help is often the only way of effectively treating PTSD. You can find out more in the links below, or here.
PTSD UK Blog
You’ll find up-to-date news, research and information here along with some great tips to ease your PTSD in our blog.

The Link Between Chronic Pain and PTSD
There are many people living with chronic pain throughout the UK and the impact on their life can be profound. From being unable to work anymore to finding everyday tasks too challenging, struggling with the difficulty of the condition to

PTSD UK 2019 Calendar Photography Competition is Open!
The 2019 calendar theme is our motto, ‘Tomorrow CAN be a new day’, so we’re looking for your photographs, which demonstrate the attributes this brings: Hope, Strength, and Courage (or anything else it means to you). PTSD UK has launched

How Acupuncture has helped some PTSD Sufferers
Alongside prescribed medicine and treatments, there are also a lot of natural methods available for relieving PTSD symptoms. One of these is acupuncture, which various research studies have shown to be effective for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. What is Acupuncture?Acupuncture

How martial arts is helping PTSD sufferers
For many people with PTSD one of the most important things is finding ways to alleviate their symptoms whilst they heal and recover. We’ve reported several are physical activities that may ease your symptoms and improve wellbeing such as horse therapy,

‘Searching’ for new ways to support PTSD UK!
Do you want to raise money for PTSD UK everyday for free?! Well you can, easily! Everyclick donates £0.01p to PTSD UK for every 10 searches done on their site – so instead of using Google for your everyday internet

PTSD may have put the hearts of Ground Zero workers at risk
Recent research has shown that the civilians involved in the clean up of ‘Ground Zero’ following the World Trade Centre attacks, had a two-fold prevalence of PTSD than that of the general population, and subsequently an increased risk of heart
Support & information for Friends and Family
When someone you care about suffers from PTSD it affects you too.
The symptoms of PTSD aren’t easy to live with, and the changes in your loved one can be downright terrifying. You may worry that things won’t ever go back to the way they were before. At the same time, you may feel angry about what’s happening to your family, or hurt by your loved one’s distance and new emotions.
Your support can make a huge difference in your friend or family member’s recovery. But as you do your best to care for someone with PTSD, you also need to take care of yourself too.