How we react to Trauma: What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and how is it treated?
How We React to Trauma: What Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and How Is It Treated?
Experiencing trauma can be overwhelming and distressing. How each person reacts to trauma is unique, and so is each individual’s recovery. While many people naturally recover from traumatic experiences without psychological or pharmacological intervention, some people can become stuck in their recovery. When this happens, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may develop.
Understanding PTSD and its effective treatments, such as Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT), can be an important step toward healing and reclaiming quality of life.
What Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop after a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. Although trauma can be horrific, most people gradually recover. However, some people cope by avoiding reminders of what happened — avoiding thoughts, conversations, places, or emotions linked to the trauma. While avoidance is a natural coping strategy, it can make it harder to seek help and may prolong distress.
People cope in the best way they can. For many, recovery happens naturally. For others, PTSD can develop when the effects of trauma persist and begin to interfere with daily life, relationships, and wellbeing.
Why Does PTSD Create a Sense of Ongoing Threat?
A central theme of PTSD is threat — more specifically, a sense of current threat related to a past event. But how can something that happened in the past feel so present?
The answer lies in how traumatic events are processed and remembered. Trauma memories are often stored differently from ordinary memories. Rather than being integrated into a clear, coherent story, they can remain fragmented and disjointed. This can make it difficult to place the event in the past.
Reminders of the trauma — sights, sounds, smells, emotions, or situations — can trigger the body’s threat response (fight, flight, freeze, or appease). These triggers may lead to intense emotions such as fear, anger, guilt, shame, or sadness, even when no real danger is present.
Trauma Memories and Flashbacks
PTSD is sometimes described as a disorder of memory. Trauma memories may feel incomplete, confusing, or out of sequence. In some cases, memories can appear as flashbacks, where a person feels as though they are “back there,” reliving the traumatic event.
Flashbacks can be triggered by reminders or may seem to come out of nowhere. Often, they involve only parts of the memory — usually the most distressing moments — taken out of context. These experiences can be physically and emotionally intense, and some people may briefly lose awareness of their surroundings.
Common Symptoms of PTSD
People with PTSD may experience a wide range of symptoms, including:
Nightmares and disturbed sleep
Hypervigilance or constantly looking out for danger
Difficulty concentrating
Anger, fear, guilt, or shame
Avoidance of reminders of the trauma
Withdrawing from friends and family
Feeling disconnected, numb, or emotionally shut down
Self-blame and harsh self-criticism
Substance use as a coping strategy
Reduced quality of life and secondary depression
Guilt often fails to take into account the full context of the traumatic event, while shame can lead to withdrawal and isolation. Over time, these patterns can reinforce negative beliefs about oneself, others, the world, and the future — such as believing the world is unsafe, others cannot be trusted, or that the future is hopeless.
It’s important to emphasise that these are normal responses to abnormal experiences. The difficulty arises when these beliefs remain unchallenged and begin to limit a person’s life or prevent them from reaching their potential.
PTSD Can Persist — But Help Is Available
PTSD can last for many years after a traumatic event and may even be triggered long after the trauma occurred. Just as people may avoid talking about their experiences, professionals may sometimes hesitate to ask about trauma for fear of making things worse.
However, evidence shows that when PTSD is treated using a structured, trauma-focused approach, symptoms can reduce significantly — often more quickly than expected. With the right support, people can regain a sense of control and reconnect with their lives.
How Is PTSD Treated? The Role of Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
Cognitive Behavioural Therapies (CBT) offer some of the most effective treatments for PTSD. In particular, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT) is a highly effective, evidence-based treatment recommended by clinical guidelines worldwide.
Trauma Focused CBT helps people:
Process traumatic memories safely
Reduce the sense of ongoing threat
Understand and reframe unhelpful beliefs linked to the trauma
Reduce avoidance and distressing symptoms
Rebuild confidence, meaning, and quality of life
While many people recover from trauma without professional support, those who continue to struggle can benefit greatly from TF-CBT. It is an empirically sound and compassionate approach that helps people move forward, rather than remain trapped by the past.
Reclaiming Life After Trauma
Trauma does not define a person, and PTSD is not a sign of weakness. With understanding, the right treatment, and appropriate support, recovery is entirely possible. Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioural Therapy offers a powerful pathway to healing — helping people reclaim their lives and move toward a safer, more hopeful future