How common is #PTSD? The answer may surprise you.

Let it be this if you take nothing else away from this article.

“Recovery and healing is certainly possible and this is important to name for trauma survivors,” explains Verhulst. “Within this recovery, initial symptoms can become much more manageable and individuals can go on to experience better qualities of life with significant improvement.”

PTSD Statistics And Facts: How Common Is It?

Forbes Health
By Rena Goldman
September 14, 2023 

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after someone experiences a traumatic event. While not everyone who goes through a traumatic event will experience PTSD, those who continue to deal with problems related to their social, physical and/or spiritual well-being after experiencing trauma may be dealing with PTSD. It’s also possible to experience higher levels of PTSD symptoms at different periods of time, such as during events like war, a pandemic or a natural disaster.

PTSD Statistics By Gender The type of traumatic event and the age at which it occurs can determine whether or not someone develops PTSD, and certain types of traumatic experiences put people at a higher risk. Women are more likely than men to develop PTSD, but that may be because women are more likely to experience sexual assault, a type of trauma that can cause PTSD.

About 8% of women and 4% of men get PTSD at some point in their lifetime.
Women are two to three times more at risk for developing PTSD when compared to men.
In women, about 10% to 12% develop PTSD during their lifetime.
In men, about 5% to 6% develop PTSD during their lifetime.
Women are also more likely than men to experience another mental health condition, such as anxiety or depression.
Men are more likely to experience trauma from physical violence, combat, accidents or disaster, while women are more likely to experience trauma from rape, sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse.
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Now you know that you are nowhere close to being alone even though you may not know someone like you.

The other good thing this article does is it breaks down how #PTSD strikes other people and not just veterans. Once we see that survivors are human first, we realize that we are all survivors of what could have killed us and need help to heal. It's a lot more powerful to have the reassurance others struggle too and we can all learn from one another and lean on them.

Miracles come without warning too!

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 12, 2023 

We woke up on September 12th with a reminder that normal no longer existed. That's the way all survivors of traumatic events wake up to what becomes a different normal to us.

It wasn't just the people running out of the buildings. It wasn't just the police officers and firefighters running into them. It wasn't just the people in the area, or across from it in New Jersey. People all over the world watched what happened in real-time.

Then searchers operated on pure adrenaline being fed by the hope they would find their friends alive. With each day, it was all being slowly drained away. They didn't see what all of that was doing to them. With each passing year, they didn't know that day would become a continuous danger to them.

U.S. Marines pray over a fallen comrade after he died from wounds suffered in fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, April 8, 2004. AP Photo/Murad Sezer, File

20 years post-invasion, many Iraq veterans haven’t found peace on the Harvard Gazette is a reminder that those we sent into combat in Afghanistan and Iraq didn't see it coming either. None of them saw #PTSD coming until it had already dug into them.

Miracles came to survivors on 9-11. Firefighters and survivors on Stairwell B and more stories came out. They happened but we didn't know about them until afterward. Miracles happened in Afghanistan and Iraq too. Can they happen to us too?

And now for the good news. None of us saw the people coming to help us, but they came. We don't see healing coming until it arrives proving hope still lives. Not just in us but in those taking the time to help us. Had they not had hope they could help, they wouldn't bother. Honestly, it can be damn draining to work with people after trauma but they do it and most of the time, it is because either someone helped them at some people in their own lives or they knew someone.

We don't see the day coming when we can actually feel the smile come over our faces. We don't see it coming when we suddenly pick up the guitar and play it again, or let our fingers caress the keys of a piano. We don't see it coming when we pick up the paintbrush, molding clay, or any of the other tools we use to create something out of love. We don't see it coming when we sit and write our thoughts, and visions, or attempt to allow inspiration to flow through us. That all can happen after hope returns to us and we don't see it until it arrives. Miracles come without warning too!

#PTSD is the invader you don't see coming

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 10, 2023

After surviving the traumatic event, you may have felt lucky to remain alive. Figuring you are safe, you try to get on with your life, going back to whatever that life was like before it happened to you. The thing is, that event opened the door to the invader. It is a war you didn't start. #PTSD is the invader you don't see coming.

If you are prepared for this enemy, you start to fight it right away. You know you have 30 days to conquer it and begin to heal the wound it caused. Should you not be prepared, your choice is to surrender to it or fight with everything you've got. Unarmed, you don't have much to fight with.

Waiting to just get over it, pretending nothing has changed in you, allows it to feed off everything you are and suck out the life you once lived. Family and friends tell you that you're not acting the same way you did before. They try to get you to cheer up. When that doesn't work, frustration takes over and they tell you to just get over it. They have no clue this isn't a wound that time will heal. This is a wound that spreads like an infection. While everyone else is miserable, including you, PTSD is all too happy to claim more of you.

That's what the Ministers Of The Mystery Series is all about. The first book, The Scribe Of Salem, is about a war reporter. Chris Papadopoulos was nearly killed by a bomb blast in Afghanistan. His friends serving in the Army saw it happen. That event wouldn't leave them alone.

When he returned home to a hostile wife, he had to fight to heal his physical wounds. He didn't know his soul was wounded too. He had too many other things to fight, including his wife. The wounds to his body eventually healed but the other wound grew stronger until he lost everything he had, including his faith in God.

Returning to Salem as a failure, he relied on drinks being poured by his favorite bartender and only friend, Ed. On the 7th anniversary of the bomb blast, he didn't want to spend one more day suffering without any hope of anything getting better. God agreed.

If you want to see how this demon can be defeated by a broken man, you'll have to read The Scribe Of Salem. If you're guessing it has something to do with witches, you're right but the witch in this one is one. You may have never heard of witches like her but chances are, ones like her are waiting for you to turn to them too.

Become an unashamed survivor with PTSD

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 8, 2023

It is a shame that you get blamed for what it did to you. Isn't it time for you to become unashamed of being a survivor of whatever caused #PTSD? It happened to you. You survived it. There is no shame in that. 

People will blame you for the way you've changed because they don't understand why you changed. Most of the time, survivors have no clue and cannot begin to help the people around them understand. Fear kind of removes the ability to say the words that you need help and are not doing anything on purpose other than trying to get over what happened. We all want to go back to the way we were before but we need to remind ourselves that whatever we survive in life changes us. No matter what happens to us, good or bad, we change on a daily basis. Even after you end up with PTSD, you are changing on a daily basis too. The thing is, either it is taking control over you or you are taking control over it.

Forget all about the doom and gloom that people say. It leaves you trapped in suffering in silence. There have been many times when you may have been around other people talking about what they think about PTSD. Bet it was all negative, like it isn't real, or even worse, those with it were too weak to handle stuff that happens in life. Spending time listening to them is wasted time. It's much better to spend that time learning what you can about what is causing you so much sadness and then listen to others who did heal.

Forget about investing money in groups claiming to raise awareness that veterans are committing suicide, no matter what number they use. No one needs to be reminded of people not finding the help they need to heal but you do need to be inspired by those that did heal. It's a lot better to find something that works for you. Isn't it?

There are a lot of good groups and sites out there. Make The Connection is from the Veterans Administration and is awesome. Anyone can gain information and inspiration from their videos. If you are not a veteran, you can still hear what others went through and how their lives got better. All you have to do is stop thinking that what they say is only for veterans. PTSD is PTSD no matter what caused it. There are videos from military sexual assault survivors too. 

The cause of PTSD is different but the way to heal is universal. You can #takebackyourlife and #defeatptsd. Plus don't forget that it was already lost when you survived the cause of it in the first place.

You don't have to sign in anywhere and videos have the click ability to watch them on YouTube if you want. This will give you an idea of what is available.

How to be an ally to someone dealing with PTSD

Upworthy
Mark Shrayber
September 5, 2023

An estimated 8 percent of the population will experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their lifetime.

Those living with #PTSD are already under a great deal of pressure. Suggesting therapy is helpful, but trying to make your loved one see "the good side of things" or "remember that this is all part of a bigger plan" is likely to create even more guilt and stress rather than prompt action. PTSD is painful and it's serious, but it's never a sign of weakness.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Up to 8% of the American population will experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in their lifetime, according to the National Center for PTSD.

As much as people might not want to discuss it, traumatic experiences are not rare. In fact, recent data suggests that 60% of men and 50% of women will experience at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.

For a long time, it was believed that only those who had served in the military could develop PTSD, but that's simply not true.

The reality is that, while it may be more prevalent among certain groups, PTSD can affect anyone who's experienced a traumatic event. It's important to be able to speak about it clearly and openly, without fear or condemnation, in order to promote understanding and healing.
learn how you can be an ally here