Signs and Symptoms of PTSD in Men

Some events become so personally disturbing to some people that they experience instances where they think they are going through the traumatic event once more. This could result in varying responses from the person, depending on their particular reaction to the memory of the traumatic event.

The experience could include:

• Vivid flashbacks
• Unpredictable intrusive thoughts
• Nightmares
• Intense distress at real or symbolic reminders of the trauma
• Perceived physical sensations such as pain, sweating, nausea, or trembling

In some cases, PTSD could induce a state where the person appears to be going through a fight-or-flight response to an event. This is most commonly observed in people who have seen combat or were exposed to great conflicts or acts of violence. Oftentimes, they perceive a trigger that is relevant to their trauma, much like a soldier perceiving someone to be an enemy.

The experience could include:

• Panic
• Belligerence
• Sudden and unpredictable irritability
• Hypervigilance (state of extreme alertness)
• Disrupted sleep patterns
• Uncharacteristically aggressive behavior
• Inability to concentrate or focus
• Easily startled
• Anxiety

There are some people who react to their PTSD by attempting to consciously erase entire chunks of their memory relevant to the trauma. Due to the fact that they want to rid themselves of anything that has to do with the memory or idea of the trauma, chunks of memory that could be unrelated to the trauma but have some relevance by way of date, location, or involved people often become “forgotten” as well.

For some, it is a constant conscious effort, while others have become relatively successful in evading the relevant thoughts that they go about their life with missing chunks of their memory.

The experience could include:

• Intense need to keep busy
• Significant effort to avoid anything relevant to the trauma
• Inability to remember details of what happened
• Affective blunting (feeling emotionally numb or cut off from personal feelings)
• Depersonalization (feeling physically numb or detached from your body)
• Apathetic (being unable to express affection)
• Reduced sense of self-preservation
• Increased risk of developing a substance abuse disorder

One of the hallmarks of PTSD is a marked difficulty to socialize, as the person is bombarded with conflicting thoughts and emotions when exposed to other people or places. Many who have PTSD also engage in a good deal of self-destructive ideas, such as blaming themselves for perceived faults or mistakes, or even for events that they have absolutely no involvement at all.

The experience could include:

• Extreme distrust of others
• Persecution complex (irrational belief that others are trying to harm or conspire against them)
• Severe paranoia
• Misguided feeling that nobody understands
• Increased self-blame for most things
• Overwhelming and unexplainable feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, or shame

For some people with PTSD, they prefer to simply stay away from others for as long as they can. This is because they believe that most people would not understand what they are going through, and would just subject the person with PTSD to unfair judgment and treatment.

In other cases, the person with PTSD believes that being around others could pose as an imminent danger as they could lash out at a moment’s notice, regardless if the people around them triggered them or not. This is one of the typical situations that former soldiers find themselves in, as they try to live the rest of their days while dealing with the trauma of having seen much bloodshed and combat.

The fear response in people could completely rewire the brain in that the person perceives threats where there are none. This is often seen in people who have been victims of heinous crimes or in people who have seen great conflicts, such as soldiers and law enforcement people.

For some people with PTSD, their minds forego the typical threat assessment phase and immediately brand something or someone as a clear and present danger. This often leads to violence, as the person with PTSD decides to avoid being a victim again and initiates the offensive even when unprovoked.

People with PTSD who are not able to isolate themselves often end up with severe distrust and antisocial behavior, as they actively seek to drive people away from their vicinity. These people often become consciously offensive and aggressive, subjecting the people around them to verbal abuse or even physical harassment.

When confronted and asked why they engage in such behavior, they often respond with illogical responses and wildly imaginative claims where the person believes that there was a real threat to them. This kind of situation often frustrates responding authorities as people with PTSD completely believe that they are the victims instead of the offender.

A sad reality about PTSD is that a large number of people who have it also have a high likelihood of developing a substance abuse disorder. This is most evident in the number of veterans who also suffer from one form of addiction or another. In the absence of proper therapy and treatment, many veterans seek the solace of alcohol or drugs to deal with what PTSD is making them go through.

PTSD and addiction is also largely the reason why so many veterans end up on the street, unable to secure employment or even lead a normal life after their service. This situation, however, also leaves the veterans without the support needed to deal with their PTSD, allowing it to continue to get worse.

A common condition shared by people with PTSD is anxiety in most of its forms, particularly depression. This is also largely why so many people with PTSD engage in substance abuse, as they seek the closest thing to relief from what they feel. The sad reality is that getting substances will only serve to make the depression even worse.

This could even extend into other portions of their life, creating a way of thinking that prefers to look at the bleak and negative aspects of life instead of seeing the more positive outlook. This kind of character trait is typically persistent, turning the person with PTSD into the colloquial “wet blanket”, proffering the worst-case scenario whenever possible.