What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
After a frightening, distressing, or traumatic experience, it is normal to feel shaken for a while. You may feel on edge, have trouble sleeping, avoid reminders, or find yourself replaying what happened.
For many people, these reactions gradually settle with time and support. For others, they continue, become more intense, or start to interfere with everyday life. This may be post-traumatic stress disorder, often called PTSD.
PTSD is a recognised mental health condition. It is not a sign of weakness, and it is not something you have to manage alone. With the right support, many people find their symptoms improve and daily life becomes easier to manage.
This page explains what PTSD can feel like, what may cause it, how it is diagnosed, and what treatment and support options may help.
This page is for general education only and is not medical advice. If you are concerned about your mental health, please speak with your GP or our qualified healthcare professionals.
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PTSD symptoms
PTSD symptoms are usually grouped into four main areas:
- Re-experiencing or reliving the trauma
- Avoidance
- Negative changes in thoughts and mood
- Feeling on edge or highly alertInattention
Symptoms often begin within a few months of a traumatic event, but they can also appear later. They may come and go, and they can be triggered by reminders such as sounds, smells, places, anniversaries, conversations, or situations that feel connected to what happened.
Re-experiencing or reliving the trauma
This can include:
- Unwanted memories of the traumatic event
- Nightmares
- Flashbacks, where it feels as though the event is happening again
- Strong emotional distress when reminded of the trauma
- Physical reactions to reminders, such as a racing heart, sweating, shaking, nausea, or shortness of breath
Flashbacks can feel very real and frightening. During a flashback, the body may respond as if the danger is happening in the present, even when you are physically safe.
Avoidance
Avoidance is a common response to trauma. You may try to stay away from anything that brings back memories or feelings connected to what happened.
This can include:
- Avoiding certain people, places, activities, or situations
- Avoiding conversations about the event
- Trying not to think about what happened
- Keeping busy to avoid difficult memories or emotions
- Feeling unable to watch, read, or hear anything related to the trauma
Avoidance can feel protective in the short term, but over time it can make life feel smaller and make symptoms harder to manage.
Negative changes in thoughts and mood
PTSD can affect how you see yourself, other people, and the world around you.
This may include:
- Persistent fear, guilt, shame, anger, or sadness
- Feeling detached from others
- Losing interest in things you used to enjoy
- Feeling emotionally numb
- Finding it hard to experience positive emotions
- Blaming yourself or others for what happened
- Feeling that the world is unsafe
- Gaps in memory around parts of the traumatic event
These changes can be distressing and confusing. They are part of the way trauma can affect the brain, body, and nervous system.
PTSD can keep the body’s alarm system switched on, even after the danger has passed.
This may include:
- Being easily startled
- Feeling constantly alert or “on guard”
- Irritability or angry outbursts
- Difficulty sleeping
- Trouble concentrating
- Feeling tense, restless, or unable to relax
- Reckless or self-destructive behaviour
These symptoms can be exhausting. Many people with PTSD describe feeling like their body is always scanning for danger.
When do trauma reactions become PTSD?
It is common to have distressing reactions in the days and weeks after trauma. For many people, these reactions gradually reduce with time, safety, and support.
PTSD may be considered when symptoms last for more than one month, cause significant distress, and interfere with daily life, relationships, work, study, sleep, or wellbeing.
If symptoms are severe, getting worse, or you feel unsafe, it is important to seek help sooner.
Factors that may be linked with an increased chance of ADHD include:
- Genetics and family history
- Premature birth
- Low birth weight
- Exposure during pregnancy to alcohol, smoking, or some environmental toxins
It is also important to be clear about what does not cause ADHD. ADHD is not caused by poor parenting, too much sugar, too much screen time, or a lack of discipline. These things may affect behaviour, routines, sleep, or stress levels, but they do not cause ADHD.
Contact us to find out moreHow is PTSD diagnosed?
PTSD is diagnosed by a doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or another qualified mental health professional.
A diagnosis is based on a careful assessment of your symptoms, trauma history, how long symptoms have been present, and how they are affecting your life.
Diagnostic criteria usually consider whether there has been:
- Exposure to a traumatic event
- Re-experiencing symptoms, such as flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive memories
- Avoidance of reminders or thoughts connected to the trauma
- Negative changes in mood or thinking
- Changes in alertness, sleep, concentration, irritability, or reactivity
- Symptoms lasting for more than one month
- Significant distress or difficulty functioning
- Symptoms that are not better explained by another condition, medication, or substance use
A clinician may also ask about anxiety, depression, sleep, alcohol or drug use, physical health, and other factors that can affect mental wellbeing.
You do not need to share every detail of what happened before asking for help. A good health professional will move at a pace that feels as safe as possible and will explain what they need to know and why.
PTSD and acute stress disorder
Some people experience strong trauma reactions in the first few days or weeks after an event. This may be called an acute stress reaction or acute stress disorder.
PTSD is usually considered when symptoms continue for more than one month.
Early support can still be helpful, especially if symptoms are intense, you feel unsafe, or you are struggling to function.
PTSD and anxiety
PTSD and anxiety can look similar. Both can involve fear, restlessness, sleep problems, trouble concentrating, irritability, and a nervous system that feels stuck on high alert.
The main difference is usually the link to trauma.
With PTSD, symptoms are connected to a traumatic event or series of events. Flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive memories, avoidance, and strong reactions to reminders are common.
With generalised anxiety, worry is often more focused on future uncertainty, everyday responsibilities, or a range of possible things that could go wrong.
The two can also occur together. A proper assessment can help clarify what is happening and guide the right support.
PTSD and depression
PTSD can also overlap with depression.
People with PTSD may feel numb, disconnected, low, hopeless, guilty, or no longer interested in things they used to enjoy. Sleep disruption, low energy, and withdrawal from others can also occur in both PTSD and depression.
Because these symptoms can overlap, it is important to speak with a health professional rather than trying to work it out alone.
Treatment options for PTSD
PTSD is treatable. Many people improve with the right support, and some people recover to the point where symptoms no longer dominate daily life. Treatment is usually tailored to the person, their symptoms, their safety, their support system, and whether other conditions are present.
The main treatment options include trauma-focused talking therapies, EMDR, medication in some cases, and practical support for day-to-day recovery.
Trauma-focused talking therapies
Trauma-focused psychological therapy is commonly recommended as a first-line treatment for PTSD.
These therapies help people process traumatic memories, understand trauma-related beliefs, reduce avoidance, and calm the body’s threat response over time.
Examples include:
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy, or TF-CBT
- Cognitive processing therapy, or CPT
- Prolonged exposure therapy
- Trauma-focused cognitive therapy
These therapies are structured and are delivered by trained professionals. They are not about forcing someone to relive trauma without support. The aim is to help the brain and body process what happened in a safer, more supported way.
Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EMDR)
Eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing, known as EMDR, is another evidence-based therapy used for PTSD.
EMDR involves recalling aspects of the traumatic memory while using guided eye movements or another form of bilateral stimulation, such as tapping or sounds.
The goal is to help the brain process the memory so it feels less distressing and less present. EMDR should be provided by a trained practitioner with experience in trauma.
Medication
Medication may help some people manage PTSD symptoms, especially where anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, or high distress are also present.
Some antidepressant medicines, including certain SSRIs or SNRIs, may be considered. Medication should always be discussed with a doctor, who can explain the potential benefits, risks, side effects, and whether it is suitable for your situation.
Medication may reduce symptoms, but it is often most helpful as part of a wider support plan.
Day-to-day support
Recovery from PTSD is not only about formal treatment. Daily support and small, steady routines can also help the nervous system feel safer over time.
Helpful strategies may include:
- Keeping a simple daily routine
- Staying connected with trusted people
- Using grounding techniques during flashbacks or panic
- Gentle movement, such as walking or stretching
- Reducing alcohol or drug use, which can worsen symptoms over time
- Supporting sleep where possible
- Spending time in safe, calming environments
- Learning your triggers and planning around them
- Asking for support before things become overwhelming
These strategies do not replace professional care, but they can support recovery alongside treatment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the early signs of PTSD?
Early signs may include intrusive memories, nightmares, trouble sleeping, feeling easily startled, avoiding reminders, feeling numb, feeling detached, or being constantly on edge.
Some trauma reactions are common in the first few weeks after an event. If symptoms continue beyond a month, become worse, or interfere with daily life, it is worth seeking support.
Can PTSD develop years after the event?
Yes. PTSD symptoms often begin within a few months, but they can also appear later.
Sometimes symptoms are triggered by a reminder, anniversary, life change, new stress, or another experience that brings the original trauma back into focus.
Is PTSD only experienced by military veterans?
No. PTSD is often associated with military service, but it can affect anyone who has experienced or been exposed to trauma.
This can include accidents, assault, abuse, family violence, natural disasters, medical trauma, traumatic loss, or repeated exposure to trauma through work.
Can PTSD go away on its own?
Some trauma reactions improve with time, safety, and support. However, PTSD symptoms may continue without treatment, especially if avoidance, sleep problems, flashbacks, or anxiety are affecting daily life.
Seeking help early can make recovery easier.
What does a flashback feel like?
A flashback can feel as though the traumatic event is happening again. You may see images, hear sounds, feel physical sensations, or experience intense fear or panic.
Some people remain aware of where they are, while others feel pulled out of the present moment. Grounding techniques and trauma-focused therapy can help reduce flashbacks over time.
Can PTSD affect physical health?
Yes. PTSD can affect the body as well as the mind.
Some people experience headaches, digestive symptoms, muscle tension, pain, fatigue, a racing heart, sweating, or sleep problems. These symptoms can be linked to the nervous system staying in a heightened state of alert.
It is still important to speak with a doctor, especially if symptoms are new, severe, or changing.