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You may go to great lengths to avoid any situations...that trigger memories of the trauma.

Dr. Patrick Reilly, Clinical Psychologist, explains what PTSD is.

Transcript

PTSD has a set of symptoms.

You might know you have PTSD if you're experiencing

one of these symptoms, well, say a set of these symptoms.

The first set has to do with re-living the trauma,

re-experiencing that event, and we think of this,

you may have kind of intrusive thoughts,

you may have nightmares, you may have flashbacks

of that trauma, of that traumatic event.

Another set of symptoms in terms of PTSD

has to do with avoidance.

Sometimes our Veterans, I don't know if you've experienced

this, but you may go to great lengths to avoid any situations

or people or things that trigger memories of the trauma.

Of course, this can cause big problems, maybe, in your

relationships with your family, that kind of thing.

Another set of symptoms in terms of PTSD

has to do with kind of numbing out.

I'm not sure if you've had that experience or not, but it's

one of kind of detachment, detaching from others, not being

connected, not really being in touch with your feelings.

And of course, again, this can cause big problems

in relationships and with families.

The last set of symptoms in terms of PTSD

has to do with increased arousal.

We call this "hyper-vigilance," where people are

on the alert for danger,

possibly scanning their environments for danger.

I don't know, you may also have sleep difficulties

and problems with concentration, this is part of the

increased arousal of PTSD.

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