How to help someone (non-military) who exhibits symptoms of PTSD?

I think it's a made up problem...some people are just fruitcakes.

I have figured out why you are such a troll. You irritate people on purpose with your idiotic statements then goad them into threating you and then you go running to the admin to report them for some green.

Nah. I'm not gonna bite.

Me too same fuckeroo 13 years going strong.. more like 13000 years in hell.. fucking straylian dreamtime thats whats up...

Take her ptsd scores every two weeks, and work with her on getting them down...
[link to www.seancopland.com]

Whsts her name.. I bet ya I know her if shes from vic..

PTSD results from any shattering event that leaves you stuck and feeling helpless and hopeless.

She needs professional care (cognitive-behavioral therapy focused on the trauma, possibly medication), peer group support would help and, of course, people she can trust and talk to (OP! That's you!).

With OP's friend, the problem is exacerbated by the loss of trust in the very institution that could help her. I could imaging that people who have been tortured in the presence of a doctor could have the same kind of a problem. That makes it very tricky to convince her to get help, but she needs to get professional help.

Her problem is not affecting only her, but people around her. PTSD has been shown to lead to heart problems. She is unable to live her life properly. You should try to find reasons for her to accept professional help in spite of her mistrust. You might offer to take her to a therapist for a one-off visit. Stay there to support her and make sure she gets treated appropriately. She probably fears that she's getting let down again, having her problems ridiculed/demeaned/ignored if she expresses her anger at the medical establishment, not being able to articulate her feelings, being alone with another person or any other such trust issue. Having you or another trusted person with her during the sessions will help to alleviate these concerns.

Tell me

No male believe in PTSD. Watched relative combat undiagnosed PTSD from WW-II and it's 'hell on earth', can be caused by wars, severe accidents, major traumas of all kinds.

There are new treatments using glasses with flashing lights, these units can be found through science expert
Nick Begich, author of Angels Do Not Play This HAARP. He has mail order firm, checkout Google. My relative got help with the VA using anti-depressants, tranquilizers, then this new treatment MMDR or something like that, ask around please. I know the pain of this ungodly ailment that is the reason ALL wars should be outlawed for that reason if nothing else. Some are more inclined than others in degree of severity. Wish you well!

Thank you UK and Finland for useful and insightful replies. I knew that posting this on GLP would attract trolls and/or crazies (I'll just ignore them), but it's glad to see that there are some sane people here, too.

Yep. The problem is getting her to a doctor. I can't push too hard or she'll start avoiding me, too. I'm also worried that if I talk too much about her problem influencing the people close to her, I'm making her feel just more guilty. She knows she's not in a good shape (physically or psychologically) and I often wonder if she cares about her deteriorating health anymore.

Thanks. I never knew about EMDR. I'll have to check it up.

I've never understood why the reality of PTSD is so hard for some people to accept even now when PTSD-crippled soldiers are coming back home. It's been well-documented ever since people started writing about wars or catastrophes. Heck, after WWI the militaries collated statistics (for the next war, of course) about how long it takes for a soldier at the front to burn out mentally. Terms like "battle fatigue" or "shellshock" just sugarcoated the reality of broken minds.

The hell of war is the most effective in breaking minds, but it can also happen when you're a victim of a violent crime, torture or abuse. I've seen first hand what it's like and I can't wish it even on the trolls in this thread or the people who say that PTSD is not for real.

You sound like a great friend, OP. I wish I had a friend I could trust who cared about me.

I hope she gets better.

What about before the karma game? LOL, your theory fails. I really do believe PTSD is a result of people being big pussies.

Bad things happen, just put it behind you and get over it. Why keep living a miserable time in your life? That's retarded.

Not too long ago, asthma was considered a mental/panic disorder. Asthmatics were put out on the field to work and when they would choke up, they'd be told to snap out of it and stop pretending. Later a physiological disorder in the lungs was discovered. "Snapping" out of it was impossible.

Clinically depressed people were told to cheer up and start living their lives as if they could just choose to do so. Wrong. There is a chemical imbalance in the brain accompanied often by learned thought patterns that make a conscious change impossible. You don't "snap out" of depression, either.

PTSD is the same. You're stuck in a harmful pattern of thoughts and learned behavior that's impossible to untangle by yourself. Your body chemistry is also in a constant high alertness fight-or-flight mode. The malfunction in the brain and the rest of the body incapacitates you to the point that you can't pull it off. It's not fake or learned helplessness anymore than asthma or clinical depression.

I'm an asthmatic and at one point I was diagnosed clinically depressed. I couldn't have "snapped out" of either by simply choosing not to be depressed or asthmatic.

Hell,I have flash backs every time Brief makes a post.

its other handle is widespread franklin

a very immature person

Boo!

People with brain chemistry problems were born that way. How does the brain chemistry change one day from normal to fucked up just because someone watched a bunch of people die or they got diddled as a child?