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We associate post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, with wars and disaster or sexual abuse. You might not know that it's also common to experience trauma symptoms after an ordinary shock—a car accident or head injury, for example.
Fear sets off a host of changes in the body within seconds, triggering symptoms that can last long after the danger is past. The symptoms--including nightmares and flashbacks--might even be acute. Usually they go away within a month. But if they last longer and affect your ability to function—and can’t be explained by substance abuse or another cause—you might have PTSD.
Blows to the head frequently trigger temporary trauma symptoms. In a small 2018 study of U.S. athletes who had suffered a concussion and filled out questionnaires within 13 days, nearly 13 percent reported flashbacks and 8 percent reported nightmares. Close to 18 percent agreed that they were "Having trouble keeping thoughts of the incident out of your head."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 1.6 million to 3.8 million sports-related concussions occur yearly in the United States. As many as half go unreported, according to the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine. Players and coaches are known to downplay symptoms so players can keep competing.
In another small study of 136 teenagers treated for concussion in Canada, about 20 percent had suffered a fall, and about 15 percent were injured playing hockey or soccer. (Football injuries were about half as common.) One-to-three months after the injury, the most common persistent symptoms were fatigue, drowsiness, irritability, and difficulty with concentration. If the problem lasted, some patients became more anxious and more likely to feel nausea.
Think about seeking help if you or a loved one “re-experience" a trauma in some way, with flashbacks, bad dreams, or fearful thoughts.
People with PTSD change their behavior to avoid reminders of the trauma. A mother who lost a son might avoid driving by his school or seeing his friends on the street. In the U.S. concussion study, more than 19 percent confessed to "avoiding similar situations."
Psychiatrists also look for evidence that your emotional state has become more unsettled, even without reminders. You might be jumpy, fly into rages, or develop insomnia. Nearly 26 percent of the athletes in the U.S. study had “difficulty sleeping" after the concussion.
PTSD affects your mood and your ability to think. You might go blank on the details of the trauma. You might seem depressed, guilty, or ashamed, or detached from friends and family and your usual pleasures. Don't ignore these symptoms, but also don't assume that trauma symptoms are inevitable after serious shocks. Even in areas that endure a disaster, most people do not develop PTSD.
You’re more vulnerable to triggering if, like some veterans, you see a dead body or see other people hurt or injured. Other risk factors are a history of mental illness or substance abuse or trauma as a child. An increase in stress after the event can be a factor in trauma: For an athlete, that may be if you're pushed into competition again too quickly, or push yourself out of fear of losing status.
You can protect yourself by seeking support, drawing lessons from the event and feeling good about how you respond to the challenge.
The main treatments for PTSD are medication and “talk” therapy—ideally with someone who understands PTSD—for at least six weeks. You’ll need to learn how to identify triggers and ways to manage anger and relax. You might be urged to face your fear by imagining the event or returning to the place where it occurred. You'll also be invited to talk through some of your ideas about the event. It's common to remember details inaccurately or feel exaggerated shame or guilt. You may also need to address other issues like abusive relationships or bad habits that existed before the trauma that are making it more difficult to recover.
You’ll help yourself recover by taking steps to live more healthily in general: Exercise, set and meet realistic goals, and spend time with people who care about you.
