Living through a traumatizing experience can often cause people to feel depressed. If you think you have PTSD, you might also be experiencing depression. Look out for symptoms that include:  Difficulty concentrating. Feelings of guilt, helplessness, and worthlessness. Decreased energy and a lack of interest in the things that normally make you happy. Feelings of deep sadness that won’t seem to go away; also experienced as feelings of emptiness. After a frightening or horrifying experience, you might develop anxiety. Anxiety goes beyond the normal feelings of stress or worry that people experience in their day to day lives. Signs of anxiety disorder may include:  Constantly worrying or obsessing over small or large concerns or issues. Feeling restless or having no desire to relax. Being easily startled or feeling tense and twitchy. Trouble sleeping and a feeling that you can’t catch your breath. When you experience something that throws your whole world off-kilter, you generally strive to return to normal. However, some people go beyond this desire for normality by trying to overly control their environments. OCD can display itself in many ways, but if you are concerned you may have developed it, make sure to look for:  The desire to wash your hands constantly. You become paranoid that your skin is dirty or that you have somehow become contaminated. Obsessively checking to make sure things are in order. For example, checking ten times to make sure that the oven is turned off or the door is locked. A sudden obsession with symmetry. You find yourself counting things and arranging things to make sure that they are symmetrical and even. A refusal to throw anything away because you are afraid that something bad will happen if you do. Hallucinations are something you experience with one of your five senses that isn’t really happening. This can mean hearing voices that aren’t real, seeing things that aren’t really there, tasting or smelling phantom sensations, and experiencing the touch of something that isn’t actually touching you. Someone who is having these hallucinations will have a hard time distinguishing them from reality.  One way to figure out if you are hallucinating or not is to ask the people around you if they are experiencing the same thing.  Be aware that these hallucinations may be a sign that you have an undiagnosed psychotic disorder like schizophrenia in addition to post-traumatic stress disorder. Researchers have found a high overlap between these two mental illness. It is really important to seek help as soon as you start seeing or hearing things that you are not sure really exist. When you experience something traumatic, your body can actually shut that memory down in order to keep you from pain. You can also give yourself amnesia through repressing and denying that the incident actually occurred. If you suddenly feel like you are hazy about the details of your life or feel like you’ve lost time without knowing where it went, you should talk to a therapist or someone you trust.
انتبه إلى أعراض الاكتئاب لاحظ ما إذا اختبرت أي من مشاعر القلق بعد مرورك بالحدث. انتبه إذا ما لاحظت أنك تميل إلى القيام بتصرفات تشبه أعراض الوسواس القهري. تحدث إلى أحدهم إذا شككت أنك مصاب بالهلوسة. اذهب لرؤية أحد المختصين إذا كنت تشك أنك تعاني من فقدان الذاكرة.