PTSD Awareness Month: What You Need to Know About Trauma & Healing
By Vaishali Desai, DNP, PMHNP-BC
June is PTSD Awareness Month — a time to reduce stigma, raise awareness, and connect people with real information about trauma and recovery. Whether you've experienced trauma yourself or support someone who has, understanding PTSD is the first step toward healing.
What Is PTSD?
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. It's not a sign of weakness — it's the brain's response to overwhelming stress. Common triggers include combat, sexual assault, accidents, natural disasters, childhood abuse, and sudden loss.
The 4 Core Symptom Clusters
- Intrusion: Flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive memories
- Avoidance: Staying away from people, places, or thoughts that trigger memories
- Negative changes in mood and cognition: Persistent guilt, shame, emotional numbness, detachment
- Hyperarousal: Hypervigilance, irritability, difficulty sleeping, exaggerated startle response
Evidence-Based Treatments That Work
- Trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT): Helps reprocess traumatic memories and change unhelpful thought patterns
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): Uses bilateral stimulation to reduce the intensity of traumatic memories
- Prolonged Exposure (PE): Gradual, controlled confrontation of trauma-related memories and situations
- Medication: SSRIs (sertraline, paroxetine) are FDA-approved for PTSD; SNRIs and prazosin (for nightmares) are also used
- What doesn't help: Avoidance, self-medicating, waiting for it to get better on its own
How to Talk to Your Provider About Trauma
Many patients never disclose trauma history because they don't know how to bring it up. A few prompts:
- “I've been through something difficult and I think it's still affecting me.”
- “I've been having nightmares and hypervigilance — is that something we can address?”
- “I want to understand my treatment options for trauma.”
A Note for PTSD Awareness Month
PTSD affects an estimated 1 in 11 people in their lifetime. It's treatable. Recovery is possible. The most important step is connecting with a knowledgeable provider who takes your experience seriously.
June is PTSD Awareness Month
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Written by a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner. Understand the symptoms, the neuroscience, and your treatment options.
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Understanding Trauma & Your Treatment Options walks you through the science, the treatments, and how to have the right conversations with your provider — written by a PMHNP-BC with 10 years of psychiatric practice.
Get the Guide — $14.97This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice, a clinical assessment, or a provider-patient relationship. Always consult your licensed healthcare provider before starting, stopping, or changing any medication or treatment plan. If you are experiencing a psychiatric emergency, call or text 988 or go to your nearest emergency room.