It’s important to understand how post-traumatic stress syndrome differs from conventional anxiety disorder and panic attacks in order to adequately evaluate whether or not you may suffer from this particular condition.

First understand that stress is your body and mind’s response to change in your environment.

Anxiety disorder is a condition that can often result when you are chronically unable to cope with stressful changes in your environment over an extended period of time.

Post-traumatic stress syndrome, on the other hand, typically results in the wake of a catastrophic event of extreme stress that is often of very short duration.

While these kinds of events usually involve the possibility of severe physical injury or death (such as combat situations or natural disasters), it is possible to suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome after experiencing events which are traumatically stressful in a way that does not involve the threat of direct bodily harm (such as cases of extreme psychological abuse, sexual abuse, the traumatic death of a loved one, etc.)

The symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome are varied and often mimic those of anxiety-induced panic attacks. Some unique symptoms include recurrent nightmares and vivid flashbacks of the original traumatic event.

A key defining factor is the way that this condition manifests itself as an aroused and distorted version of an otherwise normal and healthy instinct – the so-called “fight or flight” response.

Nowadays in modern industrial societies it is very rare for you to encounter a situation where you are threatened with severe physical injury or death. The “fight or flight” response is a biological hold-over from a time in human history where the possibility of that kind of danger was much more prevalent.

When faced with a potentially deadly situation, your body activates the “fight or flight” response which primes your body with a series of immediate biological changes (adrenaline dump, circulatory system alteration, dilated pupils, cessation of digestive processes, etc.) in order to prepare you to either flee or combat the threat.

People who suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome are often described as “jumpy” or “nervous” because their “fight or flight” response is essentially hyperactive. The traumatic stressful event has essentially reset their nervous system to respond with the “fight or flight” response to conditions which would not normally trigger it.

Experiencing the “fight or flight” response in the context of otherwise “normal” stressful events (such as traffic jams, confrontations at work, sudden loud noises, etc.) causes the sufferer to alter their normal behavior.

One common behavior alteration is avoidance - this can be as simple as avoiding interaction with other people or everyday situations which tend to trigger stress. It can also be as complicated as emotionally disassociating yourself from the world around you, creating a kind of artificial emotional “numbing”.

Another common behaviour alteration is substance abuse – those afflicted with post-traumatic stress disorder often self-medicate with alcohol (a depressant) in an effort to depress their hyperactive “fight or flight” response.

Medical treatment of genuine post-traumatic stress syndrome is a complicated process often involving prescription psychotropic drugs in addition to extensive therapeutic psychiatry in an effort to return the patient’s hyperactive “fight or flight” response to a reasonable level.

I am not a doctor, and no part of this website constitutes medical advice. If you believe that you might suffer from a condition which genuinely requires medical attention, you should go and get it.

The good news is that my program THE STRESS VACCINE™ is tailor-made to assist with the recovery from post-traumatic syndrome.

I learned this material from a retired Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Special Forces, a man who formulated a method based on his own combat experience informed by the psychological training passed down through centuries of Asian martial culture and tradition - training that is designed to prepare warriors for life-and-death combat, THE most traumatically stressful event a human being can experience.

The ability to calm and relax yourself at will is a skill. A Skill that can be trained.

THE STRESS VACCINE™, this website, and all my other books are courses are designed to give you the tools to fundamentally take control over your own body and mind’s reactions to the stressful changes in your life, however traumatic they may be.

Looking for a Test for Anxiety Disorder?

Looking for a Test for Depression?

Looking for a Test for Anger Disorder?

In what other ways can stress affect your mind?