The 5 MUST KNOW Signs Of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Hey everybody, Brad Schipke here, and today I'm going to be talking about the 5 must-know signs of PTSD so you can identify for yourself or for a loved one whether or not you have PTSD. Because the weird thing about PTSD is that most people who have it don't know that they have it. So the first step in healing people is first becoming aware of whether or not you have PTSD. And in the United States alone, there are 20 3.6 million people at any one time with PTSD. So this is a really, really big issue in the world today. And maybe you're wondering if you have PTSD, or maybe you're wondering, you're here for somebody else that you know and wondering whether or not they have PTSD. And if that's you, you are in the right place. And you are, by the end of this video, you are going to know whether or not you or the person you love has PTSD and what to do, actually do about it. So it's not just gonna be informational. I'm gonna give you the actual— Um, things that you need to work on, the, the 4 main things that you need to work on to actually move forward and heal. So we're gonna help you identify it and then also give you the steps that you need to go forward and heal. So let me bring you over here to our very first sign and symptom, which is re-experiencing the traumatic event. So what I mean by re-experiencing the traumatic event, um, there's really 2 ways that you can re-experience the event, and it can be mentally or physically. So mentally in your mind or physically in your body. And this can be things like as simple as, you know, just intrusive thoughts about whatever traumatic memory you had. Um, it can be as extreme as total, totally immersed flashbacks where you are actually visualizing and feeling like you are back in the situation in the traumatic event. So you're re-experiencing the whole thing in your mind and your body. And then sometimes you can re-experiencing— re-experience the traumatic event in only your body. So maybe you get triggered and your body just like starts reacting in this really anxious, fearful, scared way, and you don't really know why. Or there's a lot of other physical sensations that go along with re-experiencing the event. So for example, if someone, you know, when they were traumatized, uh, maybe they threw up a lot or something. So maybe like you have the, the feeling of like nausea or something. like whatever that is to you, if you are re-experiencing the traumatic event again and again and again, um, that is the first major category of symptoms that shows you that you have PTSD. All right, so the second one here is avoiding, intentionally avoiding things about, um, the past trauma that you went through. So this can be avoiding people that remind you of the trauma, places, things that Situations, activities. And for a lot of people, people, this is a huge, huge issue because they just isolate themselves more and more and more and more until they're all alone, you know, in their house. And maybe they can be stuck in their house for days, or maybe you could be stuck in your house or in your bed for days or weeks or months. There are people who I know that have been stuck in their bed for such a long time because they are, they feel, and like this is not their fault at all, but you feel like everywhere you go, you are just Constantly being triggered, you're constantly being reminded, you're constantly re-experiencing the traumatic event, and you intentionally avoid that because why would you want to keep re-experiencing it, right? So like, you're re-experiencing the event, so you start intentionally avoiding everything and isolating yourself and pushing all of those emotions down and down, and then things start to boil up and get worse and worse and build up higher and higher and higher. So that's the, the second category of symptoms right there. It's Is avoiding things that remind you of the traumatic experience. Now, the third category of symptoms of PTSD, for PTSD, is feeling like a different person. So if you aren't sure whether or not you have PTSD, or if you're not sure whether or not somebody you care about has PTSD, think about this. Do you feel like a different person? Does a person that you know feel to you like they're acting like a— or they feel like a different person? Are they— do you have like different thought patterns? Are you a lot more negative? Are you just— maybe you're getting angry, you're having a lot of angry outbursts. Maybe you're like very short with people. That's a very common thing is that you go through a traumatic experience and then all of that internal pressure and all that internal stress and anxiety and fear just boils up and up and up. So you're like, you're just like a pressure cooker, like at its peak limit. And at the smallest— This is what we call it. You step on a Lego and put your fist through So like when you have PTSD, a seemingly small moment in, quote, I don't like saying the word normal person's life, but a seemingly small moment, um, can just set off this cascade of emotions and things, and then you don't even recognize yourself. So if you, if you were like, I don't even recognize who I am anymore, like I don't even feel like myself, like that is another telltale sign in a cluster of Symptoms that will tell you that you have PTSD or somebody else has PTSD. Now, the fourth thing— fourth thing— the third one was feeling like a different person. This fourth one is acting, acting like a different person. So this is more feelings and emotional, and this one is actual behavior. You're actually acting out in different ways. So this can be, you know, destructive or harmful patterns that you go through to help relieve yourself from all the anger, all the tension from PTSD and the trauma. So this could be things like— a very common one is addictions. You know, You do things that help you in the short term, but in the long term, they really hurt you or they really screw you. So like, it could be addictions to like drugs or alcohol or TV, movies, video games, food, anything like that. Anything that has changed your behavior in such an extreme way. Or maybe like you're not even able to show up to work and like really do the things you used to love in your life. Maybe you used to have hobbies and you don't do your hobbies anymore. Maybe you used to go hang out with your friends all the time, but you don't hang out with your friends anymore. Or call your friends or whatever it is. So if you're acting like a different person or you see somebody else who's acting like a different person, that's another sign and another cluster of symptoms. Again, these are all clusters of symptoms of PTSD. Now the 5th one here is kind of like an oddball. Like when I first heard this word, I thought it was a weird word and I didn't really understand what it meant, but I'm gonna simplify it down. The 5th one is dissociative symptoms. So what the heck does that mean? Well, Dissociative symptoms basically means, um, when you don't feel like reality is real. Dissociative symptoms means like you have this massive brain fog where you don't even feel like you are living in your own body. So you just feel so detached from everything. And if you are experiencing dissociative symptoms, you will know what I mean, because it's just this massive brain fog. You can't think clearly. You don't even feel like It almost feels like an out-of-body experience that you're kind of just like observing somebody else's life, not your own life. So it's like you're living, you're living your life, but you're watching it as though it's somebody else's life. So that's this last cluster of symptoms right here in the 5th category of, uh, of a PTSD. So these are the 5 main categories, and this is what pretty much every psychologist— and I mean, they've done millions of dollars of research and they've brought it down To these kind of 5 clusters of symptoms. I've changed the wording on them a little bit just to make them a little bit easier to understand, but these are like the 5 clusters. So if you or somebody you know are going through any one of these, if you're re-experiencing the trauma, you know somebody who is, or you're avoiding the trauma, or you feel like a different person, you're acting like a different person, and you have these dissociative symptoms, chances are you have PTSD and it's time to take action. So the thing that I wanted you to get the most out of, of this video is to be aware of whether or not you have these 5 things so you can then take the right action to start healing, so you can start looking for the right treatment, so you can start looking and working and taking action. Because it's one thing to know that you have a problem, but it's a totally, totally different thing to actually go out there and start taking action in the right direction. Now, when I see videos like this online, that's where people usually end. Actually, people don't even usually tell you to, to go take action. They usually just tell you, hey, you have PTSD, good luck. Um, so, but I want to take this a little step further for you guys. I want to first help you become aware of the symptoms, but I also want to kind of give you a basic roadmap that you can start, at least get yourself started moving in the right direction. So I'm gonna bring it over here. I have a separate whiteboard with 4 other kind of, um, I guess you could call them principles, but they're 4 things that you want to be focusing on at all times. And we have different resources that can help you with each one, but here they are. So I'll have to bend down a little bit, but these are the 4 things that I want you guys to be focusing on when it comes down to healing. These are the only, only, only 4 things that you ever need to learn. And this first one, like, you really only need to learn once, but The 4 things are tools. You have to have the right tools to get relief on demand. You need to have the right mindset to go through this because it's not just a— this doesn't just happen overnight. Like, healing does not just happen like at the click of my fingers. Like, you're not going to go to 1 therapy session or even 4 therapy sessions or watch 1 video and be magically cured. It takes dedication, it takes discipline, and it takes a long-term thinking mindset to get there, amongst a lot of other things. There's a lot of things in this mindset pillar, but mindset is essential if you are going to consistently heal over the long term, because it's not just about taking small— I mean, it's about taking small steps every day, but you got to take small steps consistently over the long term, and that's when you see the biggest change. So the people who expect change to happen quickly usually have that kind of fly and die. They usually— they're the type of people who, you know, maybe do like a crash diet, and I've been this person. Like, I will raise my hand. I've been, I've been that person many, many times in my life. But with that type of mindset, if you're trying to get those short-term gratification, if you're trying to get that short-term reward, it's just not going to work for you. So you have to have that long-term mindset. And that's just one of the, one of the things you need to have there. This third thing here is having the proper routines and routines and habits in place. So on our channel here on YouTube, And in our coaching programs, we have our own coaching PTSD programs, we talk about 3 main routines. So the first one being a morning routine, the second one being an evening routine, and the third one being a healing routine. And we're all about putting the power back into your hands so you don't have to be dependent on a single person, a therapist, a medication, or anything like that. And I'm not saying those things are bad, but at the end of the day, you want to have the control in your hands. And at least that's what I want. I want to have the— I want to have the control over my life. I want to— I want to be able to have the tools and the processes to heal myself, or at least know where to go and what direction to go in, and not just hope somebody else is going to fix me and cure me. So, um, that's what this— this pillar is all about. Routines is like, we want to give you— we want to make sure that you have the right habits, the right routines in place, so you are consistently healing over the long term. And that's what routines do for you. So Like I said, it was morning routine, evening routine, and healing routine. If you have those things on lock, then you will consistently make progress and reach full recovery. Now, this last one is kind of where most of the heavy lifting comes in, which is processing. So this 4th one is processing, and this means when you go back to your traumatic event, that resides in your mind as an unprocessed memory. So basically how your brain works is a normal— like in a normal event, Let's just say, like, um, I don't know, I fall off my bicycle, right? That's like a kind of a normal event. What will happen is that memory will go into my working memory, it will get processed, and it'll be stored in my long-term memory safely. And that memory is fully processed, and like, I can think back, and like, I don't like re-experience it over and over again. Whereas a traumatic event bypasses that working memory And it does not get processed correctly. So this last pillar is all about reprocessing, processing those traumatic memories so it essentially heals it and essentially removes all the charge from that traumatic memory so it does not come up again. So you're not— so when you, when you successfully— you know when you successfully have processed an event? When you're no longer re-experiencing it, you're no longer avoiding it. You're not feeling like a different person because of it. You're not acting like a different person because of it, and your dissociative symptoms are gone. So when you have fully processed and fully healed your PTSD and the traumatic event that you went through, these 5 symptoms that I just walked you through go away. And that's kind of when you know. That's kind of like the marker for the finish line is, you know, you're no longer re-experiencing it. You're no longer having flashbacks. You're no longer having nightmares. You're no longer having intrusive thoughts about it, and you're no longer like trying to avoid all of your family events because they scare the crap out of you, and you're no longer, you know, feeling like a different person. I mean, you're probably gonna feel like a different person in a great way, but you're no longer acting in destructive ways. You're no longer acting in the addictions and things like that, and you're no longer dissociating and disconnected from reality. Now, those again are the 4 things. This first one here, tools, that's something that you kind of just do. It's kind of like a one-and-done. So you learn the tools and then there, we call it like the recovery toolbox. So you put it in your recovery toolbox and then you have it for good. Whereas the rest of these are like a constant improvement, a constant, consistent process that you want to keep going through again and again and again. And if you kind of like this process that I've worked out or that we've worked out, and we kind of developed this over years and years, and obviously there's a lot, these are just like the main headings. There's a lot of different things that we teach underneath each one of these and we go really, really, really in-depth into all of these. But if you want to learn more specifics about these things, I just wanted to give you a brief overview of all these things. If you want more specifics, make sure to subscribe to our channel because we release really in-depth trainings on each one of these pillars. So go ahead and subscribe, click that notification bell. If you want to learn some more about these things, if you want to keep getting more videos from me, if you enjoyed this, if this was helpful, You will definitely enjoy the other videos that we put out. I put a video out like this once a week. My girlfriend puts one out, and then we also do a podcast once a week as well. So I hope that this— hope, hope, hope that this really helped you, helped you open your eyes. I want you to take this as a time to get motivated, to take action, to start taking steps forward. And if you don't know what to do, At any time. I almost fell. Um, these are the things, these are the 4 things you need to focus on if you have no idea what to do. You need to be like, okay, I need to, I need to find or build my recovery toolbox. I need to work on my mindset. I need to make effective routines, and I need to, um, work on processing the root of my trauma and all my problems. So a good place to start is by going on to our YouTube channel and finding more videos about tools, because that is the first step. And these are laid out in progressive order too. So you want to work on these kind of in order this way as well, because they build off of each other. You want to have the tools locked in so you can relax yourself and work on, work, work on through the rest of the pillars of recovery. So again, I hope you found this helpful. Make sure to click that subscribe button for future videos and make sure to give me a little thumbs up if you liked it as well. And I will see you in the next video.