There are 5 Stages of PTSD recovery. Each 5 might last a different length of time for every person as no one deals with PTSD in the same way
Stage 1: Outcry Stage – Something happens and you feel like you are in imminent danger. This could be from a memory in the past or a trigger of yours. You feel super anxious and don’t feel safe. You may start to rapidly breathe and your blood pressure might increase.
Stage 2: Numbing – You try to push away all emotions that might trigger another episode. Your thinking that if I push a memory into the furthest corner of my mind that it can no longer come back to hurt. You’re constantly in denial of your previous experiences.
Stage 3: Intrusive/Repetitive – You start to experience Nightmares, Flashbacks, and might continue to be anxious and jumpy. All these symptoms continue and continue to happen again and again. At this stage, you will finally want to start confronting your PTSD head on, in order to finally get over it.Stage 4: Transition – You start to try to accept your PTSD. Constantly seeking ways to treat it that may include therapy, medication, and avoiding triggers. The primary point of this stage is to accept that you have PTSD and that you need to do something to fix it.
Stage 5: Integration – You get your family and friends involved to help you recover. You are setting up healthy habits that you learned from stage 4. Things are starting to get better and there is hope on the horizon. You have a strong support network or systems in place to make sure that the PTSD continues to shrink away from your life.
If you ever need additional help with anything, please feel free to call the national help hotline at 1-800-273-8255
