A guide to post-traumatic stress disorder

After some form of traumatic, shocking or stressful event, most people will feel shocked, numb, and unable to accept what has happened. People react differently and take different amounts of time to come to terms with things and it's normal to experience a mix of feelings with varying intensity. This can include feelings of fear, helplessness, shame, anger, guilt and relief, but over a few days these feelings should begin to gradually fade, and symptoms reduce significantly within six weeks. When the symptoms continue for a prolonged period of time, then this can lead to a diagnosi...