PTSD & Trauma
After a frightening or deeply painful experience, the mind sometimes stays stuck in survival mode. That's not weakness — it's post-traumatic stress, and it responds to treatment.
What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder can develop after experiencing or witnessing something traumatic — an accident, assault, combat, abuse, a medical crisis, the sudden loss of someone close, or many other events. Trauma can also build up over time through repeated experiences, especially in childhood.
Most people have strong reactions in the days and weeks after something terrible happens; that's normal. PTSD is when those reactions don't fade — when, months later, the past keeps intruding on the present and reshaping how you live. Not everyone who goes through trauma develops PTSD, and developing it says nothing about your strength or character.
Common signs and symptoms
PTSD symptoms tend to fall into four groups:
- Re-experiencing — intrusive memories, nightmares, or flashbacks where it feels like the event is happening again; intense distress at reminders.
- Avoidance — steering clear of people, places, conversations, or feelings connected to what happened, sometimes without fully realizing it.
- Hypervigilance and arousal — feeling constantly on guard, startling easily, scanning for exits, trouble sleeping, irritability or angry outbursts.
- Changes in mood and thinking — persistent guilt, shame, or fear; feeling numb or detached from people; losing interest in things; believing the world is dangerous or that you are somehow to blame.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you're having thoughts of suicide or self-harm, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — free, confidential, and available 24/7.
How is PTSD treated?
Everything starts with a careful, unhurried psychiatric evaluation. We practice trauma-informed care, which means you set the pace: you will never be pushed to recount details before you're ready, and safety and trust come first. From that evaluation, we build a personalized plan together.
- Therapy is the heart of PTSD treatment. Evidence-based, trauma-focused approaches help your brain finish processing what happened, so memories lose their raw power and stop hijacking the present.
- Medication management can reduce the intensity of symptoms — easing anxiety, improving sleep, quieting nightmares, and lifting the depression that often travels with trauma — making the work of therapy more possible.
- Telehealth lets you receive care from a place where you feel safe, by secure video from anywhere in Tennessee.
Healing from trauma takes time, but it happens. Many people who once organized their whole lives around avoiding reminders find that, with treatment, the past becomes something that happened to them — not something that keeps happening.
When to reach out
If it has been more than a month since a traumatic experience and you're still having nightmares, intrusive memories, or a constant sense of being on guard — or if something from long ago still shapes your daily life — you don't have to keep white-knuckling it. We treat patients ages 13 and up. Fill out our new patient form or call 615-716-8255.