HIJXS . VOCES

How do you know if you are experiencing posttraumatic stress? Educating yourself about trauma and its impact is a good way to begin.

As part of  PTSD Awareness Month, the Department of Veterans Affairs offers the following Trauma Symptom Checklist to help people identify possible PTSD symptoms. You can also take a look at a similar list on my website,  Warning Signs of Trauma -Related Stress.

Please keep in mind that a checklist is not a substitute for a clinical assessment by a trauma-informed therapist. No checklist can capture all the ways people are impacted by trauma. Not everyone experiences PTSD in the same way;  research suggests some experience a dissociative subtype of PTSD. Some childhood abuse survivors experience complex PTSD.  Bottom line: if your life is disrupted by a traumatic event (or events), you deserve help and it is available.

That being said, here is the…