PTSD Symptoms in Women

What is PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs when someone who has experienced or witnessed a traumatic event continues to experience symptoms for more than a month, making it difficult to live their lives normally. Traumatic events can involve natural disasters, physical or sexual assault, war, car accidents, or any incident or event experienced as deeply scary and upsetting. Although PTSD is often connected with military service members, PTSD may develop after any traumatic event.

Findings from a large national mental health study show that a little more than half of all women will experience at least one traumatic event in their life. However, women are slightly less likely to experience trauma than men. The most common trauma for women is child sexual abuse or sexual assault. About one in three women will experience a sexual assault in their lifetime. Rates of sexual assault are higher for women than men. Women are also more likely to be neglected or abused in childhood, experience domestic violence, or have a loved one suddenly die.

What PTSD is like for women

Some PTSD symptoms are more common in women than men. Women are more likely to be apprehensive, to have more trouble feeling emotions, and to avoid situations that remind them of the trauma than men. Men are more likely to feel angry and to have trouble controlling their anger than women. Women suffering from PTSD are more prone to feel depressed and anxious, while men with PTSD are more likely to have problems with drugs or alcohol. Both men and women who experience PTSD may develop physical health problems.

Why Women Experience PTSD Differently

Why do men and women tend to experience PTSD differently? One theory focuses on the different ways that women and men tend to face mental health problems. Women are more likely to experience internalizing disorders (such as depression and anxiety), whereas men are more prone to be affected by externalizing disorders (such as alcohol and drug abuse). 

Regardless of the different reasons why women may experience PTSD differently, research suggests that many women wait longer to seek treatment or never seek treatment at all. 

PTSD, if not treated, can have serious consequences in terms of both mental and physical health. Individuals with untreated PTSD may be more inclined to rely on harmful coping mechanisms such as alcohol or drug use. Women may also experience physical symptoms such as headaches, stomach issues, and sexual dysfunction.

The differences detween PTSD symptoms in women vs. men

Experts in mental health agree that women can sometimes undergo PTSD in different ways than men. For example, women with PTSD are more prone to feel depressed and anxious, as well as have difficulty feeling or dealing with their emotions. 

They also tend to shun activities and things that remind them of whatever traumatic event they suffered. And while men with PTSD have a higher chance of turning to drugs or alcohol to hide their trauma, women are less likely to do so.

PTSD symptoms in women in the military

Women in the military are at high risk for exposure to traumatic events, especially during times of war. Currently, about 15% of all military personnel in Iraq are women. Although men are more likely to experience combat, a growing number of women are now being exposed to combat. Women in the military are at higher risk for exposure to sexual harassment or sexual assault than men. Future studies are needed to better understand the effects of women’s exposure to both combat and sexual assault.

Diagnosing PTSD symptoms in women

To get a PTSD diagnosis, someone needs to have symptoms for at least 1 month. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) [6], these PTSDs ymptoms in women must be severe enough to affect their ability to function at home and work.

In addition, a women must have all the following symptoms for at least 1 month for a PTSD diagnosis to apply:

A mental health professional can diagnose PTSD. While it’s expected to have some of these PTSD symptoms in women for a few weeks after a traumatic event, it’s considered PTSD when symptoms last longer than a month and affect your ability to function as usual.

What causes PTSD symptoms in women?

Any dangerous, life threatening, or upsetting life event, trauma, or situation can increase the risk of PTSD.

The more serious the trauma — or the more directly it affected you — the higher the risk of developing PTSD afterward. Everyday situations that can cause PTSD include:

Violent crimes

A loved one in danger

Sudden death or illness

War

Accidents

Natural disasters

PTSD Symptoms in Women

Women who are victims of a trauma that leads to PTSD often hesitate to ask for help from a mental health professional, and it is not uncommon for them to wait years to receive treatment. Unfortunately, PTSD symptoms in women are often misdiagnosed or undiagnosed by health professionals because of a lack of training or time spent treating PTSD.

To make matters even worse, many women who are victims of PTSD do not realize they have the disorder. A lot of women simply don’t know they are experiencing the effects of PTSD. Women often internalize, meaning that instead of searching for answers in their world or circumstances, they assume something is wrong with them. So they might not attribute their own thoughts, emotions, feelings, or behaviors to something that happened to them because they just figure this is who they are.

Here are some common PTSD symptoms in women:

Avoidance 

Avoidance is a core symptom of PTSD in women. It can involve emotional avoidance, which includes avoiding the feelings and thoughts that might remind the person about the traumatic events. It can also include behavioral avoidance, characterized by avoiding people, places, or other environmental PTSD triggers that remind the individual of the trauma.

One study found that thought avoidance was one of the most common PTSD symptoms in women. While this avoidance may inhibit distress in the short term, research suggests that trying to avoid emotions or thoughts can actually make PTSD symptoms in women worse over the long term.

Hyperarousal

Hyperarousal is another key symptom of PTSD in women that involves a heightened state of anxiety.

Symptoms can include:

It has been found that women who developed PTSD after serving in the military score higher on measures of hyperarousal than men.

Re-experiencing the Trauma

Re-experiencing is another major symptom of PTSD in women that involves experiencing intrusive and unwanted memories or thoughts related to the trauma. Some of the ways someone might experience this include having persistent thoughts about the trauma, having flashbacks, experiencing nightmares where it feels as if the trauma is happening all over again.

Women tend to encounter this symptom more often than men.

These PTSD symptoms in women can be distressing and frightening, especially because individuals may be unable to understand that what they are encountering is a flashback.

Because re-experiencing feels all too real, individuals have the emotional and physical responses they would face if dealing with a real threat.

Emotional Numbness

Emotional numbness means shutting down feelings that may be highly distressing or overwhelming. It is often characterized by feeling separated from others, losing interest, lacking emotion, social isolation, and difficulty feeling positive emotions.

It is a common symptom of PTSD in women where it serves as a way to avoid painful memories or thoughts related to trauma.

Treating PTSD symptoms in women

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

Some of the psychological treatments that have proved to be effective in helping women cope with the symptoms of PTSD include Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which helps someone put the emphasis on how they evaluate and respond to certain feelings, thoughts, and memories. 

Exposure Therapy

Another type of treatment is Exposure Therapy, which is more of a behavioral treatment for PTSD. It can help someone reduce their fear and anxiety by having them confront the problems that caused them to be traumatized.

The first part of any true trauma treatment is normalizing the symptoms and experiences of someone who is struggling with PTSD. 

What does “normalizing” look like?

Substance Abuse and PTSD Symptoms in Women

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is common among individuals with substance use disorders, and people suffering from both of these conditions have a more difficult time meeting their treatment goals.

According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) [3], research has documented a high percentage of substance abuse and PTSD symptoms in women.

Treating substance abuse and PTSD symptoms in women

Substance abuse disorder, once fully developed, becomes a threatening disease in the brain. But if we view it as a symptom, we can trace it back to its source. Alcohol and drug abuse may have started as a relief for esteem issues, improving social status, or stemmed from a need to self-medicate because of previous burdens or trauma. These root causes are precise, like past events trauma, but some may have to do with a pre-existing chemical imbalance.

Most mental disorders, like addiction, are better treated when the person fully understands what they’re are suffering from. Furthermore, like diabetes, one must familiarize themselves with its causes, symptoms & conditions to safely live with the disease. Understanding PTSD symptoms in women and their effects on the person goes a long way to knowing a person’s treatment needs.

Women with PTSD and substance use disorder can stand and benefit from evidence-based trauma-focused PTSD treatment such as Exposure Therapy and Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT). There’s a lot of behavioral therapies that approach the connection between PTSD and substance use disorder if you seek professional help duly accredited for dual diagnosis treatment.

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