What Is PTS? Understanding Its Impact and Key Differences with PTSD

Introduction to Post-Traumatic Stress

Any traumatic event can be jarring, with the potential to affect and change your life. We all respond to traumatic events differently. Some people go on to develop trauma disorders with lasting symptoms after a traumatic event. Others do not.

This is not a personal fault; trauma disorders, like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), simply do not discriminate. They can affect anyone.

The good news is that there are effective treatments for PTSD. Icarus Behavioral Health New Mexico uses these treatments to help people like you or your loved one overcome the effects of trauma and get to the next chapter of their lives, whether they have short-term symptoms like those seen in PTS or longer-lasting symptoms, like those seen in PTSD.

So, what is PTS? What’s the difference between PTS and PTSD? Perhaps more importantly, what treatments work for trauma? Let’s get into it.

What is PTS?

You may have heard of PTSD. What about PTS? While PTSD refers to post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD refers only to post-traumatic stress. PTS occurs after a traumatic event, and it is a normal response to that traumatic event.

Symptoms of PTS usually subside shortly after a traumatic or stressful event. It is not a disorder, and PTS may not require treatment. Though, therapy can benefit anyone who has been through trauma.

PTS vs Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD is a mental health disorder that requires treatment. PTSD symptoms impact your life and functioning in important areas of life, like relationships or work. Unlike PTS, which could last for days or weeks, a diagnosis of PTSD means that your symptoms have persisted for more than a month.

Some people with PTSD have symptoms for years or decades, especially if they go without proper treatment.

Causes and Risk Factors

PTSD and PTS are both caused by traumatic or stressful events. For example, natural disasters, witnessing or experiencing violence, sexual assault, and severe illness affecting yourself or a loved one. Not everyone who goes through a traumatic event–or who has PTS symptoms–will develop PTSD. Why?

Risk factors for the condition give us some insight:

• People who experience multiple traumatic events are at a higher risk of developing PTSD. The same is true for people who go through repeated traumas, like domestic violence in childhood.
• Lack of social support, genetics, and environmental factors may increase the risk of PTSD.

Understanding the causes and risk factors for PTSD can aid early detection and treatment. When PTSD is detected and treated, quality of life can improve significantly.

Assessing Clients for PTSD and Trauma

Like other mental health disorders, PTSD is diagnosed using the criteria in the most up-to-date version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

Diagnosing PTSD usually involves a verbal assessment. During this assessment, a medical or mental health professional, like a psychologist or psychiatrist, will ask you a list of questions. Often, these questions will relate to:

• The traumatic event (e.g., when it happened)
• Your symptoms (e.g., what your symptoms are and how long they’ve lasted).

Whether you have PTSD, another trauma disorder, or simply need help coping after a traumatic event, the right treatment and support can help.

The Importance of Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma-informed care is critical for trauma survivors facing any mental or behavioral health problem. Simply put, trauma-informed care means that a provider recognizes the impact that trauma has had on you and your life. They’ll take time to ask about traumatic events and how they’ve affected you. Beyond the diagnostic process, they put this knowledge into practice during treatment. It’s a person-centered approach.

A trauma-informed provider can give you the understanding necessary for you to feel safe and supported while you move through deep healing work necessary for trauma recovery. They know that every trauma survivor moves at a different pace. Whether they’re treating PTSD, depression, or substance abuse, a trauma-informed provider should consider your experiences as a whole person.

Treating Trauma and PTSD Symptoms

Icarus in New Mexico provides trauma-informed care for PTSD and trauma. Many different treatments and modalities can be used to address trauma and PTSD symptoms effectively. For example:

Prolonged Exposure Therapy

Prolonged exposure is a type of behavioral therapy that helps people approach trauma-related memories, feelings, and situations gradually. Since avoidance symptoms often affect people with PTSD, this can be important. When you face what you have avoided in the past and learned that you are safe, you can decrease symptoms of PTSD.

Exposure is a strategy that is used to help people confront their fears. Your prolonged exposure therapist might use imaginary exposure, in vivo exposure, or both. Imaginal exposure is when you talk about traumatic events in detail. In vivo exposure is when you confront fear stimuli outside of the therapy office. For example, a location that is connected to a traumatic experience.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a treatment used for a wide variety of mental health problems. Trauma-focused CBT (TF-CBT) is a specific variation of CBT. It is a non-invasive talk therapy. In sessions, your therapist may:

• Provide education on mental and physical symptoms of PTSD and trauma.
• Help you build a toolkit of coping skills for trauma and PTSD symptoms.
• Work with you to modify negative thoughts and re-process traumatic memories.

Often, CBT is delivered over the course of 12-16 sessions. Many people are drawn to CBT because it provides actionable tools, is non-invasive, and can be effective even as a short-term treatment.

Cognitive Processing Therapy

Cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is another type of behavioral therapy. It helps you modify and challenge unhelpful beliefs related to your trauma. CPT was designed to treat trauma. Like CBT, it is often short-term and is known to produce results quickly.

During sessions, you will work to create a new understanding and conceptualization of the traumatic event to reduce negative effects and symptoms on your current life.

For example, you might talk about how your symptoms or the traumatic event have affected daily life activities. CPT can also involve developing coping skills and meeting goals like forming positive beliefs about yourself, since trauma can affect self-perception.

Other Therapies and Treatments

The above are not the only treatments used for PTSD and trauma. Other therapies and treatments for PTSD and trauma can include but aren’t limited to:

• Narrative therapy.
• Somatic therapy.
• Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR).
• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).
• Internal family systems (IFS).
• Medications, such as antidepressants.
• Creative therapies.

Therapies used for trauma and PTSD can be conducted in individual or group therapy sessions. Some people with past trauma also benefit from family therapy.

Personalized Treatment Plans for Trauma and PTSD

If you’re experiencing post-traumatic stress, have a PTSD diagnosis, or think that you might have PTSD, we can help. Icarus New Mexico provides truly personalized trauma and PTSD treatment. We have multiple levels of care, including inpatient and outpatient programs. Our programs combine multiple treatments used for trauma and PTSD so that you or your loved one can get the benefits of multiple therapy types.

For example, a DBT group might teach coping skills in a group setting with other clients present, or an art therapy group might guide you through a creative activity together. On the other hand, individual therapy sessions for trauma, which will occur at least once per week, will help you dive deep and target your personal experiences; they’re a place to share things you might not want to in group settings.

With extensive personal and professional experience, we know better than anyone that everyone will respond to a different approach (or different approaches). Every client at our center in Albuquerque gets an individualized treatment plan designed to fit their needs, regardless of what treatment program they’re in.

Call Icarus for Trauma-Informed Mental Health and Addiction Treatment

Icarus Behavioral Health New Mexico is proud to work with clients overcoming mental health conditions, substance use disorders, dual-diagnosis disorders, and other mental or behavioral health concerns affecting their lives.

We accept many forms of insurance, as well as other payment methods, and are here to help you or your loved one heal by a variety of evidence-based means. We know well that getting professional treatment for trauma can open you up to a new life.

For more information about Icarus Behavioral Health New Mexico and how our programs can help, please call our admissions line today.

Frequently Asked Questions About PTS vs PTSD

What does PTS mean?

PTS means “post-traumatic stress.”

What does PTS do to a person?

PTS causes short-term symptoms. For example, shaking, sweating, increased heart rate, gastrointestinal distress, increased anxiety, and feelings of shock.

What’s the difference between PTSD and PTS?

PTSD is a mental health disorder. PTSD causes avoidance symptoms, mood and cognition symptoms, re-experiencing symptoms, and arousal and reactivity symptoms (e.g., hypervigilance) that last for one month or more. PTS, on the other hand, is not a disorder. While someone may experience symptoms directly after an event due to PTS, they go away shortly after.

Is PTSD an anxiety disorder?

No. Although PTSD was once included in the anxiety disorders category, it is now in a diagnostic category called trauma and stressor-related disorders in the DSM.

Is PTSD now just PTS?

No. While someone with PTS could develop PTSD, the two aren’t the same. PTS symptoms have a short enough duration that they don’t cause significant distress or affect your functioning in the long term. Symptoms of PTSD continually affect your life, potentially in very severe ways, without treatment.

References

1. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207195/#part1_ch1.s10
3. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments
4. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/prolonged-exposure
5. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments/cognitive-behavioral-therapy