National PTSD Awareness Month
Take some time to understand the devastating effects of PTSD, as well as the potential causes and warning signs. Help raise awareness for those going through it.
Position your organization as a mental health advocate by educating audiences on PTSD recognition, treatment options, and support resources during June awareness month.
- Share expert-led guides on recognizing PTSD warning signs in colleagues, family, and friends
- Highlight your company's mental health benefits, EAP programs, or partnerships with trauma-informed therapists
- Feature survivor stories and recovery journeys to destigmatize PTSD and encourage help-seeking
- Promote free webinars or toolkits on workplace mental health and supporting trauma survivors
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is nothing new, and has been recognized by psychology practitioners since at least 1952, where it appeared in the DSM-I as a “Gross Stress Reaction”, defined as a “normal personality using established patterns of reaction to deal with overwhelming fear”.
Even in these early days, it was recognized that it was a condition that existed within those who had experienced wartime as well as domestic traumas. It was with the establishment of the DSM-III that it got its current name, in part due to experiences of soldiers during the Vietnam War.
The research involved in this further definition shed some light on the experiences and diagnosis regarding problems facing soldiers and other patients who experienced trauma in former years, including railway spine, battle fatigue, traumatic war neurosis, etc.
Sadly there is no way to cure PTSD with present techniques, though there is a growing body of techniques to help manage these conditions, including psychotherapy, exercise therapy, service animals, and more.
National PTSD Awareness Month works to make the public more aware of this disorder, and to promote research to find further treatments, understand its causes, and determine what sort of preventative measures can be taken to keep it from developing in those who have experienced trauma.