When it comes to experiencing a trauma at first the person experiences post traumatic "stress". If the trauma ends up being suffering loss over a longer period the person can actually end up experiencing a post traumatic stress breakdown. That is what I myself experienced. When I experienced a post traumatic stress breakdown I was completely emotionally and physically exhausted and I could no longer address the ongoing loss I was facing from the original event that led to a lot of damage and loss. Unfortunately, when I experienced the post traumatic stress breakdown, I was begging for rest and grief counseling and instead of getting that I ended up in a psych ward where I did not get rest and grief counseling but instead was further traumatized. When I left that psych ward, I was literally even more traumatized then when I went in. Then I had to go back to addressing a lot of damage that made it even worse.

So for me, instead of getting the right treatment that could have reduced the damage to my hypocampus, instead I suffered even more which I now know simply caused even more damage. As a result I ended up developing full blown PTSD.

The damage and shrinkage that took place in my hypocampus made it so much harder for me to function. That's because the hypocampus is an important filter that helps a person be able to handle problems and decide how something taking place is not so bad and can be managed. So what can happen is that a person begins to get much more sensitive and more easily overwhelmed and this is when their amygdala begins to get over stimulated because it no longer has the hypocampus as a filter to protect it so it doesn't get overwhelmed. The amygdala is where so much of our emotional responses to things originate and without the hypocampus to control what the amygdala gets exposed to, it gets overwhelmed much more easily.

A person who is struggling doesn't understand this and it can frighten them. The one common question sufferers ask is "why can't I just like I used to?". The person suffering doesn't understand "why" they are so much more emotional and sensitive. What happened to me is that others around me, my family and even my friends began getting angry with me for being so sensitive and that just made it even harder for me. I tried to get help, but unfortunately I did not get the right help where I got help from someone who specialized in treating someone who is struggling with PTSD and needs help from a "specialized trauma therapist".

The truth is it has only been recently and with the new technology developed that they can see the areas in the brain that reflect what happens in the brain when someone suffers from post traumatic stress, and has a post traumatic stress breakdown. Because it can become a significant and debilitating problem for people, they are making it a point to study it and because of that along with newer technology they are finally seeing and learning a lot more now. They are starting to see how with time and the right treatment the brain and damaged areas can heal with time.

The reason individuals who struggle begin isolating is because they are trying to avoid being hurt again so they can actually "heal". The more we can learn about what is affected and how to aid in healing, the better treatment and understanding challenged individuals will have. Also, instead of being left in confusion, the person will be able to learn about "what" it means to have PTSD and how they can help themselves so they can slowly recover and make slow gains on their "healing". With more "knowledge" people who suffer can also have their family learn about why they are suffering too so their family doesn't say things to them that end up hurting them where the healing they need to experience takes even longer.

We are just at a point now where we have learned a lot so people can be helped better. I did not have that happen for me, so I can't really tell someone else "how long" or even how severe their challenge really is compared to mine. However, I do know how crippling it can be, I know you have to be VERY PATIENT and KIND to yourself and to give yourself "time" and rest so you can "slowly" do some important healing.