Saturday 27 June marks International PTSD Awareness Day, part of PTSD Awareness Month, led by PTSD UK – the only charity in the UK dedicated solely to raising awareness and support for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Research shows that around 10% of people will experience PTSD at some point in their lifetime, yet it’s estimated that up to 70% of people living with PTSD or Complex PTSD in the UK never receive any professional help at all.
For many of the people and families we support, trauma isn’t a single dramatic event in the past – it’s something that shapes daily life, routines, and relationships in ways that aren’t always obvious from the outside.
What PTSD actually involves
PTSD and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) can develop after any event or experience involving fear, helplessness, or threat – not just the situations most people automatically picture, such as combat or assault. Causes can include:
– Serious illness, injury, or medical trauma
– Childbirth complications
– Road traffic accidents
– Abuse, neglect, or prolonged stressful environments
– Witnessing harm to someone else
Common misconceptions
A lot of people don’t seek support because they don’t think their experience “counts” as trauma, or because they assume PTSD only affects the symptoms most commonly portrayed in the media, such as flashbacks. In reality, PTSD can also show up as:
– Hypervigilance or a constant sense of being on edge
– Emotional numbness or detachment
– Irritability, anger, or sudden mood changes
– Sleep problems, nightmares, or exhaustion
– Physical symptoms such as digestive issues or chronic tension
Why early recognition matters
PTSD can be successfully treated with approaches such as EMDR and CBT, even when the trauma happened many years ago – it’s never too late to seek help. But recognising the signs, in yourself or someone you support, is often the first and hardest step, particularly for people who are also managing a long-term health condition, disability, or complex care needs, where symptoms of trauma can easily be mistaken for something else.
How we can help
At Synergy Complex Care, many of the people we support have experienced trauma alongside their primary health condition, whether that’s linked to a sudden injury, a difficult diagnosis, a traumatic hospital admission, or years of managing complex needs. Our care teams are trained to recognise that emotional and psychological wellbeing is part of complex care, not separate from it. We take time to understand each person’s history and triggers, work closely with families and healthcare professionals, and build the kind of trusted, consistent relationships that make it safer for someone to talk about what they’ve been through, in their own time and in the comfort of their own home.
This PTSD Awareness Day, we want anyone supporting someone with PTSD or C-PTSD – or quietly wondering whether their own experiences might be trauma-related – to know that support is available, and that asking for it is never a sign of weakness. If you’d like to talk to us about care that takes the whole person into account, we’re here.