How would you know…?
Here is a short little explanation and signs that your friend might be suffering from PTSD..
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If someone I knew started to develop signs of PTSD, I feel there are several things that would need to be accounted for before deciding they were suffering from PTSD.
I would initially begin by knowing my friend and knowing what their usual and normal activities and outlook on life would be. If something happened to them that I knew about then I would very obviously be aware of this. Whether they take it as a trauma themselves or not is another issue. For example, if a friend of mine had been mugged then they would tell me and I would have feelings toward my friend of such an event.
If after this event of being mugged started to seep into their life through not wanting to go and socialise with other people I would mentally take a note, but this alone is not something strong enough to diagnose someone of PTSD. This may just be them wanting to spend some time with themselves or tired (the list can go on). However, if they started to become even more recluse and having abnormal outbursts I would speak to them about how they are. Maybe they just feel like they need a friend. But again, these 2 points are not enough to diagnose but are potential initial signs of developing PTSD.
Signs could also come along from not buying the same products from a shop they usually go to every week; as they are avoiding a certain area of town to hope they won’t be attacked again.
The final realisation would fall into place when they had been acting not quite themselves for over a month. This can range from excessive changes or not, however, the unsettling within themselves for more than a month can be a case of PTSD.
Depending how I knew them would be a big factor in my realising. For example, if they were my housemate then it would be apparent much earlier on, rather than someone who I saw every now, or perhaps a colleague.
In the example of the person I know being a colleague they may find themselves being more defensive at work or startled when you pat them on the shoulder to say hello. And at work this is not the whole image of the person who might be faced with PTSD, as a lot might be kept from their work life and get taken out on their personal life and at home.
The person I know may look exhausted from lack of sleeping. Or perhaps they don’t get back behind the wheel of a car if they had a road traffic accident. Or perhaps they are particularly vigilant when I am driving when before there was nothing other than a passive passenger next to me.
To conclude, I would know someone I knew was facing PTSD if they had experienced an event they felt as traumatic, and there were several onsets and changing factors to their day to day life that affected them in ways that were abnormal to their usual self.
