PTSD Awareness Overview
National Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Awareness Month is celebrated annually in June, and the awareness day is June 27, 2023. It aims to raise awareness of the disorder itself, which is a mental health issue that can develop after a person has endured a traumatic event, such as war, sexual assault, or a natural disaster. A person living with PTSD can also be a victim of a crime or witnessed a crime. Symptoms of PTSD include distressing dreams, persistent thoughts, recurring flashbacks or avoidance of places and activities, which can trigger emotional responses.
Lone Star Legal Aid clients have experienced the lingering effects of trauma. This is why we encourage everyone to educate our communities on this invisible disability. Just because someone is not physically disabled does not mean they aren’t suffering on the inside. Let’s take a closer look at what this means.
Life beyond trauma
The emotional toll from a traumatic event can cause intense and frightening feelings. Our bodies undergo psychological and emotional impact once we have experienced a traumatizing event. Whether you were directly involved in the event or exposed to it after, there is a process one goes through to regain equilibrium and take back control of their life.
Trauma can spill over into other aspects of life, oftentimes leading survivors down a rabbit hole of criminal and legal issues. Being victimized at any point can lead to an increase in arrests, abuse, or convictions. Chronic victims who have suffered ongoing violence have the highest odds of legal outcomes.
PTSD Resources
It is recommended that if you are a survivor of crime, you shouldn’t manage your mental health alone. You should seek out resources to guide you in the recovery stage. These resources can help your brain think and act differently when traumatizing events reoccur in your memory. It takes some survivors a short period of time to recover, but the recovering process can also be extensive. A person’s personal healing results from the amount of trauma they have faced.
Resources for PTSD in Texas
Texas Crime Victim Legal Assistance Network
The Counseling Center of Texas
National Alliance on Mental Illness – Texas
Resources for PTSD in the U.S.
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)
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Lone Star Legal Aid (LSLA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations by providing free legal education, advice, and representation. LSLA serves millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines, who live in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties in Southwest Arkansas. LSLA focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety, stability, health, and wellbeing; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those with disabilities, the aging, survivors of crime and disasters, the unemployed and underemployed, the unhoused, those with limited English language skills, and the LGBTQIA+ community. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.LoneStarLegal.org.
Media contact: media@lonestarlegal.org
