Have you ever experienced something traumatic or know someone that has? Chances are you have and you might not even think it’s a trauma. Taking your lunch out of the fridge and eating it instead of you getting a chance to devour your food is a trauma. It might tick you off or it might not bother you much. It still is some negative act done to you where you have an opportunity to respond.

The following blog is about more extreme trauma, what psychiatrists have been calling Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) since 1980. Included in the blog is what science says, some personal and professional experiences and some fun GIPHYs to keep things light. It is a very heavy subject and if you’ve recently experienced some trauma, I highly recommend you having a friend/family member read and give you the “Cliff’s Notes” abbreviation. If you stay to the end I share about a program I’m really proud about.

#1 Truth Know what depression looks like for patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
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According to the Healthline Article, PTSD is a trauma and stressor-related disorder that can develop after a traumatic or stressful event. ⁠⠀
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For me, I experienced child abuse 3-5yrs old from a family member consistently and randomly. ⁠It made it challenging to trust boys in general and I wasn’t even aware of my selection to hang with girls mostly until I was being trained in child abuse prevention as an adult during my teaching practicum experience. ⁠⠀
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I never felt safe talking about what had happened because our insurance allowed for only 3 therapy sessions at age 14 when I had my first psych break. ⁠⠀
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One of the technical things of PTSD to look for is: ⁠⠀
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Re-experiencing memories – flashbacks, nightmares, unwanted memories⁠⠀
Avoidance – you may want to keep from talking or thinking about the event
Mood swings and negative thoughts– Moods change regularly, but if you have PTSD, you may feel down, numb, and hopeless frequently. ⁠⠀
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You may also be hard on yourself, with a great deal of guilt or self-loathing. ⁠
You might also feel detached from other people, including friends and family. ⁠This can make PTSD symptoms worse.⁠⠀
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Changes in behavior and reactions – PTSD can cause unusual emotional outbursts, like being easily startled or frightened, angry, or irrational. ⁠It may also cause people to act in ways that are self-destructive. ⁠This includes speeding, using drugs, or drinking too much alcohol.⁠⠀

I’d love to hear from your experiences. Please screenshot the blog title and tweet us @MoveHappyTeam your insights and personal experiences (also include if you’re a medical professional so we have some reference from your feedback).
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#2 Truth Know what are some signs and symptoms of depression in patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
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According to the Anxiety and Depression Associations of America article, PTSD is diagnosed within 30 days of a traumatic event. ⁠However many of the signs and symptoms may never show up until years later. ⁠⠀
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These are the key things to look for:⁠⠀
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Re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive distressing recollections of the event, flashbacks, and nightmares.⁠⠀
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Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma.⁠⠀
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Increased arousal such as difficulty sleeping and concentrating, feeling jumpy, and being easily irritated and angered.⁠⠀

What are some ways you have coped with your PTSD? I’d love to hear from you! Go ahead and Tweet us @MoveHappyTeam your favorite way to decompress and get your mind off of the trauma. We’ll retweet the most creative responses randomly #FirstComeFirstServe basis.
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#3 Truth Know what the global prevalence of depression in patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is for increased awareness and compassion.⁠⠀
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According to the European Journal of Psychotraumatology, of those being influenced by war between 1989-2015 that were alive during the study, there are 1.45 billion people globally that are effected by PTSD and depression. ⁠⠀
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That is a LOT of people in the world! ⁠⠀
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What are some ways we can help raise our consciousness levels and kindness towards those connected directly to war, PTSD & Depression? ⁠⠀
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PTSD wasn’t even a diagnosis until 1980 by the American Psychiatric Association. ⁠Can you imagine those in war prior to 1980 not even receiving treatment because there was no offering based on science? ⁠In what ways can we show extra compassion to those that have served to protect their country? ⁠⠀
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I’d love your responses via Twitter @MoveHappyTeam and include the country YOU represent by flag emoji if available. ⁠We’ll be Retweeting random responses and include YOUR name 😊.
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#4 Truth Know what causes depression in patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Know what some practical strategies are to help empower patients with depression to move towards their own happiness. ⠀
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The cause is pretty obvious, a person experienced a trauma. ⠀It can be a small trauma like someone took another’s sandwich out of the work fridge and they’re hungry. ⠀
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It can also be a large trauma and in between like, roommates verbally threatening to kill you in the middle of the night while high on drugs (like I experienced), or your entire financial stability being stripped away with no options other than use your creativity (like I’m sure many of you have experienced reading this now). It’s normal to feel some level of PTSD depending on the severity. ⠀
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What isn’t normal is keeping your feelings to yourself and withdrawing from the world. Let’s help raise each other up and if we hear someone is hurting or had a bad break up or had some terrible loss in their family, to be extra compassionate towards them and long after the event.

Being compassionate does not mean allowing a person to disrespect you. It means, having an understanding that their mindset is not 100% optimal and they might be making decisions that they normally would not. If their behavior gets too much and they cross the line too many times, it’s perfectly acceptable and recommended that you communicate your boundaries in a respectful tone in a public setting. If they are larger than you physically or have a power over you (i.e. boss vs employee, spouse dominance, male roommate ego etc) discuss things in an open public place to decrease the likeliness of any physical altercations. It also keeps people on their best behavior. Whatever needs to be said can be said in a public place. Secrets are for children and for those ashamed of their thoughts and actions. You are allowed to be self compassionate.⠀
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It’s been 12 years since the Army Ranger boyfriend took advantage of my purity and I’m just now able to say rape without crying (because therapy wasn’t an affordable option and the therapist at the University said I could be kicked out for sharing my thoughts so I stuffed my emotions). ⠀
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I do not recommend stuffing by any means, just be selective with whom you share your trauma with and look for a specialist that deals with PTSD/Trauma and Depression if you feel you need a therapist.

If you’re in college reading this, I recommend seeking treatment from a therapist outside of your university if you’re having self-harm thoughts because the university is obligated to keep all students safe. Unfortunately that means the therapist has to report any potential threats to the university’s reputation as well as the safety of yourself or others around you. Self-harm thoughts after rape are actually very common. I googled it during my healing process so it must be true 😏. Thoughts are not you. Let me repeat that, your thoughts are not who YOU are. Thoughts are fleeting, can flow in and out of your mind. Imagine if all your thoughts became reality, would you really want that man on the freeway to “Go To HELL!” for cutting you off? Probably not. Be easy on yourself during your healing journey.
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If mental health would have been a more open discussion growing up and also in college, I would have gotten more treatment sooner.⠀
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I survived but had many many years of avoiding activities, feeling drained just by being in public and was not the Move Happy woman you see me as today.⠀
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It took getting into biz and taking action from the Slight Edge book by Jeff Olson to help empower me to get over my social anxieties (in addition to helping me learn business skills). The Miracle Morning Group on Facebook was great too to connect to positive people for emotional support and accountability! It’s how I met Michelle, celebrity stylist who’s worked with Lil’Kim, the Venus Sisters and more! You can listen to her podcast episode on Spotify and iTunes.⠀Do her a favor and thank her on a review so she wants to come back for a 2.0 version 😊.
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I’d love for you to share your own ideas on helping with PTSD and Trauma. Go ahead and Tweet us @MoveHappyTeam and we’ll be retweeting the most creative, fun and practical ways people can empower themselves no matter what their budget 🙌⠀
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Move Happy Updates
The Move Happy Movement Podcast© is in full swing! Together we are bringing awareness to mental health, providing practical strategies to empower those with depressed states to move towards their own happiness and inspiring the joy of movement! Tomorrow I’ll be releasing episode 42 with Mark Metry TedX speaker, Global Top 100 Humans 2.0 Podcast, Amazon Prime’s The Social Movement participant! Nir Eyal messaged me directly (his podcast aired earlier this week here) thanking me for my comment on one of Mark’s posts. From there Nir and I connected and it turned into an opportunity to have him on my podcast as well. Mark attracts abundance of connections, positivity and light. Make sure to connect with Mark on LinkedIn above (blue underline).

Follow the Move Happy Movement Podcast wherever you listen (iTunes and Spotify) and Tweet us @MoveHappyTeam if you’d like it on a different platform. Once we have 10,000 listeners we’ll be offering a sweet giveaway! You must be one of the monthly listeners to qualify and be active in commenting/liking/sharing/tweeting Move Happy content. We’ll keep things updated from the distribution website below ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Other news, I have been doing my own social media management while maintaining a full time job since 2016. I didn’t launch Move Happy officially until I moved to TN in however I have been practicing social media since 2015 and forgot how much I learned in such a short amount of time. When I created my Move Happy Instagram channel @TheRealMoveHappy I grew really fast in a short amount of time.

Facebook reached out to me within 4 months of launching my profile and actually took my posts serious 1x/day (they own Instagram). They asked if I was interested in speaking on stage and helping other small businesses grow their brands on stage potentially in the future. The kinds of questions the nice lady Mary asked me on the recorded line were very much “insider” questions. I quickly started realizing she was trying to get info on my “system” and “how do you write your own content, do you hire someone or do it yourself?” I didn’t know I was adding value just by being myself and using my curriculum design skills I learned by being a K-12 teacher without a curriculum ever haha😂. Even though I hadn’t made that much money yet with Move Happy, I was so open with what I was doing she gave me a private portal link for support from Facebook staff directly that most others don’t get access to. She encouraged me to use it anytime I didn’t have time to sort through their ‘resources’ pages. #Grateful

I did some serious thinking after that call and asked myself, “Why Can’t I teach social media skills that I learned?” Then I launched Erin Nicole Media last summer. I didn’t take it seriously and had my first guest trainee completely shocked that she was my first client. Blanca was on the Steve Harvey Show and Mel Robbins Show. She’s been on just about every news outlet in the world and top 30 body language expert in the world!

Blanca was SO surprised at the skillset I had (at the end of the Social Media University Intensive workshop). I told her she was my first client at the end haha! #Surprise. She thanked me for offering it for free for her. Of course it gave me the confidence to modify the workshop and really take it seriously as a second business.

Now I am offering the workshop multiple times a day (M-F) because I LOVE teaching! If you’re interested in taking my workshop, email me to sign up subject line “SMUI Workshop Blog Discount Interest” please include days/times and timezone preferences also to help organize it faster here. Once enough interest is present (max of 8) I’ll set up the next workshop. If you bring 3 friends, you’ll get a free ticket for yourself too. I’m not perfect, but I’ve learned a lot of mistakes and I learned that I’m actually pretty good at it and am good at teaching. I want to help you grow your brand too. Did I mention I didn’t have a smart phone until 2015? 😊 #YouCanLearnToo (I reserve the right to refuse service to anyone for any reason).

One last thing, I offer the workshop as a group setting because that’s how I prefer to teach. If you’re dying to take it but don’t want anyone else around, you may schedule your exclusive 1:1 VIP training with me for $999 and receive 1 year access after that to the group workshop. To sign up for 1:1 VIP go here. Shoot me an email confirming purchase and I’ll accommodate your schedule and block off time on my calendar since you’re paying more for my time. Also shoot me a email me Erin@TheMoveHappy .com saying “I signed up for VIP Social Media University Intensive Workshop and need to schedule time with you” as I have turned off notifications for all social media so I can be more selective with my time for work and time for play. That will tell me to expedite response to YOU so you can get your 1:1 time scheduled asap. Keep in mind you get 1 year access to the group workshop, not 1 year access for 60 minutes of my time at anytime you like. That part of the purchase is a 1-time offering ❤️. Also, I reserve the right to refund anyone that makes me feel uncomfortable with the sale (i.e. stalker behavior, cursing at me, or disrespecting my team).

#5 Truth Know how Move Happy can help patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression.⠀
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I created a program in one of the most sensitive populations anyone could work in, a locked live-in psychiatric hospital. ⁠I had a variety of patients of all adult ages from mid 20s to 80s. ⁠I had a few veterans in my program as well as a majority of people that were homeless or would be homeless if the state didn’t step in and help them. ⁠⠀
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My patients started sharing my program with other patients after we ran it the first round and I started revising it. ⁠They shared the journal too with patients that couldn’t get in the group because we were maxed out according to fire code policies and physical space.⠀
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One of my patients a retired Marine and former executive of 150-200 staff said, ⁠⠀
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“Erin you Will be sharing this with others and I will see you on TV. Do you have any questions?” 😂⁠⠀
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No Sir! (He encouraged me to kick my butt into gear and share it with others #Grateful)⁠⠀
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I have no doubt since he was mid 50s that he experienced some major PTSD in the marines as well as when he lost his wife to cancer 😩. ⁠⠀
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That said, I feel very confident the journal I used with my patients will also help you if you’re dealing with some PTSD. ⁠I cannot make a claim yet as I didn’t do an empirical study on it. ⁠However, enough patients spread word about my program and encouraged me to share it. ⠀
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You may either download a free journal here (1 copy per email sign up)
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or ⁠⠀
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Purchase one and allow 30% back towards mental health programs of YOUR preference and 10% back to Big Brothers and Big Sisters local chapter in YOUR area here (1 copy per purchase).⠀
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Email me (erin@themovehappy. Com) a copy of your receipt and preferred charity organizations to help me keep track 🙏 ⠀
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We’d love to get your feedback on the Move Happy Participant Journal via Twitter @MoveHappyTeam ! Send us how you’re using the journal, alone or with. group and some deets about the group so we can see how its helping and whom is benefitting most! We’ll do random shoutouts for your tweets and retweet giving you credit!

So there you have it folks. PTSD is a tough subject to hear about, experience personally and even read about from vicarious experiences. It is directly connected to depression and can be difficult to find resilience through. However, it is possible to find things to look forward to and be hopeful over. It takes special care in the language you use about yourself and others and the questions you ask. Instead of asking why me, ask what purpose can this experience serve me? Instead of asking how am I going to get out of this chaos, ask what are some ways I can reach my x goal? Your mind will come up with solutions based on the questions you ask it. Be easy on yourself and understand that PTSD is a long battle and requires self compassion. Don’t think it’ll be gone in a week. You suffered pain. Allow the appropriate time to heal.

PS: Don’t forget to tell someone you love them today