Symptoms may be so extreme that they are considered to be pathological.
Symptoms can keep you safe because they can tell you about your environment. Symptoms can be
approached as a vehicle to healing from injury, because they help you to see in what manner and
to what extent you have been injured. Seeing yourself as an injured person probably won't come easily or automatically.
      When you're injured, you're vulnerable. You must remain safe because if not safe, the organism
might not survive. Every day brings with it potential for triggers, flashbacks, and more vulnerability.
It's double jeopardy. Thankfully, countless people have been helped by methods utilized by health
care professionals and by knowledge from research, and that continues.
      Symptoms can be subtle and can crop up in ways that might be difficult to recognize. There's a tendency toward a sort of Weltschmerz, and it's easy to blow situations out of proportion. Remembering what was pre-trauma and seeing what is post-trauma might be the only way to recognize a symptom, and in that case it's important to be brutally honest so there are no missed opportunities. Your self knows.