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When the past won’t stay in the past
For people in the United States living with what a frightening event left behind, and for the people who love them. Who answers, at any hour. What is common after something terrible, and what PTSD is. What to do in a flashback, a wave of panic, or after a nightmare. Anger, numbness and avoiding. Seeing a doctor or therapist, and the treatment that works. Finding someone who treats trauma. What families can do. And the words to say when you call. This page never asks what happened to you. One thing at a time.
A word with a dotted line under it, like this, opens its official definition, quoted from a U.S. government glossary.
Right now
- Thinking about ending your life, or in danger? Call or text 988, at any hour. Veterans: dial 988, then press 1, or text 838255. In an emergency: 911.
- Does it feel like it is happening again? The National Center for PTSD says: keep your eyes open. Look around you and notice where you are. Remind yourself what year it is, and that you are safe. The trauma happened in the past, and you are in the present.
- Need a person, and can’t talk? Text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line, any hour, free), or text 988.
- There is real hope in the facts. The National Center for PTSD says PTSD treatment works, and that for many people treatment can get rid of symptoms altogether.
More help
- Feelings that hit hard and fast? When your feelings hit hard and fast.
- In the moment? Breathe and ground, Panic and Cool down.
- Awake at night? Can’t sleep?
- For the bad nights? A safety plan and a hope box.
- What happened? After sexual assault, When home isn’t safe, After a disaster, Grief and After a death.
- What it has led to? When drinking or drugs are the problem, When you hurt yourself to cope, When the heaviness won’t lift, When the worry won’t switch off, Feeling alone.
- A veteran? Veterans.
- Seeing a doctor soon? Appointment prep and Low-cost care.
- Worried about someone? When you’re worried about someone and Caregiving.
- Hit on the head, recently or years ago? After a hit to the head (concussion and brain injury).
- All our free tools and Get help now.
Your mood, your thoughts, sleep, worry or an urge, and not sure this is the right page? The pages on this site for thoughts of suicide and self-harm, depression, bipolar, anxiety, OCD, trauma, psychosis, eating, drinking and gambling, sleep, grief, ADHD, autism and memory, on one list.
Other guides on this site that go with this page
Free to read. We chose these ourselves; no professional did. Each guide was written with AI and has not been reviewed by a professional. They are general information, not advice.
- When pain doesn’t go away: pain that has lasted for months: describing it so a doctor hears it, treatments that are not medicine, and what pain does to sleep and mood.
- When you’re young and have nowhere safe to stay: who answers at any hour, where you can walk in, youth shelters, and staying in school.
- If someone is threatening to share your pictures: someone threatening to share your pictures: what to do in the first hour, getting pictures taken down, reporting it, and how to tell someone.
- After a suicide attempt: after a suicide attempt: the first days, what to say when people ask, a plan to stay safe, and how family can help.
This page and its wording were written with AI (Claude) for Scarlet Beast (our AI policy). The facts come from pages read on October 1, 2026: the National Center for PTSD, a program of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (PTSD Basics; Common Reactions After Trauma; Coping with Traumatic Stress Reactions; Trauma Reminders; Avoidance; Self-Harm and Trauma; PTSD Treatment Basics; Find a Provider; Self-Help and Coping; Helping a Family Member Who Has PTSD; PTSD Coach; Get Help in a Crisis); the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (its PTSD brochure and topic page, and Coping With Traumatic Events); MedlinePlus, from the U.S. National Library of Medicine (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder); NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness (its PTSD page and HelpLine); the Veterans Crisis Line; Crisis Text Line; FindTreatment.gov; and the 988 Lifeline. Much of the Center’s material is written for Veterans; where we pass on something it wrote for Veterans, the page says so. NAMI and Crisis Text Line are private organisations describing their own services, and the provider directories under “Finding help” are run by private or university groups. We did not call or text any line, contact any provider, search any directory, or use the PTSD Coach app. We did not read the Center’s longer pages on talk therapies, medications, complementary approaches, sleep, negative coping, peer support, children and teens, signs of good care or help for Veterans, its self-screen, the Institute’s fact sheet on children, the research behind any treatment, or what insurance covers; where the page links to one of these, it says we did not read it. We found nothing on these pages about what is sometimes called complex PTSD, so the page says nothing about it. On purpose, this page never asks what happened and describes no event in detail. Lines marked “Ours” are our own suggestions. This page saves nothing: no account, no cookies, nothing you tick is stored or sent, and no analytics (privacy). Scarlet Beast is not a treatment provider or a government agency, and takes no money from anyone named here. Found a mistake? Email [email protected].