PTSD reaches into everything.
It reaches into sleep because your body does not know how to rest when it still thinks it has a job to do.
It reaches into relationships because the people closest to you feel the distance, the defensiveness, the shutdown, the unpredictability, or the need to control the environment.
It reaches into health because a body that lives in emergency mode pays for it.
It reaches into work because concentration, patience, consistency, and creativity all suffer when part of you is always on guard.
It reaches into joy because joy requires safety and presence, and PTSD steals both.
Then there is the private cost. The shame. The loneliness. The frustration of watching your body do things you do not choose. The fear that this is just who you are now. The discouragement of knowing the danger is over and still not being able to turn off what it started.
That is why this is not small. And that is why leaving it alone does not help.
Pain that is not addressed gets rehearsed. Programs that are not changed keep running.