June is PTSD Awareness Month, a time to better understand what post-traumatic stress disorder can look like and why support matters.
This guide is for people who may be worried about their own symptoms, supporting someone they care about, or trying to understand how trauma can affect opioid use disorder recovery.
PTSD is treatable. You don’t need to have everything figured out before reaching out for help. The first step is often to notice possible warning signs and understand when support may be needed.
What PTSD Awareness Month Is Meant to Do
PTSD Awareness Month happens every June. The National Center for PTSD uses the month to raise awareness, encourage screening, and remind people that evidence-based treatment can reduce symptoms and improve daily life. June 27 is PTSD Screening Day, when people are encouraged to complete a brief self-screening and talk with a professional if they notice any concerning symptoms (National Center for PTSD, 2025).
Awareness is crucial because PTSD can be very easy to miss. Some people expect PTSD to just look like panic, flashbacks, or being in visible distress. In reality, it may also show up as sleep problems, anger, numbness, isolation, trouble trusting people, or feeling on edge even when there is no clear danger.
For many, the first step isn’t even treatment. It is realizing that what they are feeling and experiencing has a name, that they’re not alone, and that help is available.
What PTSD Can Feel Like
PTSD can develop after someone experiences, witnesses, or learns about a traumatic event. Feeling fear after danger is a normal human response; it’s not necessarily a disorder. But PTSD may be present when symptoms last longer than a month and begin to affect work, relationships, sleep, health, recovery, or daily routines (NIMH, 2024).
Common signs of PTSD include:
- Intrusive memories, nightmares, or flashbacks
- Avoiding people, places, thoughts, or reminders
- Feeling guilt, shame, fear, anger, or emotional numbness
- Trouble sleeping, concentrating, or feeling safe
- Being easily startled or always alert for danger
- Pulling away from family, friends, work, or responsibilities
PTSD also doesn’t present the same for everyone. It’s possible to experience all of these symptoms, or just a few, with varying degrees of severity.
It’s important to note that a PTSD test or online PTSD screening isn’t enough to diagnose you by itself. But it can help you decide whether it’s time to speak with a trained mental health professional.
Why PTSD and Opioid Use Can Overlap
Trauma and opioid use disorder can affect each other in painful ways. Some people use opioids to quiet memories, sleep, or numb emotional pain. Over time, this can make recovery harder, especially when withdrawal, cravings, stress, and trauma triggers happen at the same time.
NIDA notes that substance use disorders and other mental health conditions often occur together, and treating both together is usually more effective than treating one while ignoring the other (NIDA, 2024).
PTSD symptoms can make opioid recovery more complicated and should be addressed alongside substance use treatment. For many people, that includes medication, counseling, case management, and a safer routine that makes recovery more manageable day by day.
What to Do During PTSD Awareness Month
You do not need to solve everything at once. PTSD Awareness Month can be a good time to pause, notice what has felt difficult lately, and take a practical step toward support.
Try a Private PTSD Screening
A screening can help you organize what you have been feeling. It may also give you clearer language to use when you talk with a provider, counselor, or treatment program.
Before you meet with a provider, write down:
- The symptoms that bother you most
- How long they have been happening
- Any sleep changes, nightmares, or panic symptoms
- Triggers you have noticed
- Any opioid use, cravings, withdrawal, or return-to-use concerns
- Your current medications or health conditions
- What feels hardest to manage right now
Bring these notes to a counselor, primary care provider, or treatment program. You don’t have to explain everything perfectly. Clear notes simply make it easier to ask for the right kind of support.
Ask About Evidence-Based PTSD Treatment
PTSD treatment often includes talk therapy, skills for managing symptoms, and sometimes medication. AHRQ’s 2024 evidence update reviews both medication and non-medication PTSD treatments. The 2023 VA/DoD guideline says clinical decisions should be based on evidence, patient needs, and professional judgment, not a single one-size-fits-all path (AHRQ, 2024; VA/DoD, 2023).
Some helpful questions to ask are:
- What PTSD treatments do you offer or refer to?
- Can you support opioid use disorder and trauma symptoms together?
- How do you handle safety planning and crisis needs?
- What should I expect in the first appointment?
- How will counseling, medication, and case management work together?
- What happens if I am still using opioids or worried about withdrawal?
Small actions can make the month useful without feeling overwhelming. You might:
- Save a crisis number in your phone
- Share one trusted PTSD resource with someone who needs it
- Ask a provider about PTSD screening
- Tell one safe person what your triggers feel like
- Plan transportation before the first appointment
- Write down questions before calling a treatment center
How HCRC Supports Whole-Person Recovery
Health Care Resource Centers offers Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with methadone and buprenorphine, along with individual counseling and case management for people working to overcome opioid use. Care is structured, respectful, and focused on stability.
For someone living with trauma symptoms and opioid use disorder, that kind of structure can make a difference. Recovery often involves more than reducing cravings. It may also mean rebuilding routines, learning safer coping skills, improving sleep, navigating stress, and getting help with real-life barriers that make it harder to keep up with the treatment.
At HCRC, our support may include:
- Medication to help reduce withdrawal and cravings
- Individual counseling for coping skills, trauma, stress, relationships, and relapse prevention
- Case management for transportation, housing, benefits, employment, documentation, and community resources
- Education on opioid use disorder, brain chemistry, overdose prevention, and recovery skills
- A judgment-free environment that treats each person with dignity
HCRC has CARF-accredited clinics across New England. Our Lewiston and Portland, Maine, locations offer methadone and buprenorphine treatment, and Lewiston also offers Suboxone-branded medication. Services are designed to meet people where they are and help them rebuild stability in daily life with steady, evidence-based care.
When to Reach Out for Help
Recovery starts with an honest conversation and a care team that understands symptoms, safety, routines, and real-life barriers.
Consider talking to a professional if trauma symptoms are affecting your sleep, relationships, work, recovery, or sense of safety. Reach out immediately if you are using opioids to cope, returning to use after stress, or feeling unable to manage cravings.
Call 988 right away if you may hurt yourself or someone else, or if you feel in immediate danger.
For ongoing recovery support in Maine, contact HCRC to find a location, ask about treatment options, and start your recovery with steady, evidence-based care.
References
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2024). Pharmacologic and Nonpharmacologic Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: 2024 Update of the Evidence Base. https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/products/ptsd-pharm-treatment/protocol
- National Center for PTSD. (2025). Help Raise PTSD Awareness. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand/awareness/index.asp
- National Institute of Mental Health. (2024). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd
- National Institute on Drug Abuse. (2024). Co-Occurring Disorders and Health Conditions. https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/co-occurring-disorders-health-conditions
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Defense. (2023). VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Acute Stress Disorder. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/txessentials/cpg_ptsd_management.asp
