Other victims are left to their own devices, often in conditions of chronic disadvantage and extreme poverty. This is a useful way to understand the effects described above. A significant and deleterious aspect of PTSD is the train of thoughts associated with the violence experienced by survivors at the hands of abusive or hostile people. The traumatic thoughts may haunt the sufferers for two decades or more. The thoughts can also be accompanied by vivid pictures behind the eyes of violent or vicious people.
Some sufferers never lose their traumatic thoughts or the flashbacks.
Survivors of PTSD may be misdiagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder and may be pressured to change their behavior. Some survivors, unable to stop the flashbacks, may create different pictures. Some may become sufficiently empowered to understand that flashbacks are a symptom of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and effectively reduce or stop them all together. Toxic psychiatry or ill-prescribed drugs may exacerbate trauma reactions and at times, contribute toward the experience of flashbacks. Flashbacks can cause terror and horror for survivors.