Post-traumatic Stress Disorder


Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is categorized as a severe anxiety disorder. PTSD can develop after exposure to a traumatic event, such as the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or threat to to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity.


Diagnostic symptoms include re-experiencing original trauma(s), by means of flashbacks or nightmares; avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma; and increased arousal, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hypervigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (e.g. problems with work and/or relationships).


Re-experiencing:

  • Flashbacks: reliving the trauma, including physical symptoms
  • Bad dreams
  • Frightening thoughts

Re-experiencing symptoms may cause problems in a person’s everyday routine. They can start from the person’s own thoughts and feelings. Words, odors, objects, or situations that are reminders of the event can also trigger re-experiencing.


Avoidance:

  • Staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the experience
  • Feeling emotionally dumb
  • Feeling strong guilt, depression, or worry
  • Losing interest in activities that were enjoyable in the past
  • Having trouble remembering the dangerous event

Things that remind a person of the traumatic event can trigger avoidance symptoms. These symptoms may cause a person to change his or her personal routine. For example, after a bad car accident, a person who usually drives may avoid driving or riding in a car.


Hyperarousal:

  • Being easily startled
  • Feeling tense or "on edge"
  • Having difficulty sleeping, and/or having angry outbursts

Hypervigilance symptoms are usually constant. They can make the person feel stressed and angry. These symptoms may make it hard to do daily tasks, such as sleeping, eating, or concentrating.


It is natural to have some of these symptoms after a dangerous event. Sometimes people have very serious symptoms that go away after a few weeks. This is called acute stress disorder, or ASD. When the symptoms last more than a few weeks and become an ongoing problem, they might be PTSD. Some people with PTSD show no symptoms for weeks or months.


PTSD is believed to be caused by either physical trauma or psychological trauma, or more frequently a combination of both. Possible sources of trauma include:


  • Experiencing or witnessing childhood or adult physical, emotional or sexual abuse.
  • Experiencing or witnessing an event perceived as life-threatening.
  • Experiences of sexual assault, accidents.
  • Exposure to war or disasters.



PTSD Assessment


A PTSD assessment involves several hours of testing, as well as an interview to gather some background information. The tests administered include standardized measures, such as the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI), the Detailed Assessment of Post-traumatic Stress (DAPS), and the Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire (MAQ).