Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) implies a psychiatric disorder that may transpire in people who have undergone or witnessed a traumatic event for instance a natural disaster, a grave accident, a terrorist act, war/combat, rape, or who have been terrorized with death, sexual violence or severe injury.
PTSD can happen in all people, of any ethnicity, nationality, or society, and at any age. PTSD affects roughly 3.5 percent of U.S. adults each year, and an estimated one in 11 people will be diagnosed with PTSD in their life span. Women are twice as liable as men to have PTSD.
People diagnosed with PTSD have severe, disturbing thoughts and feelings connected to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has finished.
They may revive the event via flashbacks or nightmares; they might feel grief, fear, or anger; and they may feel disconnected or alienated from other people.
People with PTSD may shun situations or people that remind them of the disturbing event, and they might have strong negative reactions to something as regular as a loud noise or an accidental touch.
An analysis of PTSD necessitates exposure to a distressing traumatic event. Though, the exposure could be indirect instead of first-hand.
For instance, PTSD could happen in individual learning about the violent demise of a close family or friend. It can also happen as a result of recurring exposure to horrible details of trauma for instance police officers are exposed to facets of child abuse cases.
Symptoms and Diagnosis of PTSD
Symptoms of PTSD compile into the following four categories. Specific symptoms can differ in severity.
- Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts for instance repeated uncontrolled memories; upsetting dreams; or flashbacks of the harrowing event. Flashbacks might be so vivid that people sense they are re-living the traumatic experience or seeing it before their eyes.
- Avoidance: Avoiding reminders of the disturbing event may comprise avoiding people, places, activities, objects, and situations that may prompt upsetting memories. People might try to avoid remembering or thinking about the shocking event. They may defy talking about what happened or how they think about it.
- Variations in cognition and mood: Incapability to remember significant aspects of the disturbing event, negative thoughts and feelings leading to constant and distorted ideas about oneself or others (e.g., “I am bad,” “No one can be trusted”); indistinct thoughts about the cause or outcomes of the event leading to incorrectly blaming self or other; continuing fear, horror, fury, guilt or shame; much less interest in activities previously enjoyed; feeling disconnected or alienated from others; or being incapable to experience positive emotions (a void of contentment or satisfaction).
- Alterations in stimulation and reactivity: Arousal and reactive symptoms might comprise being ill-tempered and having angry outbursts; behaving irresponsibly or in a self-destructive way; being overly alert of one’s surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled, or having difficulty concentrating or sleeping.
Many people who are rendered to a traumatic event experience symptoms comparable to those depicted above in the days following the event.
For an individual to be diagnosed with PTSD, though, symptoms ought to last for more than a month and must induce considerable distress or problems in the individual’s regular functioning.
Many individuals grow symptoms within three months of the trauma, but symptoms might appear later and often persevere for months and sometimes years.
PTSD generally occurs with other related conditions, for instance, depression, substance use, memory problems, and other physical and mental health difficulties.