PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma.This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's ability to cope. As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response. Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma(s) through 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 (both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10) require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.  Posttraumatic stress disorder is classified as an anxiety disorder, characterized by aversive anxiety-related experiences, behaviors, and physiological responses that develop after exposure to a psychologically traumatic event (sometimes months after). Its features persist for longer than 30 days, which distinguishes it from the briefer acute stress disorder. These persisting posttraumatic stress symptoms cause significant disruptions of one or more important areas of life function. It has three sub-forms: acute, chronic, and delayed-onset.

 

Causes

Psychological trauma

PTSD is believed to be caused by experiencing any of a wide range of events] which produces intense negative feelings of "fear, helplessness or horror in the observer or participant. Sources of such feelings may include (but are not limited to):

  • experiencing or witnessing childhood or adult physical, emotional, or sexual abuse;
  • experiencing or witnessing physical assault, adult experiences of sexual assault, accidents, drug addiction, illnesses, medical complications;
  • employment in occupations exposed to war (such as soldiers) or disaster (such as emergency service workers);
  • getting a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness;as risk for biological markers of risk for PTSD after a traumatic event in adulthood.[ This effect of childhood trauma, which is not well understood, may be a marker for both traumatic experiences and attachment problems. Proximity to, duration of, and severity of the trauma also make an impact, and interpersonal traumas cause more problems than impersonal ones.

Diagnosis

Criteria

The diagnostic criteria for PTSD, stipulated in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (Text Revision) (DSM-IV-TR), may be summarized as: 

A: Exposure to a traumatic event.

B: Persistent re-experiencing. flashback memories, recurring distressing dreams, subjective re-experiencing of the traumatic event(s),  or intense negative psychological or physiological response to any objective or subjective reminder of the traumatic event(s).

C: Persistent avoidance and emotional numbingThis involves a sufficient leveavoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, such as certain thoughts or feelings, or talking about the event(s);

  • avoidance of behaviors, places, or people that might lead to distressing memories;
  • inability to recall major parts of the trauma(s), or decreased involvement in significant life activities;
  • decreased capacity (down to complete inability) to feel certain feelings;
  • an expectation that one's future will be somehow constrained in ways not normal to other people.                                            
  • Persistent symptoms of increased arousal not present beforeThese are all physiological response issues, such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, or problems with anger, concentration, or hypervigilance. 
  • Duration of symptoms for more than 1 month.  If all other criteria are present, but 30 days have not elapsed, the individual is diagnosed with Acute stress disorder.
  • Significant impairmentThe symptoms reported must lead to "clinically significant distress or impairment" of major domains of life activity, such as social relations, occupational activities, or other "important areas of functioning".

 

DBT and Cognitive Behavioral therapy as treatment

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) seeks to change the way a trauma victim feels and acts by changing the patterns of thinking or behavior, or both, responsible for negative emotions. CBT have been proven to be an effective treatment for PTSD and is currently considered the standard of care for PTSD by the United States Department of Defense] In CBT, individuals learn to identify thoughts that make them feel afraid or upset and replace them with less distressing thoughts. The goal is to understand how certain thoughts about events cause PTSD-related stress.  Recent research on contextually based third-generation behavior therapies suggests that they may produce results comparable to some of the better validated therapies. Many of these therapy methods have a significant element of exposure and have demonstrated success in treating the primary problems of PTSD and co-occurring depressive symptoms.