What is Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that’s caused by an extremely stressful or terrifying event — either being part of it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety and uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Most people who go through traumatic events may have a hard time adjusting and coping for a short time. But with time and by taking good care of themselves, they usually get better. If the symptoms get worse, last for months or years, and affect their ability to function daily, they may have PTSD.
Examples include natural disasters, serious accidents, terrorist acts, war/combat, rape/sexual assault, historical trauma, intimate partner violence and bullying,
PTSD has been known by many names in the past, such as “shell shock” during the years of World War I and “combat fatigue” after World War II, but PTSD does not just happen to combat veterans.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Symptoms of PTSD fall into the following four categories. Specific symptoms can vary in severity.
- Intrusion: Intrusive thoughts such as repeated, involuntary memories; distressing dreams; or flashbacks of the traumatic event. Flashbacks may be so vivid that people feel they are reliving the traumatic experience or seeing it before their eyes.
- Avoidance: Avoiding reminders of the traumatic event may include avoiding people, places, activities, objects and situations that may trigger distressing memories. People may try to avoid remembering or thinking about the traumatic event. They may resist talking about what happened or how they feel about it.
- Alterations in cognition and mood: Inability to remember important aspects of the traumatic event, negative thoughts and feelings leading to ongoing and distorted beliefs about oneself or others (e.g., “I am bad,” “No one can be trusted”); distorted thoughts about the cause or consequences of the event leading to wrongly blaming self or other; ongoing fear, horror, anger, guilt or shame; much less interest in activities previously enjoyed; feeling detached or estranged from others; or being unable to experience positive emotions (a void of happiness or satisfaction).
- Alterations in arousal and reactivity: Arousal and reactive symptoms may include being irritable and having angry outbursts; behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive way; being overly watchful of one’s surroundings in a suspecting way; being easily startled; or having problems concentrating or sleeping.
Causes
You can develop post-traumatic stress disorder when you go through, see or learn about an event involving actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual assault.
Healthcare professionals aren’t sure why some people get PTSD. As with most mental health problems, a mix of factors probably causes it, including:
- Extremely stressful experiences, as well as the amount and severity of trauma you’ve gone through in your life.
- Inherited mental health risks, such as a family history of anxiety and depression.
- Inherited features of your personality — often called your temperament.
- The way your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases in response to stress.
Treatment
It is important to note that not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD, and not everyone who develops PTSD requires psychiatric treatment. For some people, symptoms of PTSD subside or disappear over time. Others get better with the help of their support system (family, friends or clergy). But many people with PTSD need professional treatment to recover from psychological distress that can be intense and disabling. It is important to remember that trauma may lead to severe distress. That distress is not the individual’s fault, and PTSD is treatable. The earlier a person gets treatment, the better chance of recovery.
Psychiatrists and other mental health professionals use various effective (research-proven) methods to help people recover from PTSD. Both talk therapy (psychotherapy) and medication provide effective evidence-based treatments for PTSD.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Cognitive Processing Therapy
- Prolonged Exposure Therapy
- Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing for PTSD
- Group therapy
Medication
Medication can help to control the symptoms of PTSD. In addition, the symptom relief that medication provides allows many people to participate more effectively in psychotherapy.
find references in these links: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd