Causes, incidence, and risk factors: PTSD may occur soon after a mohor trauma, or can be delayed for more than six months after the event. When it occurs soon after the truam it usually resolves after three months, but some people experience a longer-term form of the condition, whick can last for many years. PTSD can occur at any age and can follow a natural disaster such as flood or fire, or events such as war or imprisonment, assault, or domestic abuse, or rape.
We do not know what causes PTSD, but psychological, gentic, physical, and socail factors are involved. PTSD alters the body's response to stress by affecting stress homones and neurotransmitters (chemicals that transmit information between the nerves). Previous exposure to trauma may indrease the risk, which suggests that this kind of a reaction may be a learned response.
Having good social support helps to protect against PTSD. In studies of Vientam veterans, those with strong support systems were less likely to develop PTSD than those without social support.
People with PTSD re-experience the event again and again in at least one of seveal ways. They mah have recurrent distressing drams and recollections of the event, a sense of reliving the experience (referred to as flashbacks), and/or become very distressed around the time of events that symbolize the events (such as anniversaries).
Symptoms:
1. Repeated "reliving" of the event, which distrubs day to day activities
Ex. Recurrent distressing memories of the event, Recurrent dreams of the event, Flashback episodes- where the event seems to be happening, Bodily reactions to situations that remind them of the traumatic event.
2. Avoidance
Ex. Inability to remember important aspects of the trauma, lack of interest in normal activities, feelings of detachmetn, sense of having no future, emotional "numbing", or feeling as though they don't care about anything, reduced expersionof moods, staying away from places, people or objects that remind them of the event.
3. Arousal
Ex. Irritability or outbusrts of anger, sleeping difficulties, difficulty concentrating, exaggerated response to things that startle them, hypervigilance.
Other symptoms that may be associated wiwth this desease include a sense of guilt about the event (including survivor guilt), and the following symptoms, which are typical of anxiety, stress, and tension: paleness, heart palpitations, headache, fever, fainting, dizziness, agitation or excitability.
There are some additional Complications that can go along with PTSD: Depression and Anxiety, and Phobia or fear of things that are not usually frightening to other people.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Treatment:
The goal is to reduce the symptons by having the person recall the experience and to express their feelings and to feel that they are in contro over their feelings about the experience. In some cases. expressing their greif helps to complete the mourning process. Support groups can provide a setting where people who have had similar experiences and can share feelings.
Depression, alcohol or substance abuse, or associated medical conditions may need to be treated before symptoms of PTSD can be effectively addressed. Behavioral therapy, a type of talking therapy, may be used to treat avoidance sypmtoms. This can include graded exposure or flooding, which means that the person is frequently exposed to the object that triggers symptoms, until the person becomes accustomed to it and no longer avoids it.
Medicines that act on the nervous system may be used to reduce anxiety and other associated problems. Anti-depressants have been proven effective in treating PTSD, including newer medicines such as Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft. Sedatives can help with sleep disturbance. Anti-anxiety medicines may be useful, but the benzodiazepines, a type of drug used to treat anxiety can be addictive.(Zanax, Valium)
