Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Causes and Symptoms of PTSD
What is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD) describes the problems some people have after experiencing a traumatic event.
What causes PTSD?
Unfortunately, the types of traumatic events that can cause PTSD are fairly common. These events vary and include things such as house fires, physical and sexual assault, military combat, and car accidents.
You do not need to experience an event directly in order to have symptoms of PTSD. Witnessing a traumatic event can cause feelings of fear, helplessness and horror, and can also lead to PTSD.
What are the symptoms of PTSD?
PTSD includes three major types of difficulties:
- Re-experiencing the trauma
- Avoidance and/or emotional numbness
- Feeling on edge or more wary of danger.
Individuals can re-experience the trauma through:
- recurring and upsetting thoughts about what happened
- recurring nightmares
- acting or feeling like the trauma is happening again
- being extremely upset when they are reminded of the trauma
- experiencing physical reactions to reminders of the trauma (like a racing heart or sweaty palms)
Individuals may avoid or feel numb through:
- trying not to think, talk, or have feelings about the trauma
- trying to stay away from people, places, and activities that remind them of what happened
- being unable to remember important parts of what happened
- having less interest in things they used to enjoy
- not feeling close to other people
- feeling emotionally numb or like they can't have strong feelings
- believing that their future plans and goals won't come true
Individuals may feel more on edge or wary of danger, which may cause them to:
- have trouble sleeping
- be really irritable or have angry outbursts
- have trouble concentrating
- always be on the lookout for danger
- be very easily startled or frightened
All individuals with PTSD have experienced or witnessed at least one traumatic event, and some have experienced many traumatic incidents over the course of their lives. Because of this, it's no surprise that many individuals with PTSD also experience other problems in addition to PTSD.
However, it is important to note that while many upsetting things can happen in one's life, not all upsetting events lead to PTSD. You should speak to a counselor or psychologist if you or someone you know has any of the symptoms listed above.
Who develops PTSD?
Not everyone who lives through a dangerous event will get PTSD. In fact, most will not get the disorder. For example, many more people experience a disaster than a rape, yet PTSD is much more likely following a rape than following a disaster.
Below is a graph showing that the rate of PTSD is influenced by the nature of the trauma.
In addition to the nature of the trauma, researchers have identified many other factors that also influence whether or not a person will get PTSD. Researchers have also identified factors known as resilience factors, which can help protect an individual from developing PTSD.
Risk factors for PTSD include:
- Living through dangerous events and traumas
- Having a history of mental illness
- Getting hurt
- Seeing people hurt or killed
- Feeling horror, helplessness, or extreme fear
- Having little or no social support after the event
- Dealing with extra stress after the event, such as loss of a loved one, pain and injury, or loss of a job.
Resilience factors that may reduce the risk of PTSD include:
- Seeking out support from other people, such as friends and family
- Finding a support group after a traumatic event
- Feeling good about one's own actions in the face of danger
- Having a coping strategy, or a way of getting through the bad event and learning from it
- Being able to act and respond effectively despite feeling fear.
Researchers are continuing to explore different risk and resilience factors in hopes that one day it may be possible to prevent those who are most at risk for developing PTSD from doing so.
How is PTSD treated?
Although a number of treatments for PTSD exist, the Institute of Medicine (2007) has concluded that Prolonged Exposure (PE) Therapy is the gold standard approach for treating PTSD, as it is the only treatment that has enough evidence to support its efficacy.
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