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It is obvious that seeing and fearing serious injury or death causes emotional distress. Nonetheless, distress or disability after a traumatic event is often attributed to weakness or malingering. In the last 30 years, we have learned a great deal about the damage done by psychological trauma and ways to help survivors. Unfortunately, scientific knowledge is not widely disseminated so many outdated beliefs exist in the minds of both professionals and the lay public.
Anxiety, depression, addictions, and stress related medical illness occur more frequently in survivors of events such as violent crime and serious industrial or motor vehicle accidents. Since 1980, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been recognized as a treatable mental disorder with biochemical and psychological mechanisms. Individuals who are diagnosed with PTSD share the following experiences and symptoms:
Incidence of Post Traumatic Disorders
Research indicates that at least one half of American adults have experienced a traumatically intense stressor during their lifetimes. Between a quarter and a third of individuals who experience a traumatic event will go on to develop significant psychiatric symptoms. Individuals who develop PTSD tend to be younger, female, and have suffered previous psychological trauma. Symptoms can last from a few months to many years.
Pitfalls and Problems in Diagnosing Post Traumatic Disorders
Diagnosing and treating PTSD is complicated by a number of factors. First, trauma survivors try to avoid or forget the traumatic experience. When asked, they may deny or minimize their symptoms. Auto accident survivors, for example, sometimes report physical complaints but conceal psychological distress because they are ashamed of their fearfulness when they return to the road. At the other extreme, some patients exaggerate symptoms or attribute the symptoms of a pre-existing disorder to PTSD to gain sympathy or compensation.
Second, individuals with pre-existing disorders are, in fact, more vulnerable to PTSD. The symptoms of PTSD are difficult to differentiate from the symptoms of pre-existing conditions such as depression, anxiety, or addiction. Society's tendency to blame the victim for the disease can interfere with diagnosing many patients suffering from serious PTSD.
Anxiety, depression, addictions, and stress related medical illness occur more frequently in survivors of events such as violent crime and serious industrial or motor vehicle accidents. Since 1980, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been recognized as a treatable mental disorder with biochemical and psychological mechanisms. Individuals who are diagnosed with PTSD share the following experiences and symptoms:
- They have been confronted with an event, which involved a) actual or threatened death or serious injury, or b) a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.
- They responded to the experience with intense fear, helplessness, and horror.
- They re-experience the trauma through intrusive memories, distressing dreams, flashback or hallucinations, or intense reactivity to reminders.
- They avoid reminders of the trauma and may experience memory loss, feelings of detachment and estrangement from others, blunted feelings, or a sense of foreshortened future.
They have symptoms of increased arousal such as insomnia, irritability, poor concentration, hypervigilance, and exaggerated startle responses.
They suffer significant impairment in functioning which continues for more than a month.
Incidence of Post Traumatic Disorders
Research indicates that at least one half of American adults have experienced a traumatically intense stressor during their lifetimes. Between a quarter and a third of individuals who experience a traumatic event will go on to develop significant psychiatric symptoms. Individuals who develop PTSD tend to be younger, female, and have suffered previous psychological trauma. Symptoms can last from a few months to many years.
Pitfalls and Problems in Diagnosing Post Traumatic Disorders
Diagnosing and treating PTSD is complicated by a number of factors. First, trauma survivors try to avoid or forget the traumatic experience. When asked, they may deny or minimize their symptoms. Auto accident survivors, for example, sometimes report physical complaints but conceal psychological distress because they are ashamed of their fearfulness when they return to the road. At the other extreme, some patients exaggerate symptoms or attribute the symptoms of a pre-existing disorder to PTSD to gain sympathy or compensation.
Second, individuals with pre-existing disorders are, in fact, more vulnerable to PTSD. The symptoms of PTSD are difficult to differentiate from the symptoms of pre-existing conditions such as depression, anxiety, or addiction. Society's tendency to blame the victim for the disease can interfere with diagnosing many patients suffering from serious PTSD.