Post-traumatic stress disorder Health Article

Definition

Post-traumatic stress disorder, often abbreviated as PTSD, is a complex disorder in which the affected person's memory, emotional responses, intellectual processes, and nervous system have all been disrupted by one or more traumatic experiences. It is sometimes summarized as "a normal reaction to abnormal events." The DSM-IV-TR(the professional's diagnostic manual) classifies PSTD as an anxiety disorder.

Description

PTSD has a unique position as the only psychiatric diagnosis(along with acute stress disorder) that depends on a factor outside the individual, namely, a traumatic stressor. A patient cannot be given a diagnosis of PTSD unless he or she has been exposed to an event that is considered traumatic. These events include such obvious traumas as rape, military combat, torture, genocide, natural disasters, and transportation or workplace disasters. In addition, it is now recognized that repeated traumas or such traumas of long duration as child abuse, domestic violence, stalking, cult membership, and hostage situations may also produce the symptoms of PTSD in survivors.

A person suffering from PTSD experiences flashbacks, nightmares, or daydreams in which the traumatic event is experienced again. The person may also experience abnormally intense startle responses, insomnia, and may have difficulty concentrating. Trauma survivors with PTSD have been effectively treated with group therapyor individual psychological therapy, and other therapies have helped individuals, as well. Some affected individuals have found support groupsor peer counseling groups helpful. Treatment may require several years, and in some cases, PTSD may affect a person for the rest of his or her life.

General United States population

PTSD is much more widespread in the general population than was thought when it was first introduced as a diagnostic category. The National Comorbidity Survey, a major epidemiological study conducted between 1990 and 1992, estimates that the lifetime prevalence among adult Americans is 7.8%, with women (10.4%) twice as likely as men (5%) to be diagnosed with PTSD at some point in their lives. These figures represent only a small proportion of adults who have experienced at least one traumatic event—60.7% of men and 51.2% of women respectively. More than 10% of the men and 6% of the women reported experiencing four or more types of trauma in their lives. The most frequently mentioned traumas are:

• witnessing someone being badly hurt or killed
• involvement in a fire, flood, earthquake, severe hurricane, or other natural disaster
• involvement in a life-threatening accident (workplace explosion or transportation accident)
• military combat

The traumatic events most frequently mentioned by men diagnosed with PTSD are rape, combat exposure, childhood neglect, and childhood physical abuse. For women diagnosed with PTSD, the most common traumas are rape, sexual molestation, physical attack, being threatened with a weapon, and childhood physical abuse.