Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition in which extreme emotions continue for a significant time after being first activated by a stabbing occasion. About 1 in 10 individuals has PTSD at some time in life.
First hand experience of a nerve-racking event that endangers life and personal safety, or in some instances merely observing this kind of occasion, can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder in many people. The type of events that result in PTSD include natural disasters, injuries, being attacked and war experiences.
Kids and aged individuals are more susceptible to PTSD, as are individuals who lack family support or that have a history of anxiety disorders. The cause of PTSD isn’t understood, but emotional, genetic, physical and social factors all lead to it. In studies of Vietnam War veterans, people that have strong family support were less likely to develop PTSD than those without it.
What Are The Symptoms?
The symptoms of PTSD happen shortly after the event or develop weeks, months or, rarely, years afterwards. They may contain:
- involuntary ideas about the encounter
- daytime flashbacks of the occasion – a sense of reliving the occasion
- panic attacks with symptoms like shortness of breath and fainting
- avoidance of reminders of the occasion and refusal to discuss it
- sleep disturbance and nightmares
- inferior focus
- irritability.
Someone with PTSD may feel emotionally numb, detached from occasions and estranged from relatives and buddies. They may also lose interest in ordinary day to day tasks. Other psychological disorders, like depression or stress, may coexist with PTSD. Sometimes it results in alcohol or substance misuse.
What Might Be Done?
The objective of therapy is to support sufferers to express despair and finish the mourning process. Support groups are great at supplying a setting where individuals that have similar experiences can share their feelings and weep openly.
■ Counselling may encourage the individual to discuss her or his experiences, and support for the person and family members is frequently an important part of therapy.
■ Behavior treatment can be used to help the individual “re enter” the real world and leave behind harrowing memories. Behavior techniques contain rated exposure and floods (regular exposure to an item that activates symptoms).
■ Drugs for example antidepressants may be used with counselling, and this strategy often creates an advancement within eight weeks. Newer antidepressants, for example Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, can actually enhance mood and help sufferers to confront the future smoothly. Drugs may have to be taken for at least annually. PTSD frequently evaporates after a month or two of treatment but some symptoms may continue.
In some instances, PTSD may continue for years. In susceptible individuals, the illness mav recur after other traumatic events.
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