This article discusses post traumatic stress disorder based on the DSM-IV-TR description of the disorder in which the illness is classified as an anxiety disorder. The discussion includes a description of the illness, causative factors, and diagnosis of this disease. The other parts examine the treatment of this disease and current research efforts on post traumatic stress disorder.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a serious anxiety disorder that is likely to develop following exposure to an incident or event that contributes to psychological trauma. Notably, it's normal to have feelings of sadness, anxiety, panic, and disconnected after a traumatic experience. However, if these feelings do not fade and the individual feels trapped in an ongoing sense of danger and painful memories, he/she may be suffering from the post traumatic stress disorder. The likelihood of the development of this disease is associated with the fact that individual seems overwhelmed with the experience and unlikely to get over it and feel normal again. This illness is less frequent and more persistent since it's brought by psychological trauma. Nonetheless, an individual can overcome this condition and return to normalcy by seeking treatment, creating new ways of coping, and seeking for support.
Description of the Disorder:
As previously mentioned, post traumatic stress disorder is an emotional disease that is categorized as an anxiety illness that develops after a traumatic event or incident that is life-threatening, frightening, or highly unsafe (Dryden-Edwards & Stoppler, 2010). While the disease is likely to develop after exposure to any traumatic experience, many individuals attribute the illness with battle-scarred soldiers to an extent that military combat is regarded as the most common cause among men. In addition, the disorder can also occur in family members and friends of individuals who experienced the actual trauma. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder victims usually re-experience the traumatic incident in certain ways and have a tendency to avoid people, places, and things that remind them of the incident.
According to the description of PTSD by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-IV-TR), the diagnostic standard of this illness includes experience of a major life-threatening incident or physical integrity. However, the description does not include a sequence of non-life-threatening traumatic incidents or micro traumas as causative factors (Seides, 2010, p.725). This is despite of indications by literature review that several non-life-threatening emotional traumas take place more often and tend to be more psychologically harmful than a single catastrophic incident. Therefore, DSM-IV-TR should consider adopting expanded criteria for the description and diagnosis of this disorder. Generally, DSM-IV-TR defines PTSD as an anxiety illness that develops from incidents considered as traumatic.
According to statistics regarding PTSD, nearly 8% of individuals in the population are likely to develop the disease during their lifetime. In addition the lifetime prevalence of the disorder in combat veterans and victims of rape usually ranges between 10% and 30% (Dryden-Edwards & Stoppler, 2010). The higher rates of PTSD prevalence occur among African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Caucasians respectively. While there are approximately 5 million people suffering from the illness at any one time in America, women are twice as likely to develop PTSD as compared to men. In relation to children and teens, more than 40% has endured at least a single traumatic incident contributing the development of the disorder. However, PTSD has occurred in nearly 15% of girls as compared to the 6% of boys.
Causative Factors of the Disorder:
As previously discussed, the main cause of post traumatic stress disorder is exposure to a life-threatening, hugely unsafe, and frightening traumatic experience. These experiences are likely to contribute to the development of the disorder if the victim feels a constant sense of danger and painful experiences (Smith & Segal, 2012). As a result of this constant feeling of painful and frightening experience, the individual remains relatively unable to overcome the incident or feel normal again. Some of the most common traumatic events that can contribute to the disorder include natural disasters, sudden death of a loved one, childhood neglect, rape, kidnapping, car or plane crashes, assault, natural disasters, and sexual or physical abuse. While the main cause of PTSD revolves around traumatic events, there are other risk factors including high levels of stress, history of depression and mental illness, lack of support and coping skills after the trauma, and family history of the disease.
Diagnosis of the Disorder:
While post traumatic stress disorder has existed for as long as human beings have endured trauma, the illness was only recognized as a formal diagnosis in the 1980s (Dryden-Edwards & Stoppler, 2010). The diagnosis of PTSD is often comorbid with eating disorders, depression and substance abuse, anxiety disorders, and manic depression. The assessment of PTSD sometimes involves the use of rating scale or controlled psychiatric interview to test the disease. Some of the standardized screening tools for diagnosis of the disease include Trauma Screening Questionnaire and PTSD Symptom Scale.
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