Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) only began to be diagnosed with formal criteria in about 1980, and largely as a result of the number of soldiers returning from Vietnam with lasting psychological stress and in need of assistance for stress-related symptoms. (Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. ix) It is however now very clear that PTSD can arise from any number of stressful events, including but not limited to those listed by Vasterling & Brewin in their exhaustive work on the neurobiology of PTSD, "combat experiences…, natural disasters, sexual assault, physical assault, life-threatening accidents, childhood neglect and abuse, domestic violence, politically motivated mass violence, and terrorist acts…" (Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. ix) to name a few.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

There has been a great deal of research conducted on PTSD and its negative consequences over the last 20 years and psychologists and clinicians agree that the breadth of such effects is wide and varied. The challenge, to a great deal is that such negative consequences endure long past the close of the traumatic event and negatively effect the life of the individual experiencing PTSD. More recent research has indicated that PTSD is responsible not only for negative behaviors and emotions but actually changes the neurobiology of the individual and alters or creates abnormalities in the cognitive processes (Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. ix) Ultimately the agreed upon definition of PTSD is that it is; "an anxiety disorder that develops in response to a traumatic experience and is characterized by the core features of reexperiencing, avoidance behaviors, numbing of responsivity, and hyperarousal…"(Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. 3)

Behavioral and Emotional Effects

Behavioral and emotional effects of PTSD are often reflected in observation and self-reporting and are most demonstrative of any anxiety disorder, where the individual finds that thoughts and emotions drive behaviors that are not entirely in their personal control. The individual may be triggered to remember an aspect of the event, relive it in a position that would normally be considered safe and then behave as if he or she was again living some aspect of the traumatic experience in the present. (Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. 3)

PTSD sufferers may experience the emotions and behaviors of the traumatic event long after the event has stopped endangering them and at inopportune moments, such as physical responses to dreams, creating sleep deprivation and possible challenges to ones' loved ones, when viewing reenactments of traumatic events, simply as a result of talking about events with others or while experiencing or seeing things that might vaguely remind them of all or part of their past trauma. In young children the anxiety reaction may be associated with extreme agitated and/or disorganized behavior, while in adults the individual may actually experience "black out" symptoms and act upon his or her internal anxiety cues. As with many disorders there is a formal set of diagnostic criteria for PTSD and symptom length of endurance and severity are weighed in as crucial to the diagnosis. (Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. 4)

Neurobiological and Cognitive Effects

These outward symptoms and reports of the emotions that trigger them tend to be the most observable and therefore recorded aspects of the disease, yet it is also clear that much more is at work. A more modern take on PTSD, by the experts willing to look hard enough is that the traumatic event response may have to some degree created a neurobiological record creating in the brain a sort of hard wired response sequence for reacting to the event. Many experts now believe that it is these changes that create the enduring quality of the disiorder and make it much more difficult to treat than a simple short-term psychological reaction to witnessing or being involved in a traumatic event or events. (Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. 3)

There is a clear importance to note that observation is only a limited tool for diagnosing the severity of the disorder and understanding its enduring quality. When several sessions of cognitive or other psychological treatment fails to produce lasting results and appropriate responses to normal daily stress or triggers going deeper is often the answer. Researchers have done this with core diagnostic tools, such as functional MRI (fMRI) MRI and CT scan. These scans work to allow experts to compare a normal response to everyday stress or triggers to that of someone suffering PTSD and the results are often obvious. (Vasterling & Brewin, 2005, p. 64)