Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) refers to an intense anxiety disorder which can possibly develop if the individual is exposed to any such incident the outcome of which may be a psychological trauma (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Such incidents or events might be about the risk of death to someone else or to one's own life, or danger to an individual's sexual, physical or psychological integrity (Rothschild, Babette, 2000). As an outcome of the psychological trauma, the posttraumatic stress disorder has proven to be more enduring and less frequent than other post traumatic stress which is commonly seen.

The posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been categorized by the psychologists and medical experts as the anxiety disorder, which is characterized by abnormal physiological responses, aversive behaviors, and anxiety-related experiences which builds up after the individual is exposed to any event that proves to be a psychological trauma event after a certain time period. The features of PTSD may continue to exist for more than 30 days, and upset and disturb all the other features of life along with making it distinguishable from more acute and briefer acute stress disorder. The disorder exists in three sub-forms that include chronic, acute, and delayed-onset.

Causes and Symptoms

The causes of PTSD include various experiences of event by an individual which is likely to create absolutely negative feelings of "helplessness, fear or horror" in a participant or an observer (Mayo Clinic staff, 2011). Such feelings may arise from but are not restricted to:

witnessing or experiencing adult or childhood emotional, physical, or sexual abuse;

witnessing or experiencing adult experiences of physical assault or sexual assault, illnesses, drug addiction, accidents, medical complications;

being employed in jobs and careers that are exposed to disaster or war;

Getting a diagnosis of a life-threatening illness.

Adults or children are likely to develop the posttraumatic stress disorders through experiencing mobbing or bullying. There are approximately 25% of children that suffer from PTSD due to exposure to family violence. The initial researches indicate that the mutations in a stress-related gene may link with the child abuse in order to boost the threats of PTSD in adults (Binder, Bradley, Liu, 2008). Moreover, it has been studied that the intrusive memories, such as nightmares, flashbacks, and the memories prove to be the bigger contributors to the psychological and biological dimensions of PTSD than the event itself. The emotional numbing or avoidance symptoms include:

Attempting ...