Being able to experience fear is what keeps animals, including humans, alive. Fear is a natural reaction to a potentially dangerous event that can harm or kill a person and it can help one quickly focus on the source of danger and either prepare to fight or run away from it. However, some exceptionally traumatic situations that caused major fear can lead to its persistence many months and even years after the experience. Such situations can cause a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which, according to Psych Central, is a “debilitating mental disorder that follows experiencing or witnessing an extremely traumatic, tragic, or terrifying event” (Grohol, 2013). PTSD, as any other mental disorder, can cause functional problems, including decline of health and problems with working and socializing, and in some instances people can lose consciousness during flashbacks, but the disorder is usually treatable by medicine and psychotherapy. At the same time, the majority of people, who have gone through a trauma, do not have PTSD, as there are risk and resilience factors that affect the process of going through the experience. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the risk factors include going through dangerous traumatic event, having a history of mental disorders, being hurt or seeing people being hurt, feeling helpless and immensely scared, lacking support from people, especially close ones and having additional stress factors connected with the event, including the loss of a loved one, of home or job, etc. (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)”, n.d.). At the same time, factors that can reduce the effects of trauma or help a person go through it without acquiring the disorder are finding support from close ones or those, who have a similar experience, feeling good about one’s own behavior during the event, knowing how to go through the experience and cope with own feelings, and being able to react to the event while feeling fearful (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)”, n.d.).
When people talk about PTSD, it is usually associated with psychological consequences of war, as it is veterans of war who drew initial attention to the disorder. Nonetheless, the disorder can occur in any person regardless of age and sex, if the person has been exposed to a traumatic event, or witnessed a traumatic event, or learned that his or her close person was exposed to the event, or a person has been repeatedly and indirectly exposed to the details of a traumatic event (e.g., doctors, who deal with child abuse or professionals working on sites of plane crashes) (“DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD”, n.d.). At the same time, it does not include exposure to trauma through learning about the events from different media.
According to the latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), there are certain symptoms that have to be met for a person to be diagnosed with PTSD and they are collected in four groups. The first subgroup identifies how the traumatic event is repeatedly experienced by a person: through repeated, intrusive and uncontrollable memories, through nightmares, flashbacks, which can occur briefly or for a prolonged time up to several days and can be accompanied by the loss of consciousness, through an intense distress that does not disappear for a long time and through intense reaction to the trauma-related stimuli (“DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD”, n.d.). The second group deals with the avoidance of event reminders by the patient, as he or she might persistently make efforts to avoid thoughts or feelings and/or external reminders, such as people, places, objects, etc. (“DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD”, n.d.). A person experiencing PTSD has to have a new or an old worsened alteration in mood or cognition after the event, including partial and temporary memory loss of the event’s details, negative attitude toward oneself or others, blame, negative emotions associated with the event, numbness and loss of interest, inability to feel positive emotions and alienation from other people (“DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD”, n.d.). The last group of symptoms deals with reactions to the stimuli associated with the traumatic event, including aggression, problems with sleeping, focusing, being overly startled, self-destruction activities and unrealistic perception of the world as a very dangerous place (“DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD”, n.d.). At least one symptom from the first group, one symptom from the second group, two from the third group and two from the fourth have to be simultaneously present in a patient for over a month, cause distress and problems with functioning, should not be connected with taking medication, having illness or substance abuse; in many cases people, who have PTSD, can also remember the event as the outside observers or as if they are dreaming, and often the event seems unreal to them (“DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD”, n.d.).
PTSD can be treated with medications or psychotherapy, or both. Among numerous psychotherapeutic types the cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is considered to be the most helpful in PTSD. During this therapy a person might face the memories of the event or the objects, people and places connected with it. Thus, a person can go through the trauma one again with the help of a therapist, who will control the process and help realize the experience more fully, while helping the patient cope with strong emotions that he or she might otherwise not be able to deal with. Also, a therapist will help a person change the way he or she looks on the event and feels about it, as well as teach a patient how to cope with the symptoms of PTSD. Among the most frequently prescribed drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating the disorder are antidepressants sertraline (Zoloft) and paroxetine (Paxil) that help reduce depression symptoms like anxiety, sadness, numbness, and are usually used during the psychotherapy (“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)”, n.d.). However, antidepressants can often have side-effects including headaches, nausea, sleeplessness and even suicidal thoughts and attempts, which is why people, who have been prescribed with these medications and their relatives need to report any change in mood or normal behavior, so that the doctor can alter the medications or their dose.
References
DSM-5 Criteria for PTSD. (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2014, from http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/PTSD-overview/dsm5_criteria_ptsd.asp
Grohol, J. (Ed.). (2013, November 19). Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Retrieved December 13, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/disorders/ptsd/
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (n.d.). Retrieved December 13, 2014, from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml
