DESCRIPTION
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an illness that can occur after a person experiences a horrifying and dangerous event. After such an event most people will experience the symptoms below for around a month but after that the symptoms of stress should gradually disappear.
CAUSES
After experiencing a traumatic event a person can feel overwhelmed and frightened, however after a period of time most people can get over it without requiring further medical attention. Sometimes, these experiences can provoke a reaction that can last for months or years. Sometimes there is a delay between the event and symptoms of PTSD present in a person, but symptoms are usually present within six months.
Some of the typical events which can result in PTSD are terrorist attacks, military combat, natural disasters, serious road accidents and being diagnosed with a life threatening illness.
SYMPTOMS
PTSD in adults has psychological and physical effects. The person will suffer from realistic flashbacks and nightmares which can be triggered by ordinary and common events. To avoid flashbacks the person may try to absorb themselves in hobbies or work. They may also avoid places and people that they fear may remind them of the experience. During PTSD levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline will be high, which will make a person unable to relax and become tense and irritable.
The symptoms of PTSD in younger children are still present but are less obvious. Children may have uncomfortable dreams of the trauma which ends in the people involved turning into monsters. The child may also try and re-live the incident by acting it out with toys and drawings. After the experience the child may not be interested in what they used to enjoy and may believe they won't live long enough to become an adult. Signs of drug abuse may also be present.
PREVALENCE AND SUSCEPTIBILITY
PTSD can occur in anyone that experiences a traumatic event but one in three people will find that the symptoms after the event go on for too long with no sign of improvement. Some of these cases then go on to develop into PTSD. Environmental factors can increase the chance of PTSD and these could include having a disability or illness before the event and receiving little social support either before or after the experience.
TREATMENT
The main treatment for PTSD is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) which involves the person talking about how they feel about themselves, the world and other people and how what they do affects their thoughts and feelings. Selective Serotin Re-uptake Inhibitor Medications (SSRI's) can be combined with CBT to reduce anxiety. Different treatments affect different people in different ways and the type of treatment used should be developed on an individual basis by the doctor and patient.
HOW TO HELP
After someone close to you experiences a traumatic event watch out for any minor or major change in their behaviour, anger, depression, concentration levels or interest levels. You should let the person tell you about their story and and you shouldn't interrupt. It is also helpful to avoid telling the person you know how they feel, say that they are lucky or to minimize their situation. It is also common for someone that knows a person with a mental illness to think or to say that they need to 'pull themselves together'. This is not the case and is likely to alienate the person involve and make the condition worse.
Click the 'Where to get help' link on the left for more information.
SOURCES
www.rcpsych.ac.uk
www.medicinenet.com/posttraumatic_stress_disorder/article.htm