Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

2086 Words9 Pages
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a severe form of anxiety disorder triggered by a traumatic experience. It is often difficult for someone with this disorder to adjust and cope with life outside of the traumatic event that they have lived through. These events often cause the one experiencing them to feel a sense of fear or helplessness in a dire situation. Also, in some serious cases, these symptoms of fear or helplessness may last for months, or even years. Of course, everyone reacts to stress and trauma differently. This results mainly from the person’s ability to handle and cope with stress and trauma. Also, the type of help the victim’s families and friends provide to aid the situation may lessen the recovery time of the person…show more content…
These flashbacks may be relived for minutes, or even days at a time. These experiences may also come in the form of an upsetting dream about the stressful event. These relived moments may prolong the symptoms of PTSD because the victim must live through the traumatic events over and over again. Just because a person has some of these symptoms does not necessarily mean that they have post-traumatic stress disorder. In fact, it is normal to feel sadness, fear, anxiety, a lack of focus, having recurring nightmares of the event, and changes in eating or sleeping patterns after a traumatic event. It is only if these feelings persist for over a month, if they’re overly intense or if the feelings are preventing normal routines and schedules that someone should be diagnosed with PTSD. Once called “battle fatigue syndrome” or “shell shock,” PTSD is a very intense condition that may branch from experiencing or witnessing physical harm or life threatening events, which may include the unexpected death of a loved one, natural disasters, sexual or physical assault, or war.Emergency and rescue workers can experience PTSD too due to the immense pressure their jobs demand. Victims’ families may also experience PTSD. This probably occurs because of the sudden shock of a changed mental state of their loved…show more content…
For example, a child will regress in their development, become accident-prone, become clingy, engage in risky behaviors, and complain more about physical ailments than adults with PTSD do. Often times, traumatized children are wrongly diagnosed as having “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” (ADHD) because of their trouble sitting still, focusing, or managing their impulses. More times than not, adults with PTSD are also either mistakenly misdiagnosed, or are also diagnosed with other disorders. These include bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and other anxiety disorders like panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). If symptoms of PTSD are found in these tests, the doctor will begin another evaluation by doing a complete medical history and physical exam. If there is no physical illness found during these tests, the patient is referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist. They will evaluate the patient further for any anxiety disorders. The doctor will then determine if the patient has the symptoms of PTSD, then decides the severity of the symptoms. If the victim is found to have post-traumatic stress disorder, then there are many different types of treatment that can help reduce their recovery time. These treatments include both medications and

More about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Open Document