Post-traumatic stress disorder was first introduced into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 1980. Although the PTSD criteria was revised twice previously, research in the field of traumatic stress brought to light a number of concerns regarding the conceptualization of trauma and PTSD. These concerns motivated a revision process for the recently published DSM-5 that culminated in a number of significant changes to the PTSD criteria. The most notable of these changes included moving PTSD out of the anxiety disorders and into a new diagnostic category named “Trauma and Stressor-related Disorders.” As in adults, PTSD in children and adolescents requires the presence of re-experiencing, avoidance and numbing, and arousal…
Any traumatic event in one’s life can trigger a stress disorder. The more common events are victimization, combat, disasters, and abuse.…
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is a severe anxiety disorder developed after exposure to an event that resulted in psychological trauma. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder has been around for thousands of years recognized as battle fatigue, accident neurosis, and shell shock. Although it wasn’t until 1980 that the American Psychiatric Association added Post-traumatic Stress Disorder to the third edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) classification scheme (Friedman, MD, PhD). Post-traumatic Stress Disorder can expose itself in many different ways, through anger and incidents of rage and violence, as depression, nightmares, feelings of guilt, and often goes along with substance…
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is classified as an emotional illness resulting from life-threatening or severely unsafe traumatic event. It involves personal experience witnessing deadly event, assaults, natural disasters, sexual abuse, extreme violence, terrorist attacks or military combat. PTSD victims tend to avoid places, events, people or circumstances that remind them of traumatic events responsible for the disorder, and they are extremely sensitive to normal life events (Edwards, 2010). These individuals are extremely introvert and do not involve themselves in social gatherings while consistently suppressing their thoughts. People with PTSD relive the traumatic event in the form of night mares, flash back and disturbing mental images about the trauma leading to intense fear, twinge and anxiety. Responses to PTSD however, differs with individuals, the symptoms might become vigilant right after trauma while others may experience delayed response. Extreme stress in PTSD sufferers leads to overproduction of certain chemicals that blocks sensation resulting in emotional numbness and detachment, further leading to tribulations in concentration. Also, people with PTSD have hyper arousal levels and are always found in hyper-alert state. They easily get startled, irritated or tensed due to high levels of stress hormones in the body (Harrison, 2011).…
ACUTE STRESS DISORDER- A disorder in which fear and related symptoms are experienced soon after a traumatic event and last less than a month…
According to the DSM-5 trauma is defined as “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violation” (APA, 2013). The exposure must be as a result of either: direct experience the traumatic event, observed the traumatic event personally, learnt of a traumatic event that happened to a close family member or close friend, or experiences first-hand repeated or extreme exposure of traumatic event (not through pictures, media, television, or movies) (APA, 2013). More so, in treating trauma and any disorder as a result of traumatic events there are so many interventions that have been proposed in treatment. Nonetheless, Cloitre, Cohen, and Koenen (2006) in their book titled Treating survivors of childhood abuse: Psychotherapy…
The purpose of this paper is to define and explain the acute stress response and acute stress disorder. Clarify the differences between the two conditions and offer review of treatments and symptoms associated with both. Therapies and interventions are reviewed and explored for effectiveness in resolving symptoms and preventing post-traumatic stress disorder. The acute stress response (ASR) refers to psychological and physiological responses to stressful events. These responses are displayed by emotional, cognitive, and behavioral changes. Somatic symptoms and symptoms of mental illness can also be seen in ASR especially when the reaction is severe. ASR manifests itself after the occurrence of a traumatic event and its symptoms can be unstable and complicated. The severity of ASR symptoms can lessen as time passes, but not for everyone. How a person recovers from the initial stress response depends on many factors. The emotional and physical health of the individual, past traumatic experiences, level of perceived threat, and the severity of the event. Age plays a role as well, with children responding and presenting differently from adults due to developmental processes. Adults are better able to verbalize their experiences and feeling where as children are unable to do so putting them at higher risk for a long term stress disorder. It is crucial to provide early intervention to help people cope with the emotional, physical, cognitive, and psychological effects of the acute stress response.…
When discussing these symptoms, it is useful to turn to one type of trauma, PTSD, as it provides clarity about the effects of trauma. Some indications of PTSD and typical internal trauma include short term memory loss and various psychological repercussions, specifically extreme irritability, irrepressible anger, and hypervigilance. Besides these short term affects, there are also a variety of long term affects associated with trauma. These individuals frequently struggle with trusting others, cognitive processing, and their bodies become hypersensitive to potential threats. After time, these symptoms lessen in severity, however - according to the majority of medical practitioners – they will rarely disappear. Moreover, according to a 2010 study conducted by the National Society of PTSD, ten percent of women and five percent of men in the United States will undergo psychological symptoms of PTSD for…
Psychological trauma can have an everlasting effect on a person’s life. According to Armsworth and Holaday (1993), Psychological trauma occurs when an individual is exposed to an overwhelming event that renders him or her helpless in the face of intolerable danger, anxiety, and instinctual arousal (p. 49). Anyone no matter what age, can experience a traumatic event. However, children are the ones mostly affected by a traumatic event. Trauma regardless if it is sexual abuse, physical abuse, or psychological abuse, affects a person’s life. The abuse will alter the way a person thinks, feels, and their ability to cope with the abuse. The human body responds to trauma in different ways. The traumatic experience or experiences can…
The four stages in meeting psychological needs of disaster victims are intervention, help in ending stress reactions, help gain perspective on traumatic, and assistance in helping someone return to their normal life.…
In my own definition a trauma can be described as an event that upsets the individual’s normal causing psychological, physical, and emotional harm. A trauma has different meanings to each individual however, anyone can experience a trauma. Bessel A. van der Kolk an expert in the field of traumatic stress states that, “experiencing trauma is an essential part of being human; history is written in blood” (Van der Kolk, McFlarlane, &Weisaeth, 2007). Some examples of a trauma include rape, physical abuse, violence, war, and injury. A trauma does not always require the victim to be to be the one experiencing the initial threat in fact; the victim may simply be a witness or a person offering help during the traumatic event. A DSM-IV criterion…
Complex trauma, or Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD), is a form of repetitive, interpersonal trauma that often occurs during childhood, such as sexual abuse or domestic violence (Courtois, 2008). In 2015, 9.2 out of every 1000 children were reported as victims of neglect (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2017). As these children develop into adulthood, evidence of complex trauma may appear in the form of cognitive and behavioral impairments, as well as various mood and personality disorders (Olson-Morrison, 2017). Treatment is often focused on the disorders rather than the actual trauma itself. Courtois (2008) outlines seven areas of impairment which serve as diagnostic criteria for complex trauma. She argues that cultivating…
In the weeks after a traumatic event, you may develop an anxiety disorder called Acute Stress Disorder. ASD typically occurs within one month of a traumatic event. It lasts at least three days and can persist for up to one month. People with Acute Stress Disorder and Post Traumatic Disorder (PTSD) have similar symptoms; however the different between both disorders is that PSTD last longer, affecting completely that person ability to function in society as well in his personal life.…
Depending on the type of event that had occurred whether the event had been witnessed or experienced, will determine the type of stress that may be experienced. One stress response that the author of “PTSD: National”, a website that provides valuable information about PTSD, mentioned was the severe dissociation. This is where someone feels unconnected to their body, has lost a sense of identity, or has taken on a new identity (PTSD: National). What this means is that people are experiencing actual losses of who they are or becoming someone they were not before. Not only is this a personal illness, but it also affects their families who end up having to adapt to this persons new identity. This is just one minor experience when someone is dealing with PTSD. There are three symptoms involved cause disassociation of identity in PTSD. The three symptoms are the re-experiencing symptom, avoidance and numbing symptom and symptoms of increased arousal (PTSD: National). With re-experiencing symptoms, a person relives the traumatic event through memories or other triggering methods (Post Traumatic). In the “Post Traumatic” article, the author states that, “avoidance and numbing symptoms are both ways for people to try to avoid the traumatic event, and the arousal symptom is always being on alert”. An example of what the author is attempting to get across is that people are always looking for ways to look over what happened and always being fearful of possibly walking into a room full of strangers not knowing what may…
or experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s)”. Children and adolescents can be exposed to a range of traumatic events or trauma such as emotional, physical or sexual abuse, household mental illness or substance abuse, witnessing mothers treated violently, parental separation or divorce, different types of neglect (CDC, 2018). After a traumatic event, the human body creates a stress response, which can elicit a variety of physical symptoms causing differences in behaviour and emotions. These changes can last from several hours to days and can bring a range of other…