Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that
can develop in an individual who was exposed to a traumatic event in which the following occurred:
* the person experienced or witnessed an event that involved actual or threatened death
or serious injury to oneself or to another
* the person experienced intense fear or helplessness in response to the event
The traumatic event is frequently reexperienced in one or more of the following
ways:
* recurrent and distressing thoughts, perceptions or images of the event
* recurring dreams of the event
* acting or feeling as if the traumatic event was recurring or a sense of reliving
the experience
* intense fear upon experiencing internal or external reminders of the event
* physical reactions upon experiencing internal or external reminders of the event
Persistent avoidance of things associated with the traumatic event, along with numbing
of responses such as:
* efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings or conversation about the event
* efforts to avoid people, places or events associated with the event
* difficulty being able to recall aspects of the event
* decreased interest or participation in significant activities
* feelings of detachment or estrangement from others
* restricted range of emotions, such as a difficulty experiencing loving feelings
* a sense of having a foreshortened future, such as having a short life
span, not having a career, marriage or children
Persistent symptoms of increased arousal, such as:
* difficulty falling or staying asleep
* irritability or short temper
* concentration difficulty
* hypervigilence
* exaggerated startle response
Adapted from: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV,
American Psychiatric Association, 1994.
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