Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that's triggered by your memories of a traumatic event — an event that directly affected you or an event that you witnessed.

The disorder commonly affects survivors of traumatic events, such as sexual assault, physical assault, war, torture, a natural disaster, an automobile accident, an airplane crash, a hostage situation or a death camp. Post-traumatic stress disorder also can affect rescue workers at the site of an airplane crash or a mass shooting. It can affect someone who witnessed a tragic accident.

Not everyone involved in a traumatic event experiences post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the disorder affects more than 5 million adults each year in the United States. Post-traumatic stress disorder is twice as common in women as it is in men.

Treatment may involve a combined approach including medications and behavior therapy designed to help you gain control of your anxiety.

What is PTSD?

It is common for people to feel that no matter what they’ve faced or lived with, no matter how extreme, they should be able to carry on. But sometimes people face situations that are so traumatic that they may become unable to cope and function in their daily lives. Some people become so distressed by memories of the trauma – memories that won’t go away – that they begin to live their lives trying to avoid any reminders of what happened to them.

A person who feels this way months after a traumatic experience has passed may be suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, a serious and common health condition. For these people, getting beyond the trauma and overcoming PTSD requires the help of a professional.

PTSD may develop following exposure to extreme trauma.
Extreme trauma is a terrifying event or ordeal that a person has experienced, witnessed or learned about, especially one that is life-threatening or causes physical harm. It can be a single event or repeated experience.
The experience causes that person to feel intense fear, horror or a sense of helplessness.
The stress caused by trauma can affect all aspects of a person’s life, including mental, emotional and physical well-being.
Research suggests that prolonged trauma may disrupt and alter brain chemistry. For some people, this may lead to the development of PTSD.
Statistics

An estimated 70 percent of adults in the United States have experienced a traumatic event at least once in their lives, and up to 20 percent of these people go on to develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.
An estimated 5 percent of Americans – more than 13 million people – have PTSD at any given time.
Approximately 8 percent of all adults – one of 13 people in this country – will develop PTSD during their lifetime.
An estimated one out of 10 women will get PTSD at some time in their lives. Women are about twice as likely as men to develop PTSD. This may be due to the fact that women tend to experience interpersonal violence (such as domestic violence, rape or abuse) more often than men.
Almost 17 percent of men and 13 percent of women have experienced more than three traumatic events in their lives.
The estimated risk for developing PTSD for people who have experienced the following traumatic events is:

- Rape (49 percent)
- Severe beating or physical assault (31.9 percent)
- Other sexual assault (23.7 percent)
- Serious accident or injury; for example, car or train accident (16.8 percent)
- Shooting or stabbing (15.4 percent)
- Sudden, unexpected death of family member or friend (14.3 percent)
- Child’s life-threatening illness (10.4 percent)
- Witness to killing or serious injury (7.3 percent)
- Natural disaster (3.8 percent)

Who's at risk for developing PTSD?
Those at risk include:

Anyone who has been victimized or has witnessed a violent act or who has been repeatedly exposed to a life-threatening situation.

Survivors of:
- Domestic or intimate partner violence
- Rape or sexual assault or abuse
- Physical assault such as mugging or carjacking
- Other random acts of violence such as those that take place in public, in schools or in the workplace

Survivors of unexpected events in everyday life:
- Car accidents or fires
- Natural disasters, such as tornadoes or earthquakes
- Major catastrophic events such as a plane crash or terrorist act
- Disasters caused by human error such as industrial accidents

Children who are neglected or sexually, physically or verbally abused or adults who were abused as children

Combat veterans or civilian victims of war

Those diagnosed with a life-threatening illness or who have undergone invasive medical procedures

Professionals who respond to victims in trauma situations such as emergency medical service workers, police, firefighters, military, and search and rescue workers

People who learn of the sudden, unexpected death of a close friend or relative

What are the symptoms of PTSD?
People respond in different ways to extreme trauma. Many people who experience extreme trauma do not develop PTSD. However, for those who do, PTSD symptoms usually appear within several weeks of the trauma, but some people don’t experience symptoms until months or even years later.

Three categories – or "clusters" – of symptoms are associated with PTSD.

Clusters

Re-living the event through recurring nightmares or other intrusive images that occur at any time. People who suffer from PTSD also have extreme emotional or physical reactions such as chills, heart palpitations or panic when faced with reminders of the event.

Avoiding reminders of the event, including places, people, thoughts or other activities associated with the trauma. PTSD sufferers may feel emotionally detached, withdraw from friends and family, and lose interest in everyday activities.

Being on guard or being hyper-aroused at all times, including feeling irritability or sudden anger, having difficulty sleeping or concentrating, or being overly alert or easily startled.
People with PTSD may have low self-esteem or relationship problems or may seem disconnected from their lives. Other problems that may mask or intensify symptoms include:

Psychiatric problems such as depression, dissociation (losing conscious awareness of the “here and now”) or another anxiety disorder like panic disorder.

Self-destructive behavior including:
- Alcohol or drug abuse
- Suicidal impulses
- High-risk sexual behaviors that may result in unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases (STD), including HIV
- Other high-risk behavior that may be life-endangering, such as fast or reckless driving

Physical complaints, any or all of which may be accompanied by depression, including:

- Chronic pain with no medical basis (frequently gynecological problems in women)
- Stress-related conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia
- Stomach pain or other digestive problems such as irritable bowel syndrome or alternating bouts of diarrhea and constipation
- Eating disorders
- Breathing problems or asthma
- Headaches
- Muscle cramps or aches such as low back pain
- Cardiovascular problems
- Sleep disorders