Post – traumatic stress disorder

Explanations Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD is an anxiety disorder that occurs after being exposed to a terrifying event or situation in which the victim's life was in danger or threatened, or physical harm occured or was threatened. Triggers include: violent personal assaults, rape, military service or combat, human-caused or natural disasters

Symptoms Persistent frightening thoughts or memories of the event feeling emotionally numb towards people once close to sleep problems easily startled angry outbursts feeling detached.

Diagnoses The doctor will obtain relevant history of exposure to traumatic stress and symptoms of PTSD Evaluate the patient for other psychiatric disorders that often follow traumatic events Consider ordering tests dictated by the clinical situation and also what other psychiatric problems a patient could have They will focus a physical examination on possible medical sequelae of the traumatic even on illnesses that could appear to be PTSD. PTSD is diagnosed when a person's symptoms last longer than a month. Sometime symptoms do not show up until months after the actual event.

Those affected Anyone at any age

Causes Traumatic or terrfying experiences such as: Natural disasters war or military combat personal assault Rape Death or serious illness of a loved one Car accidents Plane crashes Being a victim of or seeing violence

Treatment Talk therapy medicines such as Zoloft, Luvox, Trazodone, and antidepressants, or both.

Getting Help Talk to a doctor, close friend, relative, or trusted adult about your concerns. Emphasis needs to be placed upon establishing a feeling of safety Family services of Chemung county inc. 733-5696

Related/interesting Information Not all trauma victims experience PTSD immediately after exposure to trauma It affects nearly eight million American adults Many movies, such as Birdy, Coming Home, The Deer Hunter, portray Vietnam war veterans suffering from PTSD

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfrbnu_Qfp0