MOST PEOPLE will get over traumatic experiences quickly and without professional help but when an individual develops post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) usually the experience that triggered the disorder is so extreme that the individual would have felt intense fear or horror and helplessness. Being threatened with death, witnessing death or the threat of death to a loved one are the kinds of extreme stressors that can trigger this disorder.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) describes the important characteristics of this condition as a persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event in distressing thoughts or dreams; actually behaving or feeling as if the traumatic event were actually happening again; fear of the trauma re-occurring and extreme reactions to cues which the affected individual associates with the event.
The individual experiencing post traumatic stress will also have difficulty concentrating, see a disruption in sleep pattern, be irritable, find it difficult to concentrate and have an exaggerated startle response to events.
Antidepressants and anti anxiety drugs may have some therapeutic effects in PTSD but psychotherapy appears to be very helpful in guiding the victim to view the stressor more objectively and also to express the emotions surrounding the event.
