PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a stress response to a generally catastrophic experience, which is life threatening or otherwise traumatic.

  • Exposure to actual or threatened trauma
  • Intrusive memories, nightmares, flashbacks with intense psychological/physiological reactions
  • Amnesia for event, detachment, avoidance of reminders
  • Negative mood
  • Arousal with sleep disturbance, irritability, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle, impaired concentration

Post-traumatic stress disorder must last for > 1 month to be diagnosed. Until then, symptoms of PTSD can be diagnosed as acute stress disorder.