PTSD Overview Quiz

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Overview

• PTSD is characterized by changes in cognition and mood, including inability to remember aspects of the traumatic event, persistent distorted cognitions, negative emotional state, and detachment from others.
• Changes in arousal and reactivity in PTSD can manifest as irritability, reckless behavior, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, concentration problems, and sleep disturbances.
• PTSD affects 7-9% of the general population, with higher prevalence (60-80%) among trauma victims and specific groups such as combat veterans and sexual assault victims.
• Comorbidities with PTSD include depression, other anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, somatization, and dissociative disorders.
• Acute Stress Disorder, similar to PTSD, occurs with a presence of >9 of 5 categories of symptoms and lasts from 3 days to 1 month after trauma, causing significant impairment.
• Critics argue that PTSD definition overlooks the individual's variability in response to trauma, focusing solely on the event itself.
• Risk factors for developing PTSD include genetic predisposition, neurological vulnerabilities, developmental factors, psychological vulnerabilities, peritraumatic dissociation, cognitive appraisal, and biological reactions.
• Genetic predisposition to PTSD is supported by a twin study of Vietnam veterans showing a heritability of .40 and neurological vulnerabilities such as low cortisol levels and altered brain activity.
• Developmental risk factors for PTSD include stress sensitization, attachment styles, childhood adversity, and history of psychiatric illness.
• Psychological vulnerabilities, such as lack of social support and external locus of control, as well as cognitive vulnerabilities, like negative attributional style and cognitive schemas, contribute to PTSD risk.
• During trauma, risk factors include peritraumatic dissociation, altered cognitive appraisal, and biological reactions leading to HPA axis deregulation and shattered assumptions about the world's safety.
• Post-trauma risk factors for PTSD include lack of social support, maladaptive coping strategies, and the presence of anger, shame, rumination, and negative appraisals of the event.