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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental illness that some individuals develop as a result of having experienced a traumatic or life-threatening event. These radical events include warfare, rape and other forms of sexual assault, violent physical attacks, torture, child abuse, natural disasters and automobile or airplane crashes. Persons who have witnessed a traumatic event can also possibly develop the disorder.

Post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by war veterans is sometimes called shell shock or combat fatigue. In victims of sexual or physical attacks, the disorder has been called rape trauma or battered woman syndrome.

People who suffer from this disorder usually relive the traumatic event again and again in the form of nightmares as well as disturbing memories during the waking hours. They would usually experience vivid flashbacks that is akin to almost reliving the whole traumatic incident. These people develop extreme anxiety and sometimes would avoid anything that reminds them of the traumatic event.

Among the treatments recognized for post-traumatic stress disorder are various cognitive therapies (such as psychotherapy), psychoactive drugs or combinations of the two.

Web Resources On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Book Resources On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Sourcebook by Glenn R. Schiraldi
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, The Latest Assessments and Treatment Strategies by Matthew J. Friedman

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