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Abnormal Psychology – PTSD 2/23 Post-Traumatic Stress disorder: Diagnosis  Being exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.  You could develop PTSD after directly experiencing the event, witnessing an event happen right in front of you, learning about a violent or accidental event that happened to a person that you have a close relationship with, or experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to details of an event (For example: a police officer that hears about violent, brutal crimes daily).  There are 4 categories of PTSD symptoms, most of which are recurrent. ▬ Intrusion symptoms – unwanted experiences and thoughts people have that are related to the event. Flashbacks and nightmares are both examples of intrusion symptoms. ▬ Avoidance symptoms – when you try to avoid any reminders of the event. For example, you might avoid certain places, people, thoughts, memories, events, etc. because they remind you of the traumatic event. ▬ Negative cognitions and mood – when you feel detached and not as close to people anymore. Inability to form close relationships. ▬ Arousal/reactivity symptoms – hypervigilance. When someone becomes extremely aware and alert when a minor thing triggers them and reminds them of their trauma.  You cannot use the same symptom for PTSD and another disorder. This means that you cannot use one symptom to go towards 2 different disorders.  You must have symptoms for at least one month to receive a diagnosis. PTSD: Epidemiology  Prevalence – 6.8% of the population will have PTSD at some point  Sex difference – Men are more likely to be exposed to a traumatic event, but women are more likely to be diagnosed. The ratio is 3 women to every 1 man.  Age of onset – Any age. This depends on what age the traumatic event occurs. Usually get diagnosed around 3 months after the traumatic event. PTSD: Risk factors  Family history of a psychiatric disorder can put someone at a greater risk. (Living with family members with psychiatric disorders can make one’s life more chaotic than it would normally be.)  High extraversion and neuroticism  Having conduct problems in childhood  Occupation  Having less than a college education PTSD: Biological  Dependent vs independent stressful life events  Genetics and personality can influence how many risky behaviors someone partakes in Abnormal Psychology – PTSD 2/23  Serotonin gene, trauma exposure, and low social support mixed together makes you more at risk for PTSD. Having social support puts you less at risk.  The structure of someone’s hippocampus can somewhat lead to PTSD. You are more at risk to develop PTSD after a traumatic event if you have a small hippocampus. PTSD: Psychological  A disorder of “non-recovery”. This means that symptoms are continius after a 1 month period.  Given exposure to trauma, the risk for PTSD depends on: ▬ The nature of the stressor ▬ Your neuroticism ▬ Preexisting problems with depression and anxiety ▬ Appraisals people make of their own stress symptoms. (How you interoperate the event) ▬ Having low levels of social support PTSD: Sociocultural  Race/ethnicity – white individuals are more likely to be exposed to trauma. Black individuals are more likely to have PTSD.  Factors related to your adjustment to combat: ▬ Justification for the combat (Does the person believe the action was justified) ▬ Identification with the combat unit ▬ Quality of leadership ▬ Returning to negative and unsupportive social environment could raise the risk for PTSD PTSD: Prevention and treatment  Advanced preparation – training people for what they might expect and how to deal with the stress  Crisis intervention – sending a team of crisis workers to debrief people. (This usually happens right after a mass trauma/natural disaster)  Medications – Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors aren’t the best way to treat PTSD, but they could potentially be helpful.  Cognitive-Behavior Therapy ▬ Prolonged exposure therapy – Trying to break the cycle of negative thoughts and avoidance. This therapy makes the individual expose themselves to the feelings in a safe, controlled environment. Amount of exposure needed to help varies. This treatment is very difficult to go through, but it has been proven to be very effective. ▬ Cognitive restructuring – trying to get rid of people’s self-blame about a situation. This helps people to change thoughts and think about them in a more realistic, valid, and positive way.