Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
post-exposure to severe helplessness/fear-inducing threat
re-experiences trauma, avoids stimuli associated w/ it, numbing of responsiveness & increased vigilance & arousal
Flashback
memories occur suddenly & survivors find themselves reliving event
Behaviours/Emotions for a person w/ PTSD
BEHAVIOUR: reckless/self-destructive
EMOTION: chronically overaroused, easily startled, angry
Dissociative Subtype of PTSD
less arousal, dissociative feelings of reality
What year was PTSD first named?
1980
How long until can diagnose PTSD?
Cannot be made until at least 1 month after traumatic event
Longer than 3 months = chronic
Depersonalization
recurrent experiences of feeling detached from body/ mental processes
seeing oneself as outside observer, in a dream
Derealization
recurrent experiences of unreality of surroundings
world around individual = dreamlike, distant
Acute Stress Disorder
severe rxn IMMEDIATELY following terrifying event (ie. emotional numbing, derealization)
later develop PTSD
