Part 2: Chapter 5

Question 1

Is “Trauma and Stressor Related Disorders” a new edition to the DSM5? If so, why?

Answer 1

1. Yes.
2. Includes disorders with one unifying feature:
   a. An instigating stressful event followed by intense emotional response

Question 2

What are the three major symptoms of PTSD?

Answer 2

a. Intrusions
b. Avoidance
c. Hyper-arousal

Question 3

Define a setting event

Answer 3

a. Exposure to a traumatic event during which an individual experiences one of the following things (actual or threatened, observed or experienced)

Question 4

Define the dissociative subtype of PTSD

Answer 4

a. Experience dissociation, react differently to treatment compared to most PTSD people

Question 5

What some characteristics of PTSD?

Answer 5

a. Paranoia
b. Over-arousal
c. Easily startled
d. Quick to anger
e. Feeling of
numbness

Question 6

How does PTSD affect memories in children

Answer 6

a. Traumatic memories of children get embellished over time

Question 7

How long after a traumatic event must you wait before makeing a PTSD diagnosis

Answer 7

one month

Question 8

What people can benefit the most from PTSD treatment?

Answer 8

People who get treatment as soon after the trauma as possible

Question 9

What are the six aspects of the DSM5 for PTSD

Answer 9

1. Criterion A
   a. The person was exposed to death, serious injury, violence
2. Criterion B
   a. The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced
3. Criterion C
   a. Avoidance of trauma-related stimuli after the trauma
4. Criterion D
   a. Negative thoughts or feelings that began or worsened after the trauma
5. Criterion E
   a. Trauma-related arousal and reactivity that began or worsened after the trauma
6. Criterion F
   a. Lasts more than a month

Question 10

How are PTSD and suicide related?

Answer 10

Diagnosis of PTSD predicts suicide independently of any other problem

Question 11

In a traumatic event, what aspect seems to be most indicative of developing it?

Answer 11

Close exposure to traumatic event

Question 12

What demographics are at highest risk of PTSD

Answer 12

a. Low social support
b. Being a woman
c. Poverty
d. Difficult childhood experiences and abuse

Question 13

What traumatic event has the highest liklihood of PTSD? The second highest?

Answer 13

rape

Physical assault

Question 14

What are neurobiological systems implicated in PTSD?

Answer 14

a. HPA axis
i. Extreme levels (low or high) of corticotropin releasing factor
ii. Damage to hippocampus

Question 15

How does social support impact trauma?

Answer 15

3. The stronger your social support group, the less likely you are to develop trauma

Question 16

What do cognitive models of PTSD have to say?

Answer 16

a. Cognitive schemas learned in childhood make you paranoid

b. Traumatic event then shatters thinly held belief that the world is safe

Question 17

What do psychodynamic models of PTSD have to say?

Answer 17

a. Defence mechanism of denial is used

b. However, flashbacks cut through defences

Question 18

What do attachment theories of PTSD have to say?

Answer 18

a. Attachment insecurity is present due to maladaptive relationships when young
b. Leads to vulnerability for PTSD

Question 19

Define direct trauma

Answer 19

a. Something you actually experienced, eg. Getting raped or military combat

Question 20

Define indirect trauma

Answer 20

a. Observing traumatic things or learning about them in detail