What is disorder of post-traumatic stress?
And disorder of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be defined as an anxiety disorder characterized by a set of signs and physical symptoms, psychological and emotional. This situation occurs because the person has been a victim or witness of violence or traumatic situations that represent threat to your life or the life of others. When he remembers the fact, relives the episode as if it were happening at that time and with the same sense of pain and suffering experienced the first time. This memory, known as revival triggers neurophysiological and mental changes.
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Stroke victims may suffer from post-traumatic stress
Risk factors for post-traumatic stress
causes
The causes of post-traumatic stress disorder may be situations such as violence, traumatic situations representing a threat to life of the person or a third party.
When speaking of threat to life, there are several dimensions of life that can be threatened: physical, psychic dimension (threats such as harassment, humiliation and other psychological violence), the social dimension (micro and macro social) and also the spiritual dimension. In all these dimensions may be situations of extreme violence or threat and somehow produce a post-traumatic stress framework
Risk factors
There are several studies that indicate events occurring in childhood and adolescence as factors that make people more vulnerable to the disorder of post-traumatic stress. In general, fit situations of child bullying, domestic violence situations, situations that go unnoticed at school due to difficulties in adaptation (socialization) or learning (ADHD) and these children are stigmatized and ridiculed.
Other factors to consider are children exposed to natural disasters (floods, earthquakes, etc.), and the children of urban violence due to social inequalities that leave deep scars. The social and structural violence is also undoubtedly a major factor responsible for the increased prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder during development in adolescence. symptoms
Disorder symptoms of post-traumatic stress
Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are divided into main categories:
traumatic reexperience: nightmares and spontaneous, involuntary and recurring memories (flashbacks) of the traumatic event revival
Escape and avoidance: move away from any stimulus that can trigger the cycle of traumatic memories, as situations, contacts or activities that can bind to traumatic memories
emotional detachment: decreased affective interest in activities, people who were previously pleasurable, decreased affectivity
psychic hyperexcitability: exaggerated escape reactions, panic episodes (racing heart, sweating, heat, fear of dying …), sleep disorders, difficulty concentrating, irritability, hypervigilance (alert)
Negative feelings: feelings of helplessness and inability to protect themselves from danger, loss of hope for the future, feeling empty. and diagnostic tests
Seeking medical help
The first warning sign of post-traumatic stress disorder frame is given by the identification of a traumatic event (stressor) that has represented a threat to individual or threat to a loved one and before which he felt powerless to outline any reaction.
However, people react individually, not all who go through traumatic experiences that will develop post-traumatic stress. The number of frames disorder of post-traumatic stress has increased in recent decades.
Get medical attention if you experience symptoms that could be attributed to this disorder anxiety, but remember that some are more vulnerable and predisposed. What can generate a post-traumatic stress in a person can not generate another.
Disorder diagnosis of post-traumatic stress
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V), the criteria for making the diagnosis are based on symptomatology criteria, ie symptoms and signs that we have seen:
Existence of clearly recognizable traumatic event like an attack on the physical integrity of self or others, that has been experienced directly or indirectly by the affected person and causing him fear, anguish or horror
Persistent re-trial event
Affective insensitivity
hypervigilance
As diagnostic criteria, this disturbance must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. treatment and care
exams
As in all frames of stress, there are several biological markers that can be changed and are auxiliary tools in the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress:
Dosage of cortisol (the stress hormone)
Dosage of hormones from the pituitary gland
Dosage of thyroid hormones
Dosage of sex hormones
A polissonigrafia can reveal the post-traumatic stress consequences on sleep
Disorder treatment of post-traumatic stress
The goals of treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder are aimed at:
Decrease symptoms
preventing complications
Improve performance at school or work
Improve social and family relationships
Treat associated disorders (such as depression and alcoholism).
The preferred treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for six months to a year, supplemented on occasion with the use of drugs such as anxiolytics or the latest generation of antidepressants. When treatments are associated, psychotherapy and the appropriate use of psychoactive drugs, has obtained better therapeutic responses.
Drugs for disorder of post-traumatic stress
The most commonly used drugs for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder are:
assert
paroxetine
Rivotril
sertraline
Only a doctor can tell what the most appropriate medicine for your case as well as the correct dosage and duration of treatment. Always follow strictly the guidelines of your physician and NEVER automedique. Do not stop the drug without consulting a doctor before and, take it more than once or in much larger quantities than prescribed, follow the instructions on the label. living (prognosis)
Living / Prognosis
There are several actions that can be taken to avoid the complications of post-traumatic stress disorder, which basically boil down to seek quality of life and thus reduce the impact that trauma had on the person's life. Such habits are:
Practice daily physical exercise – it improves circulation, improves muscular and skeletal condition, endorphin release and thus increased release of serotonin
Sports practice – if possible collectively, that besides the playful aspect adds socialization
Meditation and Religiosity as a counterpoint to the excessive materialism of today's world and in the neuroscientific aspect, stimulating the non-dominant or sensitive brain
Art therapy – development of sensory brain
Relaxation techniques – as opposed to tension and anxiety
Psychotherapy – if any remain or psychological conflicts
healthy diet and balanced
Avoid bad habits (excessive drinking, smoking, drugs)
Making work, beyond the aspect of accountability and productivity, a healthy living space and stimulating
Good affective family environment
possible complications
The stress factors are facilitators for the development of diseases with immediate and long term consequences and can cause chronic problems and interfere with quality of life. clinical changes can occur as heart problems, astroduodenais, diabetes, weakened immune system with frequent infections, high blood pressure, fibromyalgia and other rheumatic diseases and other complications.
Among the psychological complications of post-traumatic stress are:
Disorders of mood
Depression
Anxiety disorders
Alcoholism
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
somatoform disorders
dissociative disorders
Personality disorder
expectations
The chances of the framework of post-traumatic stress disorder stabilize with proper treatment are high. With proper treatment after some time the person will gradually returning to normal life. Sometimes will be a particular difficulty to be overcome, for example, a person who has suffered severe air incident, which will be able to lead a normal life, but always have some difficulty in flying again. prevention
Prevention
It's hard to talk about ways to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder, since it is not possible to prevent certain traumatic situations happen in life. It is impossible to live in a bubble. However it is possible to prevent new situations occur as follows:
First, the case properly
Improve performance at school / work
Improve social and family relationships
Treat associated disorders (such as depression and alcoholism)
early diagnosis
immediate treatment
Strong social support.