Can anyone tell me about any post-traumatic stress and/or post-traumatic disorder theories?

Question

(I'm thinking of doing this as a project for college, so any help would be most gratefully received!)

Thank you for your replies so far, BUT what I don't want is descriptions of what post-traumatic stress disorder is. I already know this. I'm interested in psychological THEORIES behind post-traumatic stress, for example, I've just read one about the cognitive theory of post-traumatic stress.

Answer 1

"Hello J M, don't mind being semi-transparent for a short while.
I was a combat infantryman in an airborne unit in a foreign war. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is one of my problems. Never a day passes without the memory of it. Firefights, sniping, mortared, boobytrapped and dead bodies everywhere. I recall the terror, spontaneously, when in certain situations, sounds, smells, reckless driving by others and hypervigilance of violence occur. Many professionals have attempted to "cure" me, but, there is no cure. I take meds to stabilize my sleeping and mood. I've found that the truth is, I'll take this to my grave."

Answer 2

PTSD has been around as long as mankind has waged war. In World War I it was called "shell shock." In WWII it was called "combat fatigue." Now we call it post traumatic stress disorder. The most common symptoms are recurring dreams which depict the event that caused the stress; flashbacks during waking hours, usually caused by something that reminded the afflicted person of the event, like for example a helicopter flying overhead might remind a Vietnam vet of a Huey med-evac chopper in the jungle. Another sympton is "hyper-vigilance." This is maybe the most common aspect of the disorder, so much so, that, if you don't have it you probably don't have PTSD. Hyper-vigilance is being overly aware and over-sensitive, in fact almost paranoid of your surroundings. For example, you might hear a cat crawling thru the grass 100 feet away!
I'm usuing combat-related PTSD symptoms here, since that is the kind of ptsd most people think about, but indeed any stressful event can cause ptsd. For example, people who survived a automobile crash, or something like 9/11 can be afflicted with this.
Hope this helps; I did my college psych thesis on this subject too!

Answer 3

I have suffered this many years ago after a serious car accident in which a fellow passenger died. I was so convinced that I would be killed, that I passed out from the shock. That was a self protection mechanism that the body has, to try and shield you from an impending experience, the shock from which, would probably have killed you anyway.

The real problem comes, assuming you survive of course, when, often whilst you are asleep, the memory which has been embedded in your subconcious, possibly for a long time and it was four years in my case, is suddenly released to your concious mind. You experience overwhelming fear, but can't understand why. The fear is as extreme as it is possible to be, as bad as the original incident. It can recur many times and can put you into mental agony, because there is no escaope from it. You are inconsolable, need to get out of the bedroom, out of the house, in fact, what you are really trying to do, is escape from yourself.

I think that a period of stress can be the trigger to awaken the awful memory, you have no control or escape from it. Many soldiers from the two world wars suffered from PTD. All I can say is, that it is the worst possible mental condition to be in, nothing can compare with it. You just have to hope that the attacks reduce over time.

Answer 4

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a term for the psychological consequences of exposure to, or confrontation with, stressful experiences which involve actual or threatened death, serious physical injury, or a threat to physical and/or psychological integrity, and which the person experienced as highly traumatic.

Symptoms of Post-traumatic stress disorder can include re-experiencing phenomena, such as nightmares and flashbacks, emotional detachment or numbing of feelings (emotional self-mortification) combined with regular hyperarousal and possibly sleep abnormalities (insomnia), avoidance of reminders and extreme distress when exposed to the reminders (”triggers”), with irritability and excessive startle.

Answer 5

They're not theories. They're established as conditions that are linked to a person's having been exposed to extreme distress, trauma and/or loss that caused a person to feel as if his existence has been threatened and/or to experience shocking horror.

It is not confined to just people who have gone through war. It can be found in people who have gone through disasters such as hurricanes or any number of other situations.

To the best of my understanding, the responses to horror or severe threat by the amigdala and hippocampus play a role in PTSD; but I have reason to suspect that there are also psychological factors that are not necessarily related to any brain responses.

Do a search on something like "PTSD flashbacks and the hippocampus" and something like "psychological aspects of PTSD", and you should get a pretty good basic picture of where to go from there. You may also want to search something like, "PTSD in non-combat situations".

Answer 6

Here is my story~~Feb 99 went in to have a baby and later have my tubes tied. Well i had previously had two other babies to. I had all three natural. Well i go to have my tubes tied and after the surgery I'm calling for more pain medicine and they told me i just took some and couldn't get anymore. Then i open my eyes to nurses and doctors standing over me rushing me into the operating room. I was semi conscious on my way to the operating room, but after getting in there the doctor told me to climb up on the operating table, told him i couldn't it hurt to much and he said yes you can. Well a week later i wake up in the ICU. I have a crooked scar from the top of my belly button to the top of my kitty cat. I had lost over half my blood because the doctor cut a vein in my stomach performing this tubal on me. Well i still have my life but honestly I haven't been right since. I was happy person before this and now I'm angry and i cry all the time. Its been almost eight years of torment for me cause im constantly thinking about it. I'm crying now. I was so afraid of losing my life because of my children and in a way i have.

Answer 7

You could try this web site for answers they have a forum on post-traumatic stress. Which is very informative.

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/lounge/

Good luck with your project.

Answer 8

PTSD devolops to many people who have suffered extreme trauma of some kind. It is very common to rape victims and war veterans (many Vietnam vets have this). People who have it will suffer from flashbacks of their trauma and nightmares also.

Answer 9

Contact me direct if possible, I am a therapist who deals with this. you can also try contacting the british red cross, I am sure they will have lots of information on this. thought field therapy is great for treating it very quickly. Try www.anderson-therapy.com

Answer 10

http://familydoctor.org/624.xml