Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Traumatic and painful situations are part of human history. There is a very high

probability that these situations will affect most people at least once in their lifetime.

Nowadays, thanks to the globalization of information, we are aware of many painful

realities that some people go through, such as gender violence, terrorist attacks, wars,

which leads to the conclusion that a great percentage of the population suffers from

PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Hapke, Schumann, Rumpf, John & Meyer, 2006;

Bisson & Andrew, 2007; Qi, Gevonden & Shalev, 2016).

PTSD is a psychiatric condition that follows a traumatic incident such as car

accidents, sexual abuse, and natural disasters. Individuals who suffer from this disorder

manifest intense fear, impotence, horror, distress (Yehuda, McFarlane & Shaley; 1998;

Escobar &Uribe, 2014). Theory of psychoanalysis states that PTSD occurs when an

external event cannot be dealt by the person, creating a mental imbalance that is expressed

in a reduction of the defensive and the coping ability. There is an alteration of the

emotional, cognitive and volitional processes, which is difficult to assimilate (Escobar &

Uribe, 2014).

Unlike other mental disorders, PTSD follows a trigger event and has a clear starting

point. Furthermore, the intensity, duration and proximity of the exposition to the traumatic

event are important factors that establish whether the individual will develop this disorder

or not (Qi et al., 2016).

Some authors such as Bisson & Andrew (2007) and Escobar & Uribe (2014)

describe three categories of symptoms: intrusion symptoms, avoidance symptoms and

hyperexcitation symptoms. Moreover, the DSM-5 (2013), classifies PTSD as a disorder

related to trauma and stressors, and enumerates specific symptoms for each of the three

categories, which indicate that the patient must have at least one intrusion symptoms, three

avoidance symptoms and two excitation symptoms. These symptoms must last over a
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month and produce a serious clinical discomfort in the following areas: social,

occupational, family and other functional areas.

The fact that many people exposed to traumatic situations do not develop this

disorder leads the conclusion that there are other factors that promote the manifestation of

PTSD.

Boisson (2007); Javidi & Yadollahie (2012); Escobar &Uribe (2014) estate that

there are risky factors that increase the probability to suffer a PTSD, such as the existence

of a previous mental disorder, a low socioeconomic level, lack of education, previous

trauma, family psychiatric history, a perception of lack of social support, among others.

On one hand, the different proposed treatments of the PTSD indicate the huge

complexity of this disorder. Some authors such as Shalev, Bonne & Eth (1996); Qi et al.

(2016); Boisson (2007) declare that most effective treatments are the cognitive

behavioural therapy, the therapy of extended exposition, deal with stress and the medicine.

On the other hand, Yehuda, Hoge et al. (2015) suggest that treatment should imply a

combination of medicines and psychotherapy.

Conclusion

The traumatic event constitutes the experience of the human history. Nowadays, it

is not alien to the daily life of several people. In search of an answer to that experience we

find that in the last decades there has been a remarkable increase in the investigations

about the prevention, symptoms, diagnosis and possible treatments.

Any experience suffered as a traumatic episode could lead to a psychic disorder,

so an early procedure would be necessary in order to detect the possible symptoms and to

prevent the development of PTSD.

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 Moreover, it is important to highlight that the schedule of the treatment needs to

be multidimensional, involving the different aspects of the person. It would probably be

more effective if the researchers focused more in the development of preventive plans,

therapies focused on strengthening the protection factors and treatments that can solve the

issue in a short period of time.

To conclude, it is relevant to say that there is a need for further investigation about

the different factors that affect the development of PTSD, which could clarify the

relationship between the PTSD and the different components such as the cognitive,

volitional and emotional ones.

References

American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental

disorders. DSM-5. Washington, DC: APA.

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Bisson, J. & Andrew, M. (2007). Psychological treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder

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Bisson, J. (2007). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Occupational Medicine, 65, 399-403. doi

https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/kqm069

Escobar, J. y Uribe, M. (2014). Avances en psiquiatría desde un modelo biopsicosocial.

Colombia: Universidad de los Andes.

Javidi, H. & Yadollahie, M. (2012). Post-traumatic stress disorder. The International

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 3, 2-9.

Hapke, U., Schumann, A., Rumpf, HJ., John, U. & Meyer, C. (2006). Post-traumatic stress

disorder. The role of trauma, pre-existing psychiatric disorder, and gender. Eur

Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 256, 299-306. doi 10.1007/s00406-006-0654-6

Shalev, A., Bonne, O. &Eth, S. (1996). Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder: A

review. Psychosomatic Medicine, 58, 165-182.

Qi, W., Gevonden, M. & Shalev, A. (2016). Prevention of post-traumatic stress disorder

after trauma: Current evidence and future directions. Curr Psychiatry Rep, 1-11.

doi 10.1007/s11920-015-0655-0

Yehuda, R., Hoge, C., McFarlane, A., Vermetten, E., Laniues, R., Nievergelt, C., …

Hyman, S. (2015). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Nature Reviews, 1 (15057), 1-

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Yehuda R, McFarlane A.C. & Shalev A.Y. (1998). Predicting the development of

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