What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a set of symptoms that appear in the individual after a traumatic or catastrophic event, it refers to the impossibility of overcoming an unpleasant experience. These symptoms lead to such an alteration of physical life that the patient cannot lead a normal life.
This is a normal process in patients who have suffered or witnessed a traumatic experience, but if it remains in time for more than a month or so, preventing progress from being made, it becomes post-traumatic stress disorder.
Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder
People with post-traumatic stress feel depressed, anxious, guilty and angry or more irascible and touchy. In addition, nightmares and flashbacks and hypervigilance of the patient towards any danger or change in his life are also common. In many cases it is common for the patient to adopt an avoidance attitude towards the trauma, as well as a lack of interest in maintaining social relationships.
Causes of post-traumatic stress
The cause of post-traumatic stress is the experience of a traumatic experience, which provokes intense sadness or anxiety, so that the patient does not have the capacity to manage such intense emotions in the face of a horrible experience.
The events that usually provoke post-traumatic stress are unexpected events that happen suddenly, that last for a long time, that are man-made, when one feels trapped, when they cause multiple deaths, if they cause mutilations or if children are involved.
Treatment of post-traumatic stress
Treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder will require psychological therapy to overcome the trauma. In many cases it will be necessary to add pharmacological treatment.
The most common therapies to treat post-traumatic stress are exposure therapy and cognitive therapy, as well as techniques to manage anxiety. As for pharmacological treatment, the most frequent are antidepressants and anxiolytics, always under the supervision and therapy of a Psychiatrist to control the patient’s progression and avoid the possible side effects of the drugs.