Information on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

• What is it?
• DIY self diagnosis
• DSM-IV diagnostic criteria
• Want to know more
• Personal experiences

What is it?

PTSD is an anxiety disorder which may develop following exposure to any one of a variety of traumatic events that involve actual or threatened death, or serious injury.

The event may be witnessed rather than directly experienced, and even learning about it may be sufficient if the persons involved are family members or close friends. Sufferers may experience flashbacks, panic attacks and heightened awareness.

DIY Self diagnosis

If you can answer YES to most of the questions it is likely that you are affected by that condition.

• Have you ever experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, for example, rape, sexual abuse, car accident etc.?
• Do you frequently get upset whilst thinking about atraumatic event?
• Do you experience "flashbacks" in which you feel as if you are re-living a traumatic event?
• Do you feel emotionally numb or on edge because of having experienced a traumatic event?
• Are you aware of avoiding doing things that remind you of a traumatic event?

DSM diagnostic criteria for 309.81 Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) lists the different categories of mental disorder and the criteria used for diagnosing them. We have more information on the DSM-IV information page.

1. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present:
   1. The person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others.
   2. The person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. NOTE: in children, this may be expressed instead by disorganised or agitated behaviour.
2. The traumatic event is persistently re experienced in one (or more) of the following ways.
   1. Recurrent and intrusive distressing recollections of the event including images thoughts or perceptions. Note: In young children repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the trauma are expressed.
   2. Recurrent distressing dreams of the event. Note: in children, there may be frightening dreams without recognisable content.
   3. Acting or feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of relieving the experience, illusions, hallucinations and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when intoxicated). Note: in children, trauma specific re-enactment may occur.
   4. Intense psychological distress at exposure to the internal or external cues that symbolise or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.
3. Persistant avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and the numbing of general responsiveness. (Not present before trauma), as indicated by three or more of the following:
   1. Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings or conversations associated with the trauma.
   2. Efforts to avoid the activities, places or people that arouse recollections of the trauma.
   3. Inability to recall important aspect of the trauma
   4. Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities.
   5. Feelings of detachment or estrangement from others.
   6. Restricted range of affect ( e.g. unable to have loving feelings)
   7. Sense of a foreshortened future (e.g. does not expect to have a career, marriage, children, or a normal life span).
4. Persistent symptoms of increased arousal (not present before the trauma), as indicated by two (or more) of the following:
   1. Difficulty falling or staying asleep
   2. Irritability or outbursts of anger
   3. Difficulty concentrating
   4. Hyper vigilance
   5. Exaggerated startle response
5. Duration of the disturbance (symptoms in criteria B, C and D) is more than one month.
6. The disturbance causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

Specify if: Acute: if duration of symptoms is less than three months. Chronic: if duration of symptoms is three months or more.

Specify if: with delayed onset: If onset of symptoms is at least 6 months after the stressor.

Want to know more

This ANXIETY UK site has information on a range of resources to get more detailed information and help.

ANXIETY UK Publications

• ANXIETY UK publishes a fact sheet and tapes dealing with post traumatic stress disorder available from the ANXIETY UK online shop

Recommended reading

Recommended Web sites

• David Baldwin's Trauma Information pages
• National Centre for PTSD

Personal experiences

Do you suffer from PTSD and want to share your experience with other people? Send us your experience and we will put selected ones here. Unfortunately we are unable to display the email addresses of individuals whose experiences are listed in this section of the website. If you would like to make contact with others who are living with similar experiences, you can do so via ANXIETY UK 'Contact List' which is a service available to all ANXIETY UK members (in both electronic and hard copy format).