Overview

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxietydisorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.

Someone with PTSD often relives the traumatic event through nightmares and flashbacks, and may experience feelings of isolation, irritability and guilt.

They may also have problems sleeping, such as insomnia, and find concentrating difficult.

These symptoms are often severe and persistent enough to have a significant impact on the person’s day-to-day life.

Title
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Causes

The type of events that can cause PTSD include:

  • -serious road accidents
  • -Violent personal assaults, such as sexual assault, mugging or robbery
  • -prolonged sexual abuse, violence or severe neglect
  • witnessing violent deaths
  • -military combat
  • -being held hostage
  • -terrorist attacks
  • -natural disasters, such as severe floods, earthquakes or tsunamis

PTSD can develop immediately after someone experiences a disturbing event or it can occur weeks, months or even years later.

PTSD is estimated to affect about 1 in every 3 people who have a traumatic experience, but it's not clear exactly why some people develop the condition and others don't.

Treatment

PTSD can be successfully treated, even when it develops many years after a traumatic event.

Any treatment depends on the severity of symptoms and how soon they occur after the traumatic event. Any of the following treatment options may be recommended:

  • Watchful waiting – monitoring your symptoms to see whether they improve or get worse without treatment.
  • Psychotherapy – such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR).
  • Find psychotherapy services near you.
  • Antidepressants – such as paroxetine or mirtazapine