PTSD and Hypersensitivity

An enduring legacy of trauma for those who manifest the chronic symptoms of
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is profoundly disrupted emotion. Persons
with PTSD can be strikingly sensitive to the most subtle of social stimuli and
respond with a torrent of uncontrollable affect on the one hand, and on the
other hand they may report feeling emotionally unresponsive to events that they
recognize would otherwise elicit emotion. Whereas individuals who are better
adjusted regard painful or intense emotions as understandable and controllable
states that can be effectively coped with via a number of strategies such as
self-talk and seeking social support or validation, persons with PTSD are
likely to respond to emotional situations in a limited and inflexible manner.

Clinicians and researchers have described PTSD patients as limited in the
ability to tolerate strong emotion and further propose that this deficit thwarts
the recovery process (1). Instead of allowing emotions to run their course and
provide information to the individual about their experience of themselves
and their environment, persons with PTSD often avoid the early warning signs of
emotion placing themselves at risk for being overwhelmed by subsequent intense
reactions. In others instances they may be excessively vigilant and
hypersensitive of the precursors to emotion and initiate any number of avoidance
behaviors, some subtle, others extreme. As van der Kolk and Ducey (p. 267) (2)
suggested, "persons with severe PTSD are incapable of modulated affective
experience; they either respond to affective stimuli with an intensity which is
appropriate only to the traumatic situation or they barely react at all."

PTSD is a debilitating condition that follows a traumatic incident. People
with PTSD often have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their
ordeal and feel emotionally numb, especially with people they were once close
to.
PTSD was first recognized in war veterans and is often referred to as shell
shock or battle fatigue. Kidnappings, serious accidents, natural disasters,
violent attacks, torture, and captivity can cause PTSD. The event that triggers
it
may be something that threatens the person’s life or the life of someone close
to them, or it could be something witnessed, like the burned out remains of a
home where people died, or the aftermath of a destructive plane crash.

People with PTSD tend to relive the trauma in the form of nightmares and
disturbing recollections and flashbacks during their waking hours. Flashbacks
may
make the person lose touch with reality and reenact the event for a period of
seconds or hours, or even days. Flashbacks can come in the form of images,
sounds, smells, or feelings that seem so real that the person experiencing them
believes that the traumatic event is happening all over again. PTSD sufferes
may also experience sleep problems, depression, detachment, and
hypersensitivity. They may lose interest in things they used to enjoy, have
trouble with
intimacy, feel irritable, aggressive, violent, anxious to the point of having
anxiety attacks (I wonder how many abusers have PTSD from childhood abuse
they've
experienced?). Anniversaries of the event are often extremely difficult to get
through.

PTSD can occur at any age and can be accompanied by depression, substance
abuse, or anxiety. Symptoms vary from mild to severe. In severe cases, people
may
have trouble working or socializing. In general, PTSD symptoms seem to be
worse if the event that triggered them was initiated by another human being,
such
as the case in rape versus a natural disaster like a flood.

Not every traumatized person gets full-blown PTSD or experiences PTSD at all.
PTSD is diagnosed only if the symptoms last more than a month, with symptoms
usually beginning within three months of the trauma. Some people recover
within six months, while others may have symptoms that last much longer.
Occasionally, the illness doesn’t show up until years after the event.


Specific Symptoms of PTSD

The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which they experienced,
witnessed, or were confronted with an event of events that involved actual or
threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of
themselves or others and the person’s response involved intense fear,
helplessness, or horror in one or more of the following ways:

distressing recurrent and intrusive recollections of the event, including
images, thoughts, and perceptions
recurrent dreams of the event
flashbacks giving a sense of reliving the experience, possibly including
illusions, hallucinations, and disassociation that occurs on awakening or when
intoxicated
intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external triggers
that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the event
physiological reactions on exposure to internal or external triggers that
symbolize or resemble an aspect of the event


Individuals with PTDS also have persistent avoidance of stimuli associated
with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness, as indicated by three or
more of the following:

efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations about the trauma
efforts to avoid activities, places or people that arouse recollections of
the trauma
inability to recall important details of the trauma
markedly loss of interest and participation in significant activities
feelings of detachment or estrangement from others
restricted range of feelings (like intimacy)
sense of foreboding and doom (like not expecting to have a career, family, or
normal life span)


PTDS causes persistent symptoms of increased arousal that were not present
before the trauma, as indicated by two or more of the following:

sleep disorders
irritablity or outbursts of anger
difficulty concentrating
hypervigilance
hypersensitivity (exaggerated startle response)

PTDS which has lasted for at least a month will cause clinically significant
distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of
functioning. PTDS is best treated with psychotherapy and medication therapy.



Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting
different results.

~ Albert Einstein


Fallen Officer: Kenneth L. Collings
http://hometown.aol.com/azterri/kenny.html


AZTerri
http://profiles.yahoo.com/arizona_terri


End Verbal Abuse Group Leader
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/End_Verbal_Abuse


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