Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (cont.)
What are the effects of PTSD?
Untreated PTSD can have devastating, far-reaching consequences for sufferers'
functioning and relationships, their families, and for society. Women who were
sexually abused at earlier ages are more likely to develop complex PTSD and
borderline personality disorder. Babies that are born to
mothers that suffer from this illness during pregnancy are more likely to
experience a change in at least one chemical in their body that makes it more
likely (predisposes) the baby to develop PTSD later in life. Individuals who
suffer from this illness are at risk of having more medical problems, as well as
trouble reproducing.
Emotionally, PTSD sufferers may struggle more to achieve as good an outcome from
mental-health treatment as that of people with other emotional problems. In children and teens, PTSD
can have significantly negative effects on their social and emotional
development, as well as on their ability to learn.
What causes PTSD?
Virtually any event that is life-threatening or that severely compromises the
emotional well-being of an individual may cause PTSD. Such events often include
either experiencing or witnessing a severe accident or physical injury,
receiving a life-threatening medical diagnosis, being the victim of kidnapping
or torture, exposure to combat or to a natural disaster, other disaster (for
example,
plane crash) or terrorist attack, being the victim of rape, mugging, robbery or
assault; enduring physical, sexual, emotional or other forms of abuse, as well
as involvement in civil conflict.
What are the risk factors and protective factors for PTSD?
Issues that tend to put people at higher risk for developing PTSD include
increased duration of a traumatic event, higher severity of the trauma
experienced, having an emotional condition prior to the event, or having little
social support in the form of family or friends. In addition to those risk
factors, children and adolescents, females, and people with learning disabilities or violence in
the home have a greater risk of developing PTSD after a traumatic event.
While disaster-preparedness training is generally seen as a good idea in
terms of improving the immediate physical safety and logistical issues involved
with a traumatic event, such training may also provide important protective
factors against developing PTSD. That is as evidenced by the fact that those
with more professional-level training and experience (for example, police, firefighters, mental-health professionals, paramedics, and other medical
professionals) tend to develop PTSD less often when coping with disaster than
those without the benefit of such training or experience.
Some medications have been found to help prevent the development of PTSD.
Some medicines that treat depression, decrease the heart rate, or increase the
action of other body chemicals are thought to be effective tools in the
prevention of PTSD when given in the days immediately after an individual
experiences a traumatic event.
Next: What are the signs and symptoms of PTSD? »
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