Tag Archives: Psychological trauma

Straight, No Chaser: The Effects of PTSD on Children

May 31, 2017Mental Health, Pediatrics/Kids HealthBehind the Curtain, Facebook, health, mental-health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No ChaserJeffrey Sterling, MD

This is part of a series on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For a review of PTSD signs, symptoms and those at risk, click here.
For a review of PTSD diagnosis and treatment, click here.

Children are exposed to the same stimuli that creates post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including physical abuse, sexual assault and the effects of war, but they may have different responses and symptoms than adults. Symptoms unique to children typically involve developmental regression and may include the following:

Clinginess
Bedwetting
Cessation of speech
Acting out the scary event

Teens may become disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive, and they may express guilt or engage in revenge.
Think about these things when your children have been victims of bullying, abandonment or assault. You have to think about PTSD in order to recognize help may be needed. It is very important to get counseling for children that have experienced a traumatic event. The effects may be subtle but could be devastating and long-lasting.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Take the #72HoursChallenge, and join the community. As a thank you for being a valued subscriber to Straight, No Chaser, we’d like to offer you a complimentary 30-day membership at www.72hourslife.com. Just use the code #NoChaser, and yes, it’s ok if you share!
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new books There are 72 Hours in a Day: Using Efficiency to Better Enjoy Every Part of Your Life and The 72 Hours in a Day Workbook: The Journey to The 72 Hours Life in 72 Days at Amazon or at www.72hourslife.com. Receive introductory pricing with orders!
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2017 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Signs, Symptoms and Those at Risk

May 29, 2017Mental HealthBehind the Curtain, Facebook, health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No Chaser, There are 72 Hours in a Day, Twitter, United StatesJeffrey Sterling, MD

Memorial Day serves to honor our fallen heroes. Part of that involves caring for our soldiers still with us. Understanding and acknowledging the mental components of their suffering remains a vital and underachieved need. Our soldiers disproportionately suffer from several mental disorders, notably, post-traumatic stress disorder. Today’s post begins a review of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We thank all of our veterans for their service.
I’ve dealt with disease and death everyday as an Emergency Physician, and it has been dehumanizing on many levels. Imagine having to pronounce someone dead despite giving your version of a superhuman effort to resuscitate them and then having to deliver the news to a family deep in prayer and holding on to strings of hope. Oh yeah, and then you immediately get to return to a room filled with patients and families oblivious to anything you’re dealing with as an individual, who are completely immersed in their personal situations and often complaining because “you took too long.” Imagine the lives of morticians or cemetery workers, having to stare at and feel the remains of the dead all day everyday. Imagine the lives of those habitually raped or viciously beaten by a loved one as a child. And, of course, there are the soldiers. Over 7.5 million Americans are thought to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), approximately one in every 40 individuals.
Traumatic and post-traumatic stress are not only able to affect your reality, but to adjust your reality. The body’s normal “fight-or-flight” response to danger or extremely stressful situations can evolve into abnormalities in your behavior if you are continually immersed in these environments. One such as the emergency physician may become desensitized and/or empowered to address situations that would make otherwise normal individuals recoil, or one may become overly sensitive, hyper-stressed and prone to a fight response to lesser stimuli—or no stimuli at all.
There are three categories of symptoms of PTSD, which are easily remembered by thinking of a hyperactive “fight-or-flight” response: reliving traumatic experiences, avoiding circumstances or situations that remind one of the experience, and reacting out of hyperarousal to stimuli suggestive of the experience.

Reliving can involve flashbacks, scary thoughts and nightmares. Victims have been known to actually re-experience the physical and mental episodes, complete with palpitations, sweating, jitteriness and severe anxiety. Such experiences can become incapacitating.
Avoidance is in many ways the opposite end of the “fight or flight” syndrome. In this example, avoidance isn’t just being proactive and staying away from reminders of the experience, but it can escalate to loss of emotions or even recollection of the event. This isn’t a strategic decision; it’s a defense mechanism gone haywire. As an example, imagine the near-drowning victim who refuses to even sit on the beach.
Hyperarousal leads one to be on edge, sensitive and prone to overreact. In contrast to the other two symptoms listed, hyperarousal tends to be a constant state of being. PTSD victims with hyperarousal describe themselves as easily angered and always stressed.

Many if not most of us will experience traumatic events in our lives sufficient enough to cause tremendous stress. There are circumstances that enhance the risk of developing PTSD.

Childhood trauma is especially dangerous in that the developing brain can respond “appropriately” in coding for abnormal circumstances and exposures. Subsequent trauma can trigger PTSD-quality responses.
Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men.
Mental illness may abnormally shape responses to traumatic events.
There is some evidence that susceptibility to the disorder may run in families. Individual differences in the brain or genes may predispose an individual.
The relative absence of social support and a functional network is a severe risk.

Conversely, if you have strong coping mechanisms, you may be able to lower your risk for developing PTSD after trauma. Consider the following protective factors:

A predisposition toward optimism
The ability and inclination to seek out support from others, ranging from friends, family and/or an active support group
A mental orientation that you “performed well” in the face of the danger
A mental orientation of learning from the experience instead of allowing the experience to define you
Sufficient mental fortitude to be able to carry on in the face of the symptoms (fear, anxiety) that follow the event

The presence of these “resilience factors” does not suggest that those suffering from PTSD are lacking in any way; it suggests the best opportunities for you to avoid succumbing to the enormous pressures that exist.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Take the #72HoursChallenge, and join the community. As a thank you for being a valued subscriber to Straight, No Chaser, we’d like to offer you a complimentary 30-day membership at www.72hourslife.com. Just use the code #NoChaser, and yes, it’s ok if you share!
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new books There are 72 Hours in a Day: Using Efficiency to Better Enjoy Every Part of Your Life and The 72 Hours in a Day Workbook: The Journey to The 72 Hours Life in 72 Days at Amazon or at www.72hourslife.com. Receive introductory pricing with orders!
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2017 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: The Effects of PTSD on Children

June 1, 2016Mental Health, Pediatrics/Kids HealthBehind the Curtain, Facebook, health, mental-health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No ChaserJeffrey Sterling, MD

This is part of a series on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For a review of PTSD signs, symptoms and those at risk, click here.
For a review of PTSD diagnosis and treatment, click here.

Clinginess
Bedwetting
Cessation of speech
Acting out the scary event

Teens may become disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive, and they may express guilt or engage in revenge.
Think about these things when your children have been victims of bullying, abandonment or assault. You have to think about PTSD in order to recognize help may be needed. It is very important to get counseling for children that have experienced a traumatic event. The effects may be subtle but could be devastating and long-lasting.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Signs, Symptoms and Those at Risk

May 30, 2016Mental HealthBehind the Curtain, Facebook, health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No Chaser, Twitter, United StatesJeffrey Sterling, MD

Memorial Day serves to honor our fallen heroes. Part of that involves caring for our soldiers still with us. Understanding and acknowledging the mental components of their suffering remains a vital and underachieved need. Our soldiers disproportionately suffer from several mental disorders, notably, post-traumatic stress disorder. Today’s post begins a review of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We thank all of our veterans for their service.
I’ve dealt with disease and death everyday as an Emergency Physician, and it has been dehumanizing on many levels. Imaging having to pronounce someone dead despite giving your version of a superhuman effort to resuscitate them and then having to deliver the news to a family deep in prayer and holding on to strings of hope. Oh yeah, and then you immediately get to return to a room filled with patients and families oblivious to anything you’re dealing with as an individual, who are completely immersed in their personal situations and often complaining because “you took too long.” Imagine the lives of morticians or cemetery workers, having to stare at and feel the remains of the dead all day everyday. Imagine the lives of those habitually raped or viciously beaten by a loved one as a child. And, of course, there are the soldiers. Over 7.5 million Americans are thought to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), approximately one in every 40 individuals.
Traumatic and post-traumatic stress are not only able to affect your reality, but to adjust your reality. The body’s normal “fight-or-flight” response to danger or extremely stressful situations can evolve into abnormalities in your behavior if you are continually immersed in these environments. One such as the emergency physician may become desensitized and/or empowered to address situations that would make otherwise normal individuals recoil, or one may become overly sensitive, hyper-stressed and prone to a fight response to lesser stimuli—or no stimuli at all.
There are three categories of symptoms of PTSD, which are easily remembered by thinking of a hyperactive “fight-or-flight” response: reliving traumatic experiences, avoiding circumstances or situations that remind one of the experience, and reacting out of hyperarousal to stimuli suggestive of the experience.

Reliving can involve flashbacks, scary thoughts and nightmares. Victims have been known to actually re-experience the physical and mental episodes, complete with palpitations, sweating, jitteriness and severe anxiety. Such experiences can become incapacitating.
Avoidance is in many ways the opposite end of the “fight or flight” syndrome. In this example, avoidance isn’t just being proactive and staying away from reminders of the experience, but it can escalate to loss of emotions or even recollection of the event. This isn’t a strategic decision; it’s a defense mechanism gone haywire. As an example, imagine the near-drowning victim who refuses to even sit on the beach.
Hyperarousal leads one to be on edge, sensitive and prone to overreact. In contrast to the other two symptoms listed, hyperarousal tends to be a constant state of being. PTSD victims with hyperarousal describe themselves as easily angered and always stressed.

Many if not most of us will experience traumatic events in our lives sufficient enough to cause tremendous stress. There are circumstances that enhance the risk of developing PTSD.

Childhood trauma is especially dangerous in that the developing brain can respond “appropriately” in coding for abnormal circumstances and exposures. Subsequent trauma can trigger PTSD-quality responses.
Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men.
Mental illness may abnormally shape responses to traumatic events.
There is some evidence that susceptibility to the disorder may run in families. Individual differences in the brain or genes may predispose an individual.
The relative absence of social support and a functional network is a severe risk.

Conversely, if you have strong coping mechanisms, you may be able to lower your risk for developing PTSD after trauma. Consider the following protective factors:

A predisposition toward optimism
The ability and inclination to seek out support from others, ranging from friends, family and/or an active support group
A mental orientation that you “performed well” in the face of the danger
A mental orientation of learning from the experience instead of allowing the experience to define you
Sufficient mental fortitude to be able to carry on in the face of the symptoms (fear, anxiety) that follow the event

The presence of these “resilience factors” does not suggest that those suffering from PTSD are lacking in any way; it suggests the best opportunities for you to avoid succumbing to the enormous pressures that exist.
Feel free to ask your SMA expert consultant any questions you may have on this topic.
Order your copy of Dr. Sterling’s new book Behind The Curtain: A Peek at Life from within the ER at jeffreysterlingbooks.com, iTunes, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and wherever books are sold.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2016 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: The Effects of PTSD on Children

May 6, 2015Mental Health, Pediatrics/Kids HealthFacebook, health, mental-health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No Chaser, Twitter, WordPressJeffrey Sterling, MD

This is part of a series on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For a review of PTSD signs, symptoms and those at risk, click here.
For a review of PTSD diagnosis and treatment, click here.

Clinginess
Bedwetting
Cessation of speech
Acting out the scary event

Straight, No Chaser: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Signs, Symptoms and Those at Risk

May 4, 2015General Health and Wellness, Mental HealthFacebook, health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No Chaser, Twitter, United StatesJeffrey Sterling, MD

This is Mental Health Awareness Month. Straight, No Chaser has done multiple posts on depression and suicide, the components of health and happiness, and many other mental health topics. It’s important that you appreciate the ways events in your life and even the way you live your life impact you over the long term. I deal with disease and death everyday as an Emergency Physician, and it’s dehumanizing on many levels. Imaging having to pronounce someone dead despite giving your version of a superhuman effort to resuscitate them and then having to deliver the news to a family deep in prayer and holding on to strings of hope. Oh yeah, and then you immediately get to return to a room filled with patients and families oblivious to anything you’re dealing with as an individual, who are completely immersed in their personal situations and often complaining because “you took too long.” Imagine the lives of morticians or cemetery workers, having to stare at and feel the remains of the dead all day everyday. Imagine the lives of those habitually raped or viciously beaten by a loved one as a child. And, of course, there are the soldiers. Over 7.5 million Americans are thought to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), approximately one in every 40 individuals.
Traumatic and post-traumatic stress are not only able to affect your reality, but to adjust your reality. The body’s normal “fight-or-flight” response to danger or extremely stressful situations can evolve into abnormalities in your behavior if you are continually immersed in these environments. One such as the emergency physician may become desensitized and/or empowered to address situations that would make otherwise normal individuals recoil, or one may become overly sensitive, hyper-stressed and prone to a fight response to lesser stimuli—or no stimuli at all.
There are three categories of symptoms of PTSD, which are easily remembered by thinking of a hyperactive “fight-or-flight” response: reliving traumatic experiences, avoiding circumstances or situations that remind one of the experience, and reacting out of hyperarousal to stimuli suggestive of the experience.

Reliving can involve flashbacks, scary thoughts and nightmares. Victims have been known to actually re-experience the physical and mental episodes, complete with palpitations, sweating, jitteriness and severe anxiety. Such experiences can become incapacitating.
Avoidance is in many ways the opposite end of the “fight or flight” syndrome. In this example, avoidance isn’t just being proactive and staying away from reminders of the experience, but it can escalate to loss of emotions or even recollection of the event. This isn’t a strategic decision; it’s a defense mechanism gone haywire. As an example, imagine the near-drowning victim who refuses to even sit on the beach.
Hyperarousal leads one to be on edge, sensitive and prone to overreact. In contrast to the other two symptoms listed, hyperarousal tends to be a constant state of being. PTSD victims with hyperarousal describe themselves as easily angered and always stressed.

Many if not most of us will experience traumatic events in our lives sufficient enough to cause tremendous stress. There are circumstances that enhance the risk of developing PTSD.

Childhood trauma is especially dangerous in that the developing brain can respond “appropriately” in coding for abnormal circumstances and exposures. Subsequent trauma can trigger PTSD-quality responses.
Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men.
Mental illness may abnormally shape responses to traumatic events.
There is some evidence that susceptibility to the disorder may run in families. Individual differences in the brain or genes may predispose an individual.
The relative absence of social support and a functional network is a severe risk.

Conversely, if you have strong coping mechanisms, you may be able to lower your risk for developing PTSD after trauma. Consider the following protective factors:

A predisposition toward optimism
The ability and inclination to seek out support from others, ranging from friends, family and/or an active support group
A mental orientation that you “performed well” in the face of the danger
A mental orientation of learning from the experience instead of allowing the experience to define you
Sufficient mental fortitude to be able to carry on in the face of the symptoms (fear, anxiety) that follow the event

The presence of these “resilience factors” does not suggest that those suffering from PTSD are lacking in any way; it suggests the best opportunities for you to avoid succumbing to the enormous pressures that exist.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) and 844-SMA-TALK offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress, like us on Facebook @ SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and follow us on Twitter at @asksterlingmd.
Copyright © 2015 · Sterling Initiatives, LLC · Powered by WordPress

Straight, No Chaser: The Effects of PTSD on Children

December 6, 2013Mental Health, Pediatrics/Kids Health, Public HealthFacebook, health, mental-health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No Chaser, Twitter, WordPressJeffrey Sterling, MD

This is part of a series on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

For a review of PTSD signs, symptoms and those at risk, click here.
For a review of PTSD diagnosis and treatment, click here.

Clinginess
Bedwetting
Cessation of speech
Acting out the scary event

Teens may become disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive, and they may express guilt or engage in revenge.
It is very important to get counseling for children that have experienced a traumatic event. The effects may be subtle but could be devastating and long-lasting.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress. We are also on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.

Straight, No Chaser: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Diagnosis and Treatment

December 5, 2013Mental HealthAnxiety, health, mental-health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Substance abuse, SymptomJeffrey Sterling, MD

For a review of PTSD signs, symptoms and those at risk, click here.
Not every traumatized person develops post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In those that do, symptoms typically begin within three months of the incident but may present years afterward. The severity of symptoms is such that they must last more than a month to be considered PTSD. There is significant variation in outcome in those with PTSD; some recover within six months, and in some the condition becomes chronic.
To be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have the following symptom complex for at least one month:

At least one re-experiencing symptom (including flashbacks, scary thoughts or nightmares)
At least three avoidance symptoms (a pathologic response to stay away from or forget the episode)
At least two hyperarousal symptoms (a constant state of being on edge, sensitive and prone to overreact)

Additionally, PTSD is often accompanied by depression, substance abuse, or other anxiety disorders.
PTSD is typically treated with either psychotherapy (“talk” therapy), medications, or both. Mental health professionals will review and discuss all treatment options with you prior to initiating therapy, because some people will need to try more than one variety to discover what works for their symptoms.
If someone with PTSD is going through ongoing trauma, such as an abusive relationship, both the PTSD and the current problems need to be treated. Other ongoing problems can include panic disorder, depression, substance abuse, and suicidal feelings.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two medications for treating adults with PTSD, sertraline (Zoloft), and paroxetine (Paxil). Both of these medications are also used to treat depression. In PTSD, they help control symptoms such as sadness, worry, anger, and the feeling of numbness inside. Taking these medications often make it easier to go through psychotherapy.
Sometimes people taking these medications have side effects at the beginning of therapy, but they usually go away. Any side effects or unusual reactions should be reported to a doctor immediately. Sometimes the medication dose needs to be reduced or the time of day it is taken needs to be adjusted to help lessen these side effects. The most common side effects of antidepressants like sertraline and paroxetine are the following:

Headache
Nausea (feeling sick to your stomach)
Sleeplessness or drowsiness
Agitation (feeling jittery)
Sexual problems (occurs in both sexes), including reduced sex drive and problems having and enjoying sex.

Doctors may also prescribe other types of medications, such as benzodiazepines (commonly used for relaxation and as a sleep aid), antipsychotics and other antidepressants. There is little information on how well these work for people with PTSD.
If you believe you suffer from PTSD, it’s very simple. Please get evaluated and get the help you need.
Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress. We are also on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.

Straight, No Chaser: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Signs, Symptoms and Those at Risk

November 30, 2013Mental HealthFacebook, health, Posttraumatic stress disorder, Psychological trauma, PTSD, Sterling Medical Advice, SterlingMedicalAdvice.com, Straight No Chaser, Twitter, United States, WordPressJeffrey Sterling, MD

I deal with disease and death everyday as an Emergency Physician, and it’s dehumanizing on many levels. Imaging having to pronounce someone dead despite giving your version of a superhuman effort to resuscitate them and then having to deliver the news to a family deep in prayer and holding on to strings of hope. Oh yeah, and then you immediately get to return to a room filled with patients and families oblivious to anything you’re dealing with as an individual, who are completely immersed in their personal situations and often complaining because “you took too long.” Imagine the lives of morticians or cemetery workers, having to stare at and feel the remains of the dead all day everyday. Imagine the lives of those habitually raped or viciously beaten by a loved one as a child. And, of course, there are the soldiers. Over 7.5 million Americans are thought to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), approximately one in every 40 individuals.
Traumatic and post-traumatic stress are not only able to affect your reality, but to adjust your reality. The body’s normal “fight-or-flight” response to danger or extremely stressful situations can evolve into abnormalities in your behavior if you are continually immersed in these environments. One such as the emergency physician may become desensitized and/or empowered to address situations that would make otherwise normal individuals recoil, or one may become overly sensitive, hyper-stressed and prone to a fight response to lesser stimuli—or no stimuli at all.
There are three categories of symptoms of PTSD, which are easily remembered by thinking of a hyperactive “fight-or-flight” response: reliving traumatic experiences, avoiding circumstances or situations that remind one of the experience, and reacting out of hyperarousal to stimuli suggestive of the experience.

Reliving can involve flashbacks, scary thoughts and nightmares. Victims have been known to actually re-experience the physical and mental episodes, complete with palpitations, sweating, jitteriness and severe anxiety. Such experiences can become incapacitating.
Avoidance is in many ways the opposite end of the “fight or flight” syndrome. In this example, avoidance isn’t just being proactive and staying away from reminders of the experience, but it can escalate to loss of emotions or even recollection of the event. This isn’t a strategic decision; it’s a defense mechanism gone haywire. As an example, imagine the near-drowning victim who refuses to even sit on the beach.
Hyperarousal leads one to be on edge, sensitive and prone to overreact. In contrast to the other two symptoms listed, hyperarousal tends to be a constant state of being. PTSD victims with hyperarousal describe themselves as easily angered and always stressed.

Many if not most of us will experience traumatic events in our lives sufficient enough to cause tremendous stress. There are circumstances that enhance the risk of developing PTSD.

Childhood trauma is especially dangerous in that the developing brain can respond “appropriately” in coding for abnormal circumstances and exposures. Subsequent trauma can trigger PTSD-quality responses.
Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men.
Mental illness may abnormally shape responses to traumatic events.
There is some evidence that susceptibility to the disorder may run in families. Individual differences in the brain or genes may predispose an individual.
The relative absence of social support and a functional network is a severe risk.

Conversely, if you have strong coping mechanisms, you may be able to lower your risk for developing PTSD after trauma. Consider the following protective factors:

A predisposition toward optimism
The ability and inclination to seek out support from others, ranging from friends, family and/or an active support group
A mental orientation that you “performed well” in the face of the danger
A mental orientation of learning from the experience instead of allowing the experience to define you
Sufficient mental fortitude to be able to carry on in the face of the symptoms (fear, anxiety) that follow the event

Check here for a discussion of the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD.
Check here for a discussion of the effects of PTSD on children.
Check here for a discussion of the effects of PTSD on communities after mass trauma.

Thanks for liking and following Straight, No Chaser! This public service provides a sample of what http://www.SterlingMedicalAdvice.com (SMA) offers. Please share our page with your friends on WordPress. We are also on Facebook at SterlingMedicalAdvice.com and Twitter at @asksterlingmd.