文档介绍：Understanding
post-traumatic
stress disorder
Post-traumatic
stress disorder
Understanding post-traumatic
stress disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may
emerge months or sometimes years after a
traumatic experience, affecting your ability
to lead your life as you’d like to. This booklet
describes the causes and the symptoms and tells
you what help is available and how to get it.
Contents
What is post-traumatic stress disorder?................................... 04
What are the symptoms?........................................................ 04
What causes PTSD?................................................................. 05
Why do some people develop PTSD when others don’t?......... 07
How can I deal with a traumatic event?.................................. 08
What sort of help is available for PTSD?.................................. 09
What can friends or family do?............................................... 12
Useful contacts....................................................................... 13
3
Understanding post-traumatic stress disorder
What is post-traumatic stress disorder?
The term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or post-traumatic stress
syndrome (PTSS) is used to name a range of symptoms you may develop in
response to experiencing a traumatic event, which is outside of your normal
human experience. It is often a delayed response.
Just hearing news of events, such as the London bombings in July 2005,
incidents in the war in Afghanistan, or the Hillsborough football stadium
disaster, can have a lasting effect on you. If you are actually present during
a disaster of this nature it’s likely that you will e extremely distressed.
Likewise, if you are involved in, or witness, events such as road accidents,
muggings, and sexual or physical assaults, these experiences may also cause
you deep emotional injury. There is no doubt that the reactions that may
follow can seriously h