- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.6.1 Acute stress reactions
- 4.6.2 Post-traumatic stress disorder
- 4.6.3 Recovered memories and false memories
- 4.6.4 Adjustment disorders
- 4.6.5 Bereavement
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Chapter:
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Author(s):
Anke Ehlers
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199696758.003.0093
Clinicians have long noted that traumatic events can lead to severe psychological disturbance. At the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries, railway disasters, the World Wars, and the Holocaust prompted systematic descriptions of the symptoms associated with traumatic stress reactions. These include the spontaneous re-experiencing of aspects of the traumatic events, startle responses, irritability, impairment in concentration and memory, disturbed sleep, distressing dreams, depression, phobias, guilt, psychic numbing, and multiple somatic symptoms. A variety of labels were used to describe these reactions including ‘fright neurosis’, ‘combat/war neurosis’, ‘shell shock’, ‘survivor syndrome’, and ‘nuclearism’. This chapter covers clinical features of post-traumatic stress disorder, classification, diagnosis and differential diagnosis, epidemiology, prevalence, comorbidity of PTSD with other disorders, aetiology, course and prognosis, treatment, and finally advice on management.
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- Section 1 The Subject Matter of and Approach to Psychiatry
- 1.3 Psychiatry as a worldwide public health problem
- 1.4 The history of psychiatry as a medical specialty
- 1.5 Ethics and values
- 1.6 The psychiatrist as a manager
- 1.7 Descriptive phenomenology
- 1.8 Assessment
- 1.9 Diagnosis and classification
- 1.10 From science to practice
- Section 2 The Scientific Basis of Psychiatric Aetiology
- 2.3 The contribution of neurosciences
- 2.4 The contribution of genetics
- 2.5 The contribution of psychological science
- 2.6 The contribution of social sciences
- 2.7 The contribution of epidemiology to psychiatric aetiology
- Section 3 Psychodynamic Contributions to Psychiatry
- Section 4 Clinical Syndromes of Adult Psychiatry
- 4.4 Persistent delusional symptoms and disorders
- 4.5 Mood disorders
- 4.6 Stress-related and adjustment disorders
- 4.6.1 Acute stress reactions
- 4.6.2 Post-traumatic stress disorder
- 4.6.3 Recovered memories and false memories
- 4.6.4 Adjustment disorders
- 4.6.5 Bereavement
- 4.7 Anxiety disorders
- Section 5 Psychiatry and Medicine
- Section 6 Treatment Methods in Psychiatry
- 6.2 Somatic treatments
- Section 7 Social Psychiatry and Service Provision
- Section 8 The Psychiatry of Old Age
- Section 9 Child and Adolescent Psychiatry