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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Often associated with war veterans, post-traumatic stress disorder can occur in anyone who has experienced a severe and unusual physical or mental trauma. People who have witnessed a mid-air collision or survived a life-threatening crime may develop this illness. The severity of the disorder increases if the trauma was unanticipated. For that reason, not all war veterans develop PTSD, despite prolonged and brutal combat. Soldiers expect a certain amount of violence. Rape victims, however, are unsuspecting of the attack on their lives.
People who suffer from PTSD re-experience the event that traumatized them through:
- Nightmares, night terrors or flashbacks of the event. In rare cases, the person falls into a temporary dislocation from reality in which he or she relives the trauma. This can last for seconds or days.
- Psychic numbing," or emotional anesthesia. Victims have decreased interest in or involvement with people or activities they once enjoyed.
- Excessive alertness and highly sharpened startle reaction. A car backfiring may cause people once subjected to gunfire to instinctively drop to the ground.
- General anxiety, depression, inability to sleep, poor memory, difficulty concentrating or completing tasks, survivor's guilt.
Theories About Causes of Anxiety Disorders
Probably no single situation or condition causes anxiety disorders. Rather, physical and environmental triggers may combine to create a particular anxiety illness.
Psychoanalytic theory suggests that anxiety stems from unconscious conflicts that arose from discomfort during infancy or childhood. For example, a person may carry the unconscious conflict of sexual feelings toward the parent of the opposite sex. Or the person may have developed problems from experiencing an illness, fright or other emotionally laden event as a child. By this theory, anxiety can be resolved by identifying and resolving the unconscious conflict. The symptoms that symbolize the conflict would then disappear.
Learning theory says that anxiety is a learned behavior that can be unlearned. People who feel uncomfortable in a given situation or near a certain object will begin to avoid it. However, such avoidance can limit a patient's ability to live a normal life.
More recently, research has indicated that biochemical imbalances are culprits. Many scientists say all thoughts and feelings result from complex electrochemical interactions in the central nervous system. Moreover, some studies indicate that infusions of certain biochemicals can cause a panic attack in some people. According to this theory, treatment of anxiety should correct these biochemical imbalances. Although medications first come to mind with this theory, remember that studies have found biochemical changes can occur as a result of emotional, psychological or behavioral changes.
No doubt each of these theories is true to some extent. A person may develop or inherit a biological susceptibility to anxiety disorders. Events in childhood may lead to certain fears that, over time, develop into a full-blown anxiety disorder.
Treatments of Anxiety Disorders
Generally, anxiety disorders are treated by a combination approach. Phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorders often are treated by behavior therapy. This involves exposing the patient to the feared object or situation under controlled circumstances, until the fear is cured or significantly reduced. Successfully treated with this method, many phobia patients have long-term recovery.
Medications are effective treatments, sometimes used alone and often in combination with behavior therapy or other psychotherapy techniques. In addition to behavior modification techniques and medication, talking issues out in psychotherapy can be crucial.
There is good reason for optimism about treatment of even the most severe anxiety disorders. Research indicates that 65 percent of the phobic and obsessive-compulsive patients who can cooperate with the therapist and conscientiously follow instructions will recover with behavior therapy. Studies have shown that while they are taking the medications, 70 percentof the patients who suffer from panic attacks improve. Medication is effective for about half of those suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
For comprehensive information on anxiety disorders, visit the .
continue: Helpful Anxiety Disorder Resources
(c) Copyright 1988 American Psychiatric Association
Produced by the APA Joint Commission on Public Affairs and the Division of Public Affairs. This document contains text from a pamphlet developed for educational purposes and does not necessarily reflect opinion or policy of the American Psychiatric Association.
Revised 1994
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