What are anxiety Disorders?

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PTSD is an anxiety disorder precipitated by a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, for instance a fire or an earthquake; either being the victim of or witnessing a serious crime( a violent or sexual crime); involvement in a war particularly combat; victim of a traffic accident or any horrific and traumatic experience including losing a loved one or friend or having to undergo invasive and stressful treatments for serious illness, either suffering such trauma personally or having to experience the suffering of a loved one or close friend. I would imagine that the experiences that might precipitate the on set of PTSD may vary from person to person, the more sensitive the individual concerned the more likely he or she could be affected by trauma that might well not affect others as not everyone who undergoes a traumatic experience will go on to develop  PTSD; not every one involved in a war no matter how horrific the experiences suffered will develop PTSD. Perhaps there exists a predisposition towards the development of PTSD if circumstances arise that could bring on this very distressful anxiety disorder. PTSD is a new classification of an illness that for many years was recognised amongst military personal and was referred to as shell shock indeed my father suffered from this anxiety disorder after his term with the army during world war two and for the rest of his life he was medicated on sedatives. He never spoke of his time in the army becoming irritable and tense if requested to do so. The disorder, which in modern times is more prevalent due to increases in exposure to more traumatic events, can occur at any age and can become cumulative if one is subjected to further traumatic experiences. Sufferers find their abilities to cope with the normal day to day demands of living become  increasingly more difficult effecting their ability to cope with social life, working or school life and personal relationships.

Experts may be able to tell in advance who will eventually suffer with PTSD. During the first two days and up to four weeks persons who have undergone some traumatic experiences may exhibit symptoms of a syndrome called acute stress disorder and this can help ascertain who will eventually suffer PTSD as sufferers who present with acute stress disorder are more likely to develope symptoms of the more chronic PTSD.

If the symptoms go on beyond one month a diagnosis of PTSD is indicated. For a diagnosis the sufferer must have been exposed to a traumatic event which has produced extreme fear, a sense of horror or hopelessness, to have experienced such trauma either to themselves or others, such as the experiences cited above, and present with some or all of the following symptoms.

The sufferer experiences the events of the trauma as flashbacks, unwanted and intrusive images and thoughts, dreams/nightmares, panic and feelings of distress when confronted with painful reminders of the event. The person than tries to avoid situations, people, conversations and so which remind him or her of the event. The person may become detached and experiences an emotional numbness and loss of interest in life.

Other symptoms which are common to anxiety disorders in general are also present in PTSD  including sleep difficulties such as an inability to fall asleep or waking early or sleep disturbance, difficulty concentrating, irritability, becoming more easily startled, for instance by sudden noise such as a door slamming. Depression, guilt ( if for instance one survived while others did not) and anger are also common symptoms in PTSD along with possible substance abuse such as excessive use of alcohol in an attempt to dampen the severity of symptoms. Marital problems may rise along with problems in other personal relationships and sexual dysfunction.  The person may become suicidal and physical problems such as headaches, gastrointestinal  illness and so on may also manifest. The sufferer may go on to suffer from other anxiety disorders such as
panic attacks or GAD.