Home Health Center Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)   Know The Reasons To PTSD

Causes of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

 The causes of Post-traumatic stress disorder are many but with one common factor, trauma. Any traumatic event that is life-threatening or induces intense fear or affects the physical and emotional well-being of the individual can cause PTSD. Some of these events are:

• Experiencing or witnessing a severe accident
• Being a victim of a kidnapping
• Being a victim of a terrorist attack
• Being diagnosed with a life-threatening disease
• Being tortured
• Being mugged or assaulted
• Being raped
• Exposure to any disaster, whether natural or man-made
• Involvement in civil conflict
• Exposure to war and combat
  

People may also develop PTSD as a reaction events that we may not regard as traumatic like divorce or losing a job.

Some of the factors that increase the risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder include:

• The severity of the trauma
• The length of exposure to a traumatic event - events like kidnapping, which can last for several days or longer
• The number of traumatic events endured – events like combat or armed conflict
• Sex – Females are at a higher risk
• Those with a pre-existing mental disorder
• Children and adolescents
• People with learning disabilities
• People from broken homes
• People who have experienced domestic violence
  

It has also been noticed that people who have received disaster-preparedness training are less likely to develop PTSD (for example, police, fire-fighters, paramedics and other medical professionals) than those who have not received such training. 

Frequently asked questions

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References

1. Chris Freeman, Psychological and drug therapies for post-traumatic stress disorder, Psychiatry, Volume 5, Issue 7, July 2006, Pages 231-237, ISSN 1476-1793, 10.1053/j.mppsy.2006.06.001.
2. R. Yehuda, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Overview, In: Editor-in-Chief:  Larry R. Squire, Editor(s)-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Academic Press, Oxford, 2009, Pages 853-858, ISBN 9780080450469, 10.1016/B978-008045046-9.00095-4.
3. Rianne Stam, PTSD and stress sensitisation: A tale of brain and body: Part 1: Human studies, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Volume 31, Issue 4, 2007, Pages 530-557, ISSN 0149-7634, 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2006.11.010.