Trauma And Stressor Related Disorders

December 07 2022 TalktoAngel 0 comments 2292 Views

It is well known that certain people who have experienced a traumatic incident, especially a battle, exhibit odd thoughts and actions that are now referred to as mental illnesses.

A traumatic or stressful incident, such as neglect as a kid, physical or sexual abuse as a child, combat, physical assault, sexual assault, a natural disaster, an accident, or torture, can cause major psychological repercussions in some people.

Four broad categories can be used to group the defining symptoms of all other trauma- and stressor-related disorders:

Intrusion Symptoms: Recurrent, unwanted, and upsetting recollections, thoughts, and dreams of the traumatic incident are examples of intrusion symptoms. Additionally, the person may go through dissociative flashbacks, in which they act or feel as if the horrific incident is happening again.

Avoidance Symptoms: An attempt to avoid internal (memories, thoughts, feelings) and/or outward (people, places, situations) reminders of the traumatic experience is characterized by avoidance symptoms. A person's life may become preoccupied with trying to escape trauma-related emotions and stimuli.

Negative Alterations: Negative cognitive and mood changes include difficulties recalling crucial details of the traumatic incident, despair, dread, guilt, shame, and feelings of loneliness.

Hyper Arousal Symptoms: Jumpiness, being easily startled, impatience, angry outbursts, self-destructive conduct, attention issues, and trouble sleeping are all signs of hyper-arousal.

Reactive Attachment Disorder

Serious issues with emotional attachment to others are a feature of reactive attachment disorder. Rarely seeking solace when upset, these kids show little emotional receptivity to others. A pattern of inadequate caregiving or emotional neglect that restricts an infant's ability to establish stable attachments leads to RAD.

Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder

A pattern of conduct involving culturally inappropriate, excessively familiar behavior with unknown adults and strangers is what is known as disinhibited social engagement disorder. This illness develops as a result of a pattern of inadequate caregiving or emotional neglect, which reduces an infant's chances of developing enduring relationships.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Significant psychological suffering that persists for longer than a month after exposure to a traumatic or stressful incident is the hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder. There must be signs from each of the categories mentioned above.

Acute Stress Disorder

While acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are similar, acute stress disorder only lasts three to one month after exposure to a severe or stressful incident.

Adjustment Disorder

The development of emotional or behavioral symptoms in response to a recognizable stressor characterizes adjustment disorders (e.g., problems at work, going off to college). A stressful incident must have happened within three months of the onset of adjustment disorder symptoms. The duration of symptoms is no longer than six months.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder

Generalized Anxiety Disorders is a broad spectrum of conditions having features of excessive and persistent irrational fear (an emotional response to imminent impending danger or threats), anxiety (the anticipation of a future impending danger or threat), worry (apprehension about certain expectations), and/or avoidance behavior. The causes of anxiety disorders is multifactorial like genetic, developmental, environmental, neurobiological, cognitive, and psychosocial factors.

Prolonged Grief Disorder

Prolonged grief disorder is an intense longing/ yearning and/or fixation with thoughts or memories of the dead one who died at least 1 year ago. The patient has at least three symptoms: 1) to Feeling as part of oneself has died, 2) disbelief death, emotional numbness, life is meaningless, intense loneliness, problems engaging with relatives and friends, lack of pursuing interests, 3) intense emotional pain, and avoiding incidents that the person has died.

Prolonged grief disorder patients often have maladaptive thoughts about the self, guilty feelings about death, and negative perspectives toward life goals and expectancy. Self-harm behaviors decreased self-care. Some of the patients also have hallucinations about the dead one, bitter feelings, anger, restlessness, blaming themselves or others for the death, and see a reduction in the quantity and quality of sleep (APA, 2022).

Treatment

Most trauma-related problems can be successfully treated with a combination of medication and psychotherapy. If you are looking for a “Counsellor near me” Connect with India’s no 1 Online Counselling and mental health well-being platform. For medication management consult with the “Best Psychiatrist near me”.

SSRIs (SELECTIVE SEROTONIN REUPTAKE INHIBITORS)

These antidepressants prevent the brain cells from reabsorbing the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT). Currently, the Food and Drug Administration has only approved two SSRIs for the treatment of PTSD: Zoloft (sertraline) and Paxil (paroxetine).

PSYCHOTHERAPY

It has been demonstrated that two types of trauma-focused cognitive-behavior therapy (TF-CBT) are successful in treating trauma-related problems. An effective CBT approach for treating anxiety and trauma-related problems is prolonged exposure therapy. The patient is "exposed" to the object or things they shun in a safe atmosphere by the therapist. In Exposure therapy, exposure to the dreaded object, things, actions, or circumstances is given in a secure and safe setting, in a graded manner there by helps in lowering anxiety and lowering avoidance behavior.

The goal of cognitive processing therapy (CPT) is to help the client understand the traumatic incident and develop control over the upsetting thoughts and feelings that are connected to it. CPT focuses on how the traumatic incident has influenced your life and the techniques you need to combat trauma-related maladaptive thoughts.

Due to the fact that exposure to a particular traumatic or stressful event causes the disorders to manifest, determining the incidence of trauma-related disorders can be challenging. Less than 1% of children under the age of five are thought to be affected by RAD and disinhibited social interaction disorder, which is considered unusual in the general community.

8.7% of people are thought to have PTSD at some point in their lives. PTSD can happen at any age, although it affects women more frequently than males. Depending on the traumatic experience, acute stress disorder prevalence varies.

The most prevalent and least severe disorders are adjustment disorders. Different adjustment disorders are more common than others. According to research, 2.9% of patients in primary care and between 20% and 30% of patients in outpatient mental health services fit the criteria for an adjustment disorder. Seek Online Counselling with the Best Clinical Psychologist in India to overcome trauma, grief, and stress.

Contributed by: Dr (Prof) R K Suri & Ms. Aditi Bhardwaj