Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - What Should You Know?

PSTD could be the consequence of an accident that has a jarring and long-lasting effect on the person who witnesses or faces it directly. Most people who confront life-threatening or violent events like accidents, natural calamity, war or sexual assault in their lives, directly or vicariously, develop PTSD afterwards.

This is a popular misconception that surrounds PTSD. However, if truth be told, though a person s resilience plays a significant role in helping him/her recover, there are several other determining factors that work behind the development of PTSD, like, the type of trauma, the duration of the trauma, the nature of the trauma and the neurobiological constitution of the person concerned.

Helping a patient face his/her fears is the first parameter that PTSD Therapy targets at. Most of these patients avoid the situation that brought about the trauma in the first place. But, unfortunately, oblivion does not help a person get over the trauma; however, confrontation does.

A study conducted by American Psychological Association shows that, while 1 out of 25 men develop PTSD, for women the ratio is 1:10. Ironically, however, though men are more likely to confront traumatic experiences in their lives, women are more susceptible to developing PTSD. Researchers are of the opinion that it is the nature of the traumatic experience which matters the most. Women are more prone to facing sexual abuse than men, an occurrence that exerts a considerable amount of emotional stress on the woman, thereby leading to the development of PTSD at a later stage in life.