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Chapter 6.2 - Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2024

By
Jonathan I. Bisson
Edited by
David Kingdon ,
Paul Rowlands  and
George Stein
David Kingdon
Affiliation:
University of Southampton
Paul Rowlands
Affiliation:
Derbyshire Healthcare NHS foundation Trust
George Stein
Affiliation:
Emeritus of the Princess Royal University Hospital
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Summary

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) cause significant distress to people affected by them. PTSD is one of the few psychiatric conditions that requires exposure to a specific type of event before diagnosis can be made. The ICD-11 definition requires ’extremely threatening or horrific event or series of events’. The core symptoms of ICD-11 PTSD are very much based on fear, but people with additional disturbances in self organisation (including more shame- and guilt-based phenomena) are included in CPTSD.

The Covid-19 pandemic has been very traumatic to many people, and a proportion of people have developed PTSD due to the traumatic nature of their experiences during the pandemic.

Despite the limited evidence for effective preventative interventions, there is strong evidence for effective psychological and pharmacological treatments. Early detection and treatment is vital to reduce the individual and societal impact of these common mental disorders.

Keywords

PTSDCPTSDtraumaCovid-19CBTCBT-TFexposure therapyEMDRpharmacological treatment
Type
Chapter
Information
Seminars in General Adult Psychiatry , pp. 314 - 323
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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