Dear Friends,
I had this in my files --- do not know the
source, but I thought some of you
may be interested in it. Some of us may be
suffering from PTSD.
It used to be called shell shock, or battle
fatigue.
Ther official criteria for diagnosis are:
A. The person has been expiosecd to a traumatic
event in which both of the
following were present (a) The person
experienced, witnessed, or was
confronted with an event or events that involved
actual or threatened death
or serious injury or a threat to the physical
integrity of self or others;
(b) the person's response involved intense fear,
helplessness, or horror
(in
children, this may be expressed insterad by
disorganized or agitated
behavior).
B. The traumatic event is persistently
reexperienced in one (or more) of
the following ways: (a) recurrent and intrusive
distressing recollections
of
the evenet, including images, thoughts, or
perceptions (in young children,
repetitive play may occur in which themes or
aspects of the trauma are
expressed); (b) recurrent distressing dreams of
the event (in children,
there may be frightening dreams without
recognizable content); (c) acting
or
feeling as if the traumatic event were recurring
(flashback); (d) intense
psychological distress at exposure to internal or
external cues that
symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic
event; (e) physiological
reactivity on exposure to internal or external
cues that symbolize or
resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.
C. Perrsistent aboidance of stimuli associated
with the trauma and numbing
of general responsiveness (several examples are
given)
D: Persistent symtoms of increased arousal, such
as difficulty falling or
staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of
anger, difficulty
concentrating, hypervigilence, exaggerated
startle response.
E: Duration of the disturbance is more than one
month.
F. The disturbance causes clinicall significant
distress or impairment in
social, occupational, or other important areas of
functioning.