PTSD - a definition...

Ok so first things first what is post traumatic stress disorder? I had a really interesting meeting with a specialist in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) the other week. Professor David Alexander is one of the most highly regarded professionals in the UK in this field – and very lovely man I might add !

He explained to me that only around 10-18% of RTA (road traffic accidents) casualties get PTSD. PTSD is more commonly linked to larger catastrophic incidents such as earthquakes’ and the likes of the 9/11 bombings. He himself had not long come back from helping with the earthquake victims in India and also has a large wealth of experience in working with soldiers.

What he taught me was that there is a lot of confusion between what is known as PTSD and PTSS (post traumatic stress symptoms). PTSS consists mainly of 3 psychological pathogens these are:

1) Depression

2) Anxiety

3) Subsance abuse

Where PTSS crosses into PTSD is where there is the addition of other less controllable factors such as flash backs and hyper arousal. This is not to say that PTSS cannot have the same impact on a persons lifestyle. I suppose what I’m getting at here is that people are more willing to admit they have PTSD over any other mental issue.