Anxiety Disorders - PTSD Flashcards
What is a centrifugal disaster?
When the people involved are only together at the time of the incident
What is a centripetal disaster? What is the danger of this?
Affects an existing community, the danger is that first responders are also often from that community and can want to help their own families first
What is type 1 trauma?
A one off, unexpected traumatic incident
What is type 2 trauma?
Repetitive trauma
The risk of PTSD is higher with which type of trauma?
Type 2
Describe what makes a major incident?
Beyond what could normally be coped with by deployment of emergency services
How do most people behave during a traumatic event?
Most people will behave rationally
What is tonic immobility and when does it occur?
An involuntary (but reversible) state of profound motor inhibition which occurs when there is an inescapable threat
Tonic immobility occurs in up to 2/3rds of cases of what?
Sexual assault
What are some pre-traumatic (person related) risk factors for the development of PTSD?
Unresolved past trauma, history of psychiatric condition, serious physical injury, low serum cortisol and severe acute stress reaction
What are some peri-traumatic (trauma related) risk factors for the development of PTSD?
Unexpected event, prolonged exposure, perceived threat to life, multiple deaths
What are some post-traumatic (environment related) risk factors for the development of PTSD?
Lack of social support, ongoing stresses, disadvantaged, survivor guilt
What is the relationship between vulnerability and trauma?
Vulnerability plays less of a role in severe trauma, however in vulnerable people only a small trauma may be needed for problems to start
PTSD has a stronger association with what than any other anxiety disorder?
Suicide
Approximately 80% of people with PTSD will have at least 1 other psychiatric condition, which are the most common?
Depression, substance misuse, other anxiety disorders
According to DSM criteria for PTSD, what 3 classes of symptoms must be present?
Re-experiencing, avoidance and hyper-arousal
How long must symptoms persist for to be diagnosed with PTSD?
1 month
What are some examples of re-experiencing symptoms of PTSD?
Flashbacks, nightmares, distressing intrusive images
What often triggers flashbacks in PTSD?
Something that reminds of the trauma
What are some examples of avoidance symptoms of PTSD?
Avoiding people, places or situations that are associated with the event, amnesia for important aspects of the trauma
What are some examples of hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD?
Sleep disturbance, irritability/anger, hypervigilence, difficulty concentrating, exaggerated responses to small triggers
What are some examples of emotional numbing symptoms of PTSD?
Lack of ability to experience feelings, feeling detatched
Which brain structure is responsible for having a role in declarative or explicit memory and the stress response?
Hippocampus
Which brain structure is responsible for having a role in fear during and after the trauma?
Amygdala
What happens to the hippocampus in PTSD?
It is often shrunken, usually on the right side due to low levels of cortisol
