PTSD Flashcards
Reading a book & getting lost in it is an example of what?
Common Dissociation
when something pulls you away from what’s going on around you
Who is better @ dissociating things - children or adults?
Children
Diff. between PTSD & ASD?
PTSD lasts >1month
Is Trauma required for Dissociative Disorders?
No, but it is highly ass’d w/ occurrence
What are the 4 sets of symptoms that characterize PTSD?
Intrusion symptoms (memories, flashbacks, nightmares, intense physical reactions in situations which remind of trauma)
Avoidance/ emotional numbing (avoidance of places/ thoughts etc. which remind of trauma, loss of interest in life, feelings of detachment & emotional numbness)
Negative alterations in cognitions and mood (inability to remember aspects of trauma, persistent negative beliefs about self & the world,
persistent distorted blame of self or others, persistent negative emotions, constricted affect, decreased interest in activities, feelings of alienation)
Increased arousal (insomnia, irritability/ outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, jumpy/ easily startled, self-destructive behavior)
Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) diagnosis?
• Exposure to traumatic event
9 or more symptoms of • Intrusion • Negative Mood • Dissociative symptoms • Avoidance • Arousal
- Clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning
- Disturbance lasts for a minimum of 2 days, and maximum of 4 weeks, and occurs within 4 weeks of the traumatic event
5 Symptoms of “Severe Dissociation”?
- Extended periods of “lost time”
- Unintentional trance states
- Extensive amnesia
- Persistent depersonalization or derealization
- Altered sense of identity, sense of self
Diagnosis?
Perceptual alienation & separation from one’s body
Depersonalization Disorder
Diagnosis?
Psychogenic, clinically significant inability to access memories.
May include “Dissociative fugue” – extended travel with associated identity disturbance.
Dissociative Amnesia
Diagnosis?
The experience of having two or more personalities (“alters”) within oneself
Dissociative Identity Disorder
“Multiple Personality Disorder”
Diagnosis?
“Multiple Personality Disorder”
Dissociative Identity Disorder
Do most trauma victims have continuous, partial, or complete loss of memory?
- Most victims of trauma have continuous memory
- 40-60% have a period of partial or total amnesia
During Depersonalization Disorder, does reality testing remain in tact?
Yes
Which of the Dissociative Disorders is “least severe” & cannot be diagnosed if any others are present or if ASD, PTSD, Panic, other mental disorder(s) is/are present?
Depersonalization Disorder
Diagnosis?
Persistent or recurrent experiences of feeling detached from, and as if one is an outside observer of, one’s mental processes or body.
Depersonalization Disorder
if NO other mental issues present, basically
Depersonalization Disorder usually comes on following _______.
Onset following severe stress
Depersonalization Disorder - usually acute or chronic?
Chronic
Depersonalization Disorder - does it usually present w/ relatively steady level of depersonalization or w/ exacerbations & remissions?
Exacerbations (following new stresses) & remissions
Diagnosis?
“The predominant disturbance is one or more episodes of inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness.”
Dissociative Amnesia
Typical onset of Dissociative Amnesia?
Follows severe trauma (highest risk events: combat, witnessed murder, sexual trauma)
Can Dissociative Amnesia be diagnosed along w/ other dissociative/traumatic disorder?
No, it is not diagnosed if part of another dissociative disorder, ASD or PTSD
Dissociative Amnesia - age of onset?
Can occur @ any age
Dissociative Amnesia - timeframe?
Can be transient or long-term
Which diagnosis may include “fugue” - sudden, unexpected travel elsewhere and re-establishment of new identity w/ no recall of past?
Dissociative Amnesia
Risk factors for Delayed Recall / Recovered Memories?
- Repeated trauma
- Children or adolescents
- Sexual abuse
- Violence
- High levels of self-reported distress
Dissociative Identity Disorder - Age of onset?
Onset of symptoms in adolescence or before (although diagnosis often quite delayed)
In Dissociative Identity Disorder is there a genetic predisposition to dissociation?
Yes (hypnotizability)
Dissociative Identity Disorder - Gender?
female > male
Which of 3 Dissociative Disorders takes precedence over the other 2?
Dissociative Identity Disorder
What is the Goal of treatment in Dissociative Identity Disorder?
Goal is integrating memories of the trauma into individual’s life story in tolerable, reframed way
(while also treating symptoms)
Define “Trauma”
Direct or indirect experience of an event that
involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or other threat to one’s physical integrity
Common non-war related cause of trauma in US?
Intimate Partner Violence
