Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was formally recognized as a diagnostic entity by psychiatry in 1980 (Sparr, 1995). It was controversial when first introduced, and since then it has had to be continually redefined as a result of an onslaught of disability and personal injury claims using it as a basis for their suits. PTSD is now less controversial because it now requires that the etiological agent be outside the individual - a traumatic event, rather than an inherent individual weakness (Friedman, 2005). It was meant to cover such traumatic events as war, torture, rape, the Nazi holocaust, natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes, and man-made disasters such as plane crashes and automobile accidents. It was not meant to cover such things as divorce, rejection, failure, serious illness and other life problems.
An individual must have been exposed to a traumatic event to be diagnosed with PTSD (Friedman, 2005). Not everyone exposed to trauma develops PTSD, and like pain, trauma is filtered through cognitive and emotional processes before being seen as an extreme threat. Different individuals have different trauma thresholds. For a PTSD diagnosis, there must be evidence of experiencing a trauma; intrusive recollection of the event, daytime fantasies, traumatic nightmares, flashbacks; avoidant/numbing symptoms that reflect behavioral, cognitive or emotional strategies used in attempts to reduce their likelihood of exposure to trauma-related stimuli; hyper-arousal, seen as panic and generalized anxiety disorders; a duration of symptoms of six months under DSM-III or one month under DSM-III-R or longer; and the sufferer must experience significant social, occupational, or other distress as a result of these symptoms.
PTSD has been shown by longitudinal research studies to become a chronic condition that can persist for decades or even a lifetime, with periods of remission and relapse (Friedman, 2005). Ques...