Beyond Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Other Mental Health Conditions That Can Result From Trauma

Post-traumatic stress disorder is both the most commonly diagnosed and most well-known trauma-related disorder — but it's far from the only diagnosable condition that can be triggered by a traumatic experience.

Not only will many people experience "subclinical" PTSD symptoms, that is, some of the symptoms of PTSD but without meeting the full diagnostic criteria, some who would be diagnosed with another condition instead of PTSD still have some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, too. What's more, it's not unusual for people to develop both PTSD and another condition in the aftermath of a trauma. 

This is one of the reasons self-diagnosing PTSD after a trauma can be a very bad idea — if you assume that profound changes in functioning and emotions after a trauma must mean you've got post-traumatic stress disorder, simply because you're aware that this disorder can develop when you've suffered a trauma, you may be missing the mark. 

1. Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Currently recognized by the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) but not by the fifth edition of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) used in the US, Complex PTSD is a more severe and complicated form of post-traumatic stress disorder that can set in after a person has lived through severe, prolonged, or repeated trauma, particularly in childhood. 

Besides the same symptoms that mark post-traumatic stress disorder, someone with C-PTSD will also have developed:

• Profound and chronic changes in the way they regulate and process emotions. This can manifest as existential sadness, aggression, internalizing emotions, suicidal feelings, and sometimes anger focused on revenge. 
• Severe changes in self-image, characterized by feelings of severe alienation from other people and society, and chronic self-blame and guilt. 
• Extreme difficulty maintaining relationships with other people, either because of an inability to trust anyone, or because the person is constantly looking for a "savior". 
• Marked dissociative symptoms, including large memory gaps, severe reexperiencing symptoms, and a pervasive loss of faith and hope. 

2. Acute Stress Disorder

Acute stress disorder represents a normative stress response to trauma, and can be diagnosed if someone has nine or more of its symptoms within the first three days to a month after living through a traumatic event. Its symptoms are:

• Intrusive, distressing, and involuntary memories of the traumatic event. 
• Nightmares about the trauma. 
• Flashbacks, an experience in which you feel as if you are, in some way, back at the time of the trauma. 
• Profound distress when you're reminded of the trauma.
• Being unable to experience positive emotions. 
• Dissociative symptoms like derealization an depersonalization. The world or your body may somehow feel "not real", "fog-like", "dream-like", "as if it were happening to someone else", or "on autopilot".
• An inability to remember important parts of the trauma. 
• Efforts to avoid memories, thoughts, or feelings about the trauma. 
• Efforts to avoid circumstances — like people, places, things, or ideas — that will remind you of the trauma. 
• Sleep dysfunction.
• Anger or irritability.
• Hypervigilance — a state of always being "on guard".
• Trouble concentrating.
• An exaggerated startle response. 

Some, but not all, people initially diagnosed with acute stress disorder will go on to develop PTSD.

3. Clinical depression

As a refresher, depressive symptoms include profound sadness, loss of interest in activities that used to be important to you, spontaneous weight gain or loss, loss of appetite or overeating, fatigue, trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping or oversleeping, and feelings of guilt and hopelessness. Some depressed people are also suicidal. As you'll notice if you're familiar with PTSD, a lot of the symptoms overlap. 

4. Substance abuse or substance use disorders

PTSD sufferers are more likely than others to abuse alcohol and drugs — often, it's believed, in a bid to "self-medicate" and find symptom relief or emotional numbing from substance use. Research suggests that the relationship between PTSD and substance use is a two-way street, however, as it is possible that addicts are more likely to experience traumatic events (since addiction can increase the risk of finding yourself in a dangerous situation). The same genetic factors that make someone more susceptible to developing PTSD may also increase their risk of addiction. 

Because PTSD and substance use disorders reinforce each other, it's important to receive treatment for both at the same time. 

5. Combat stress reaction

While combat stress is not a clinical diagnosis, this combat-related reaction to trauma that can strike both during and immediately after combat is well-known in the military world, and has been known by many different names. Some soldiers who exhibit signs of combat stress will later go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder, but by no means all. Combat stress shares symptoms with acute stress disorder, but is unique to conflict or war situations. 

The bottom line