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Following a traumatic event, it is normal that a person's perception changes and serves to somehow distance the person from the extreme circumstance.
This is a completely natural mechanism. It helps a person cope with the situation and provides self-protection. Persons who are diagnosed with PTSD are those where the above mentioned thought processes continue to occur later in life. This is considered to be the consequence of a response to any trigger that brings back thoughts of the trauma.
Biochemically, several researches done in the past showed that this may be related to persistent elevations of a substance called glutamate in the brain. What is the role of this glutamate?
Glutamate generally rises in response to stress and returns to normal following the event.
Who is most likely to develop PTSD?
Target groups that are most likely to develop this psychiatric disorder are:
Those who experience greater intensity of stress situations, especially if those situations are unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Those with vulnerability factors such as
- genetics,
- early age of onset and
- longer-lasting childhood trauma,
- lack of functional social support, and
- Concurrent stressful life events.
Those who experience threat or danger, suffering, upset, terror, and horror or fear
Those whose social environment produces feeling of shame, guilt, stigmatization, or self-hatred
What are the consequences associated with PTSD?
It is proven that PTSD is associated with a number of distinctive neurobiological and physiological changes. People diagnosed with PTSD may experience several neurobiological alterations in the
- Central nervous system and
- Autonomic nervous systems
Many experts believe that the main problem is that, people with PTSD tend to have abnormal levels of key hormones involved in the body's response to stress:
- Cortisol levels in those with PTSD are lower than normal
- Norepinephrine levels are higher than normal.
PTSD patients also develop problems with over-active thyroid gland. When the diagnosis of PTSD is set early in childhood, those children have greater chances to develop some other psychiatric disorders.
The most common disorders found in people with PTSD are:
Men
- alcohol abuse or dependence (51.9 percent),
- major depressive episodes (47.9 percent),
- conduct disorders (43.3 percent), and
- Drug abuse and dependence (34.5 percent).
Women
- major depressive disorders (48.5 percent),
- simple phobias (29 percent),
- social phobias (28.4 percent), and
- Alcohol abuse/dependence (27.9 percent).
Some other, non-psychiatric disorders may also occur. They include headaches, gastrointestinal complaints, immune system problems, dizziness, chest pain, and discomfort in other parts of the body.