Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a severe mental disorder that can develop after experiencing an emotionally перегруженный traumatic event.
For example:
- being in a combat zone
- natural and anthropogenic disasters
- sexual assault and rape
- robbery, torture, imprisonment
- sudden loss of a loved one
- certain clinical diagnoses
- interpersonal conflicts
- enforced relocation
All these events are potentially life-threatening and can lead not just to PTSD, but even more mental and somatic disorders.PTSD symptoms can occur right after the traumatic event, as well as years later. It can lead to depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, addictions, suicidality, and aggressiveness.
PTSD conditions:
- “Soldier’s heart” (chest pain, heartbeat, intermittent breathing, increased sweating)
- Survivor’s syndrome (chronic “survivor’s guilt”)
- Flashback syndrome (memories of “unbearable” events violently invading the mind)
- Manifestations of “combatant” psychopathy (identity disruption, aggressiveness and impulsive behavior with violence, abuse of alcohol and narcotic substances, messy sexual relationships with isolation and suspicion)
- Progressing asthenia symptom (post-imprisonment asthenia that appears after returning to normal life in the form of rapid aging, loss of weight, mental sluggishness, and desire for peace)
- Post-traumatic rental condition (acquired disability with a conscious benefit from the advantages and privileges due to transition to the passive lifestyle)
Usually, patients have undesired memories and replay of the initiating event. Dreaming about these events is quite common.
Patients struggle to avoid stimuli related to the trauma and usually they feel emotionally numb in daily life.
Sometimes symptoms are the continuation of the severe stress disorder or they may occur separately for up to six months after the traumatic event.
Sometimes the complete manifestation of the separate symptoms may be delayed and starts only a few months or even years after the traumatic event.
Depression, other anxiety disorders, and toxicomania are common for patients with PTSD. At the same time, patients may feel guilty about their actions during the traumatic events or often associate it with their survival and loss of their loved ones.
Prolonged Pathologic Reaction of Grief
Prolonged Pathologic Reaction of Grief is a disorder in which after the death of a partner, parent, child, or someone close, a strong and overpowering feeling of grief occurs, characterized by yearning for the deceased person. It intense emotional pain:
- sadness
- guilt
- anger
- denial
- accusement
- inability to accept the death
- the feeling of loss feels like a part of a person
- inability to experience positive emotions
- emotional numbness
- struggling in engaging in social life or other activities
The feeling of grief can last for an exceptionally long period after the loss (minimum six months), certainly exceeding the accepted social, cultural, or religious norms.
This disorder causes remarkable disruptions in personal, family, social, educational, professional, and other important fields of functioning.
Signs and symptoms of a prolonged feeling of grief:
- a strong focus on the loss and things or events that remind of the deceased
- unbearable yearning for the deceased
- inability to accept the death
- aloofness or estrangement
- concern about one’s suffering
- embitterment due to loss
- inability to enjoy life
- depression or gloom
- inability to engage in daily activities
- refusal to engage in social life
- feeling that life lost its meaning and purpose
- irritability or agitation
- lack of trust in others
The prolonged reaction of grief affects physical, mental, and social health.
Complications that may occur without proper treatment:
- depression
- suicidal thoughts or behavior
- anxiety
- long-term troubles in everyday life
- post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- drug abuse
- smoking/tobacco abuse
Survivor’s Syndrome
Survivor’s syndrome (also known as survivor’s guilt complex or last survivor’s syndrome) — is the feeling of guilt, when the person is one of few who manages to survive after an accident, terrorist attack, or catastrophe. People whose lives are easier than their friends or relatives experience something similar. This is a mental state in which the person vainly tries to rationalize why they survived, but everyone else died.
The syndrome can occur in different forms:
- The propensity for risk — the person constantly looks for ways to get an adrenaline rush to distract from tough feelings and thoughts.
- Alcoholism and drug addiction — psychoactive substances help the suffering person to escape reality but bring much more global problems.
- Desire to isolate — social ties are reduced or even completely broken.
In 2018, Sydney Aiello survived the shooting in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. An expelled student killed seventeen people and one of them was a close friend of Sydney. A year later, she committed suicide. The girl’s mother said that her daughter was experiencing survivor’s guilt and was diagnosed with PTSD.
In April 2020, American journalist Char Adams defined an unusual form of survivor’s guilt that she experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. When the virus began to spread, she already expected serious negative changes: problems with health, money, food, and medication, she was scared that her family would get sick and she would be unable to do anything. But everything turned out to be different: things were going well, Char liked to work remotely, and none of her family members got sick. At the same time, many of Adams’ friends and peers lost their jobs or took care of their sick relatives. She is asking herself: “How can I be happy when my loved ones are suffering? How dare I? Is it right to feel good at such a horrible time?”
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (complex PTSD) — is a disorder that can develop after the impact of an event or series of extremely terrifying or threatening events. Usually, these events are long-term or recurring and unavoidable (torture, slavery, genocide campaigns, prolonged domestic violence, and recurring sexual or physical violence in childhood).
All requirements for PTSD diagnosis are met. Moreover, complex PTSD is characterized by:
- struggles in the regulation of the effect
- strong perception of oneself as humiliated, crushed, or worthless caused by the stress, accompanied by guilt, shame, or feeling of failure
- troubles in maintaining relationships and experiencing closeness to other people
These symptoms cause significant disturbances in personal, family, social, educational, professional, or other important areas of functioning.
Complex PTSD can be diagnosed in adults and children that have experienced repetitive traumatic events like violence, negligence, or abuse.
Complex PTSD is considered to be severe if:
- Traumatic events occurred at an early age;
- Trauma was caused by a parent or guardian;
- The person was experiencing the trauma for a long time;
- The person was alone during the traumatic event;
- The person is still in contact with the person who is responsible for the trauma.
Symptoms of complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are similar to symptoms of PTSD, but may also include:
- guilt or shame
- problems with controlling emotions
- periods of attention span and concentration loss
- physical symptoms such as headache, dizziness, pain in the chest or stomach
- cutting off friends and family
- problems in relationships
- destructive or risky behavior such as self-harm, alcohol or drug abuse
- suicidal thoughts