Psych Solve

Checklist: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Traumatic stress disorder

• People who are diagnosed with PTSD experience three different types of symptoms:

• 1. Reliving or reexperiencing the traumatic event

• 2. Avoiding situations, thoughts, and activating events related to the trauma

• 3. Experiencing increased distress levels as a result of the trauma

• PTSD is diagnosed when a person has experienced these symptoms for longer than one month. If a person experiences these symptoms immediately after a trauma or for less than one month, a diagnosis of acute stress disorder would be made. Acute stress disorder shares many of the same symptoms as PTSD and the treatment is often similar.

• These symptoms greatly interfere with a person’s life:

• Having recurring thoughts, memories, or dreams about the event

• Having recurring thoughts, memories, or dreams about the event

• Experiencing physical, emotional, or psychological distress when you see or hear things that remind you of the event

• Avoiding thoughts, emotions, or conversations related to the trauma

• Avoiding people, places, or events that might trigger memories of the traum

• Avoiding activities that the person enjoyed or participated in before the trauma

• Avoiding certain emotions, especially pleasant emotions

• Avoid thinking about or planning for the future, often due to the thought that life won’t last very long

• Inexplicable avoidance of memories related to the trauma

• Feeling easily annoyed or angry

• Being unable to sleep soundly or comfortably

• Being unable to think clearly

• Feeling constantly alert, as if waiting for something to happen

• Being easily startled or frightened