There’s still so much to learn when it comes to dealing with traumatic events, the subsequent psychological trauma and the disorders associated with them. For victims of aggression and brutality, one thing remains and that is their will to live after the distressing ordeal. At some point, you must have also experienced or witnessed violence. For some people, this can lead to mental, emotional or physical problems, and it’s alarming to know that the number of cases worldwide is increasing. This involves posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD and it’s mainly seen in soldiers but can affect anyone after being exposed to a highly traumatic stressor. The major symptoms include flashback and nightmares of past traumatic events, the desire to be alone, feeling of numbness, outburst of rage and so on. They can last for a brief period or for a long time. They can even recur at any given time.
Generally, treating individuals with this type of disorder needs a combination of therapy and a comprehensive assessment. One of the PTSD assessments that you may encounter is the clinical checklists that basically measure the key classes of PTSD symptoms. One, it initially measures the extent of trauma exposure and the severity of symptoms. Two, it evaluates the features commonly linked with the disorder such as trauma-related guilt to name one. There are several PTSD checklists out there yet the most suitable ones are known to be the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale that contains a comprehensive trauma checklist, the Davidson Trauma Scale that boasts of validity and sensitivity to treatment effects, and the standard PTSD Checklist which has valuable psychometric features. There is little to differentiate among these scales or assessment tools and you can learn that they take about 5-10 minutes to carry out. Queries may involve recollecting the event, noting certain symptoms and behavior and other related reminders of the traumatic incident.
What’s your trauma story? Generally, trauma survivors need to work their way through their experiences and find meaning to it all. Being exposed to trauma doesn’t always lead to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Yet for some people, the presence of the disorder is inescapable. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress such as flashbacks, nightmares, isolation, hyperactivity, irrational rage etc. are diverse in each individual and these manifestations are starting to become a complex mystery at present. As a result, assessing PTSD and its associated complications have become a challenge for researchers and health care professionals alike. This is also where they may conclude whether it’s best to deal with the symptoms as a single posttraumatic entity or address them with individual treatments.