Misplaced Pages

#705294

117-478: Post-traumatic stress disorder ( PTSD ) is a mental and behavioral disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault , warfare , traffic collisions , child abuse , domestic violence , or other threats on a person's life or well-being. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma -related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in

234-407: A norepinephrine /cortisol ratio consequently higher than comparable non-diagnosed individuals. This is in contrast to the normative fight-or-flight response , in which both catecholamine and cortisol levels are elevated after exposure to a stressor. Brain catecholamine levels are high, and corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) concentrations are high. Together, these findings suggest abnormality in

351-480: A social context .  Such disturbances may occur as single episodes, may be persistent, or may be relapsing–remitting . There are many different types of mental disorders, with signs and symptoms that vary widely between specific disorders. A mental disorder is one aspect of mental health . The causes of mental disorders are often unclear. Theories incorporate findings from a range of fields. Disorders may be associated with particular regions or functions of

468-513: A "fuzzy prototype " that can never be precisely defined, or conversely that the concept always involves a mixture of scientific facts and subjective value judgments. Although the diagnostic categories are referred to as 'disorders', they are presented as medical diseases, but are not validated in the same way as most medical diagnoses. Some neurologists argue that classification will only be reliable and valid when based on neurobiological features rather than clinical interview, while others suggest that

585-574: A "wastebasket" diagnosis when organic amnesia is not apparent. Other researchers have hastened to defend the notion of psychogenic amnesia and its right not to be dismissed as a clinical disorder. Diagnoses of psychogenic amnesia have dropped since agreement in the field of transient global amnesia , suggesting some over diagnosis at least. Speculation also exists about psychogenic amnesia due to its similarities with 'pure retrograde amnesia', as both share similar retrograde loss of memory. Also, although no functional damage or brain lesions are evident in

702-460: A category for enduring personality change after a catastrophic experience or psychiatric illness. If an inability to sufficiently adjust to life circumstances begins within three months of a particular event or situation, and ends within six months after the stressor stops or is eliminated, it may instead be classed as an adjustment disorder . There is an emerging consensus that personality disorders, similar to personality traits in general, incorporate

819-442: A category of relational disorder , where the diagnosis is of a relationship rather than on any one individual in that relationship. The relationship may be between children and their parents, between couples, or others. There already exists, under the category of psychosis, a diagnosis of shared psychotic disorder where two or more individuals share a particular delusion because of their close relationship with each other. There are

936-635: A child with chronic illnesses. Research exists which demonstrates that survivors of psychotic episodes , which exist in diseases such as schizophrenia , schizoaffective disorder , bipolar I disorder , and others, are at greater risk for PTSD due to the experiences one may have during and after psychosis. Such traumatic experiences include, but are not limited to, the treatment patients experience in psychiatric hospitals , police interactions due to psychotic behavior, suicidal behavior and attempts, social stigma and embarrassment due to behavior while in psychosis, frequent terrifying experiences due to psychosis, and

1053-440: A dimension or spectrum of mood, is subject to some scientific debate. Patterns of belief, language use and perception of reality can become dysregulated (e.g., delusions , thought disorder , hallucinations ). Psychotic disorders in this domain include schizophrenia , and delusional disorder . Schizoaffective disorder is a category used for individuals showing aspects of both schizophrenia and affective disorders. Schizotypy

1170-482: A disorder, it generally needs to cause dysfunction. Most international clinical documents use the term mental "disorder", while "illness" is also common. It has been noted that using the term "mental" (i.e., of the mind ) is not necessarily meant to imply separateness from the brain or body . According to the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders ( DSM-IV ), published in 1994,

1287-427: A disorder. Obsessive–compulsive disorder can sometimes involve an inability to resist certain acts but is classed separately as being primarily an anxiety disorder. Substance use disorder : This disorder refers to the use of drugs (legal or illegal, including alcohol ) that persists despite significant problems or harm related to its use. Substance dependence and substance abuse fall under this umbrella category in

SECTION 10

#1732797961706

1404-403: A dysfunction in the individual. DSM-IV predicates the definition with caveats, stating that, as in the case with many medical terms, mental disorder "lacks a consistent operational definition that covers all situations", noting that different levels of abstraction can be used for medical definitions, including pathology, symptomology, deviance from a normal range, or etiology, and that the same

1521-399: A few anxiety disorders tend to appear in childhood. Some other anxiety disorders, substance disorders, and mood disorders emerge later in the mid-teens. Symptoms of schizophrenia typically manifest from late adolescence to early twenties. The likely course and outcome of mental disorders vary and are dependent on numerous factors related to the disorder itself, the individual as a whole, and

1638-526: A loved one accounts for approximately 20% of PTSD cases worldwide. Medical conditions associated with an increased risk of PTSD include cancer, heart attack, and stroke. 22% of cancer survivors present with lifelong PTSD like symptoms. Intensive-care unit (ICU) hospitalization is also a risk factor for PTSD. Some women experience PTSD from their experiences related to breast cancer and mastectomy . Loved ones of those who experience life-threatening illnesses are also at risk for developing PTSD, such as parents of

1755-492: A loved one is the most common traumatic event type reported in cross-national studies. However, the majority of people who experience this type of event will not develop PTSD. An analysis from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys found a 5.2% risk of developing PTSD after learning of the unexpected death of a loved one. Because of the high prevalence of this type of traumatic event, unexpected death of

1872-488: A maladaptive learning pathway to fear response through a hypersensitive, hyperreactive, and hyperresponsive HPA axis. Low cortisol levels may predispose individuals to PTSD: Following war trauma, Swedish soldiers serving in Bosnia and Herzegovina with low pre-service salivary cortisol levels had a higher risk of reacting with PTSD symptoms, following war trauma, than soldiers with normal pre-service levels. Because cortisol

1989-468: A marker of microglial activation ( 18-kDa translocator protein ) following lipopolysaccharide administration. This neuroimmune suppression is also associated with greater severity of anhedonic symptoms. Researchers suggest that treatments aimed at restoring neuroimmune function could be beneficial for alleviating PTSD symptoms. A meta-analysis of structural MRI studies found an association with reduced total brain volume, intracranial volume, and volumes of

2106-449: A mental disorder is a psychological syndrome or pattern that is associated with distress (e.g., via a painful symptom ), disability (impairment in one or more important areas of functioning), increased risk of death, or causes a significant loss of autonomy; however, it excludes normal responses such as the grief from loss of a loved one and also excludes deviant behavior for political, religious, or societal reasons not arising from

2223-416: A mixture of acute dysfunctional behaviors that may resolve in short periods, and maladaptive temperamental traits that are more enduring. Furthermore, there are also non-categorical schemes that rate all individuals via a profile of different dimensions of personality without a symptom-based cutoff from normal personality variation, for example through schemes based on dimensional models. An eating disorder

2340-458: A non-life-threatening traffic accident, and a similar proportion of children develop PTSD. Risk of PTSD almost doubles to 4.6% for life-threatening auto accidents. Females were more likely to be diagnosed with PTSD following a road traffic accident , whether the accident occurred during childhood or adulthood. Post-traumatic stress reactions have been studied in children and adolescents. The rate of PTSD might be lower in children than adults, but in

2457-505: A number of uncommon psychiatric syndromes , which are often named after the person who first described them, such as Capgras syndrome , De Clerambault syndrome , Othello syndrome , Ganser syndrome , Cotard delusion , and Ekbom syndrome , and additional disorders such as the Couvade syndrome and Geschwind syndrome . The onset of psychiatric disorders usually occurs from childhood to early adulthood. Impulse-control disorders and

SECTION 20

#1732797961706

2574-441: A period of time ranging from hours to years to decades. The atypical clinical syndrome of the memory disorder (as opposed to organic amnesia ) is that a person with psychogenic amnesia is profoundly unable to remember personal information about themselves; there is a lack of conscious self-knowledge which affects even simple self-knowledge, such as who they are. Psychogenic amnesia is distinguished from organic amnesia in that it

2691-697: A separate axis II in the case of the DSM-IV. A number of different personality disorders are listed, including those sometimes classed as eccentric , such as paranoid , schizoid and schizotypal personality disorders; types that have described as dramatic or emotional, such as antisocial , borderline , histrionic or narcissistic personality disorders; and those sometimes classed as fear-related, such as anxious-avoidant , dependent , or obsessive–compulsive personality disorders. Personality disorders, in general, are defined as emerging in childhood, or at least by adolescence or early adulthood. The ICD also has

2808-414: A severe psychiatric disability. Disability in this context may or may not involve such things as: In terms of total disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), which is an estimate of how many years of life are lost due to premature death or to being in a state of poor health and disability, psychiatric disabilities rank amongst the most disabling conditions. Unipolar (also known as Major) depressive disorder

2925-543: A sleep center for analysis, during which doctors ask for a detailed sleep history and sleep records. Doctors also use actigraphs and polysomnography . Doctors will do a multiple sleep latency test, which measures how long it takes a person to fall asleep. Sleep apnea, when breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, can be a serious sleep disorder. Three types of sleep apnea include obstructive sleep apnea , central sleep apnea , and complex sleep apnea . Sleep apnea can be diagnosed at home or with polysomnography at

3042-644: A sleep center. An ear, nose, and throat doctor may further help with the sleeping habits. Sexual disorders include dyspareunia and various kinds of paraphilia (sexual arousal to objects, situations, or individuals that are considered abnormal or harmful to the person or others). Impulse control disorder : People who are abnormally unable to resist certain urges or impulses that could be harmful to themselves or others, may be classified as having an impulse control disorder, and disorders such as kleptomania (stealing) or pyromania (fire-setting). Various behavioral addictions, such as gambling addiction, may be classed as

3159-428: A smaller hippocampus might be more likely to develop PTSD following a traumatic event based on preliminary findings. Research has also found that PTSD shares many genetic influences common to other psychiatric disorders. Panic and generalized anxiety disorders and PTSD share 60% of the same genetic variance. Alcohol, nicotine, and drug dependence share greater than 40% genetic similarities. PTSD symptoms may result when

3276-399: A traumatic event causes an over-reactive adrenaline response, which creates deep neurological patterns in the brain. These patterns can persist long after the event that triggered the fear, making an individual hyper-responsive to future fearful situations. During traumatic experiences, the high levels of stress hormones secreted suppress hypothalamic activity that may be a major factor toward

3393-438: A traumatic event in adulthood. It has been difficult to find consistently aspects of the events that predict, but peritraumatic dissociation has been a fairly consistent predictive indicator of the development of PTSD. Proximity to, duration of, and severity of the trauma make an impact. It has been speculated that interpersonal traumas cause more problems than impersonal ones, but this is controversial. The risk of developing PTSD

3510-743: A two-fold increased risk of death, with the leading causes of death being ischemic heart disease or cancers of the respiratory tract including lung cancer . Persons considered at risk for developing PTSD include combat military personnel, survivors of natural disasters, concentration camp survivors, and survivors of violent crime. Persons employed in occupations that expose them to violence (such as soldiers) or disasters (such as emergency service workers) are also at risk. Other occupations at an increased risk include police officers, firefighters, ambulance personnel, health care professionals, train drivers, divers, journalists, and sailors, as well as people who work at banks, post offices or in stores. The intensity of

3627-455: A very similar definition. The terms "mental breakdown" or "nervous breakdown" may be used by the general population to mean a mental disorder. The terms "nervous breakdown" and "mental breakdown" have not been formally defined through a medical diagnostic system such as the DSM-5 or ICD-10 and are nearly absent from scientific literature regarding mental illness. Although "nervous breakdown"

Post-traumatic stress disorder - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-490: A wide range of cases there is little consensus of which memory deficits are specific to psychogenic amnesia. Past literature has suggested psychogenic amnesia can be 'situation-specific' or 'global-transient', the former referring to memory loss for a particular incident, and the latter relating to large retrograde amnesic gaps of up to many years in personal identity. The most commonly cited examples of global-transient psychogenic amnesia are ' fugue states ', of which there

3861-591: A wide range of traumatic events. The risk of developing PTSD after a traumatic event varies by trauma type and is the highest following exposure to sexual violence (11.4%), particularly rape (19.0%). Men are more likely to experience a traumatic event (of any type), but women are more likely to experience the kind of high-impact traumatic event that can lead to PTSD, such as interpersonal violence and sexual assault . Motor vehicle collision survivors, both children and adults, are at an increased risk of PTSD. Globally, about 2.6% of adults are diagnosed with PTSD following

3978-486: Is anxiety or fear that interferes with normal functioning may be classified as an anxiety disorder. Commonly recognized categories include specific phobias , generalized anxiety disorder , social anxiety disorder , panic disorder , agoraphobia , obsessive–compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder . Other affective (emotion/mood) processes can also become disordered. Mood disorder involving unusually intense and sustained sadness, melancholia, or despair

4095-462: Is insomnia , which is described as difficulty falling and/or staying asleep. Other sleep disorders include narcolepsy , sleep apnea , REM sleep behavior disorder , chronic sleep deprivation , and restless leg syndrome . Narcolepsy is a condition of extreme tendencies to fall asleep whenever and wherever. People with narcolepsy feel refreshed after their random sleep, but eventually get sleepy again. Narcolepsy diagnosis requires an overnight stay at

4212-463: Is a category used for individuals showing some of the characteristics associated with schizophrenia, but without meeting cutoff criteria. Personality —the fundamental characteristics of a person that influence thoughts and behaviors across situations and time—may be considered disordered if judged to be abnormally rigid and maladaptive . Although treated separately by some, the commonly used categorical schemes include them as mental disorders, albeit on

4329-422: Is a nervous breakdown. But that term has vanished from medicine, although not from the way we speak.... The nervous patients of yesteryear are the depressives of today. That is the bad news.... There is a deeper illness that drives depression and the symptoms of mood. We can call this deeper illness something else, or invent a neologism, but we need to get the discussion off depression and onto this deeper disorder in

4446-477: Is a serious mental health condition that involves an unhealthy relationship with food and body image. They can cause severe physical and psychological problems. Eating disorders involve disproportionate concern in matters of food and weight. Categories of disorder in this area include anorexia nervosa , bulimia nervosa , exercise bulimia or binge eating disorder . Sleep disorders are associated with disruption to normal sleep patterns. A common sleep disorder

4563-526: Is a sudden retrograde loss of autobiographical memory resulting in impairment of personal identity and usually accompanied by a period of wandering. Suspected cases of psychogenic amnesia have been heavily reported throughout the literature since 1935 where it was reported by Abeles and Schilder. There are many clinical anecdotes of psychogenic or dissociative amnesia attributed to stressors ranging from cases of child sexual abuse to soldiers returning from combat. The neurological cause of psychogenic amnesia

4680-507: Is also associated with PTSD. There is evidence that susceptibility to PTSD is hereditary . Approximately 30% of the variance in PTSD is caused from genetics alone. For twin pairs exposed to combat in Vietnam, having a monozygotic (identical) twin with PTSD was associated with an increased risk of the co-twin's having PTSD compared to twins that were dizygotic (non-identical twins). Women with

4797-497: Is also higher if people around the survivor ignore (or are ignorant of) the rape or blame the rape survivor. Military service in combat is a risk factor for developing PTSD. Around 22% of people exposed to combat develop PTSD; in about 25% of military personnel who develop PTSD, its appearance is delayed. Refugees are also at an increased risk for PTSD due to their exposure to war, hardships, and traumatic events. The rates for PTSD within refugee populations range from 4% to 86%. While

Post-traumatic stress disorder - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-527: Is an old diagnosis involving somatic complaints as well as fatigue and low spirits/depression, which is officially recognized by the ICD-10 but no longer by the DSM-IV. Factitious disorders are diagnosed where symptoms are thought to be reported for personal gain. Symptoms are often deliberately produced or feigned, and may relate to either symptoms in the individual or in someone close to them, particularly people they care for. There are attempts to introduce

5031-802: Is common to have symptoms after any traumatic event, these must persist to a sufficient degree (i.e., causing dysfunction in life or clinical levels of distress) for longer than one month after the trauma to be classified as PTSD (clinically significant dysfunction or distress for less than one month after the trauma may be acute stress disorder ). Some following a traumatic event experience post-traumatic growth . Trauma survivors often develop depression, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders in addition to PTSD. More than 50% of those with PTSD have co-morbid anxiety , mood or substance use disorders . Substance use disorder , such as alcohol use disorder , commonly co-occur with PTSD. Recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder or other anxiety disorders may be hindered, or

5148-518: Is controversial as causation is not always clear, and both elements of psychological stress and organic amnesia may be present among cases. Often, but not necessarily, a premorbid history of psychiatric illness such as depression is thought to be present in conjunction to triggers of psychological stress. Lack of psychological evidence precipitating amnesia does not mean there is not any, for example trauma during childhood has even been cited as triggering amnesia later in life, but such an argument runs

5265-450: Is controversial. Even in cases of organic amnesia, where there is lesion or structural damage to the brain, caution must still be taken in defining causation, as only damage to areas of the brain crucial to memory processing is possible to result in memory impairment . Organic causes of amnesia can be difficult to detect, and often both organic cause and psychological triggers can be entangled. Failure to find an organic cause may result in

5382-401: Is increased in individuals who are exposed to physical abuse , physical assault , or kidnapping . Women who experience physical violence are more likely to develop PTSD than men. An individual that has been exposed to domestic violence is predisposed to the development of PTSD. There is a strong association between the development of PTSD in mothers that experienced domestic violence during

5499-456: Is known as major depression (also known as unipolar or clinical depression). Milder, but still prolonged depression, can be diagnosed as dysthymia . Bipolar disorder (also known as manic depression) involves abnormally "high" or pressured mood states, known as mania or hypomania , alternating with normal or depressed moods. The extent to which unipolar and bipolar mood phenomena represent distinct categories of disorder, or mix and merge along

5616-533: Is normally important in restoring homeostasis after the stress response, it is thought that trauma survivors with low cortisol experience a poorly contained—that is, longer and more distressing—response, setting the stage for PTSD. It is thought that the locus coeruleus-noradrenergic system mediates the over-consolidation of fear memory. High levels of cortisol reduce noradrenergic activity, and because people with PTSD tend to have reduced levels of cortisol, it has been proposed that individuals with PTSD cannot regulate

5733-646: Is not present, and it is highly likely that both psychological factors and organic cause exist in pure retrograde amnesia. Psychogenic amnesia is supposed to differ from organic amnesia in a number of ways; one being that unlike organic amnesia, psychogenic amnesia is thought to occur when no structural damage to the brain or brain lesion is evident. Psychological triggers are instead considered as preceding psychogenic amnesia, and indeed many anecdotal case studies which are cited as evidence of psychogenic amnesia hail from traumatic experiences such as World War II. As aforementioned however, an etiology of psychogenic amnesia

5850-399: Is not rigorously defined, surveys of laypersons suggest that the term refers to a specific acute time-limited reactive disorder involving symptoms such as anxiety or depression, usually precipitated by external stressors . Many health experts today refer to a nervous breakdown as a mental health crisis . In addition to the concept of mental disorder, some people have argued for a return to

5967-664: Is said to be steepest at its most recent premorbid period, whereas for psychogenic amnesia the temporal gradient of retrograde autobiographical memory loss is said to be quite consistently flat. Although there is much literature on psychogenic amnesia as dissimilar to organic amnesia, the distinction between neurological and psychological features is often difficult to discern and remains controversial. Brain activity can be assessed functionally for psychogenic amnesia using imaging techniques such as fMRI , PET and EEG , in accordance with clinical data. Some research has suggested that organic and psychogenic amnesia to some extent share

SECTION 50

#1732797961706

6084-418: Is similar to PTSD, but has a distinct effect on a person's emotional regulation and core identity. Prevention may be possible when counselling is targeted at those with early symptoms, but is not effective when provided to all trauma-exposed individuals regardless of whether symptoms are present. The main treatments for people with PTSD are counselling (psychotherapy) and medication. Antidepressants of

6201-449: Is still plausible. The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that the long-term studies' findings converged with others in "relieving patients, carers and clinicians of the chronicity paradigm which dominated thinking throughout much of the 20th century." A follow-up study by Tohen and coworkers revealed that around half of people initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder achieve symptomatic recovery (no longer meeting criteria for

6318-409: Is supposed to differ from organic amnesia qualitatively in that retrograde loss of autobiographical memory while semantic memory remains intact is said to be specific of psychogenic amnesia. Another difference that has been cited between organic and psychogenic amnesia is the temporal gradient of retrograde loss of autobiographical memory. The temporal gradient of loss in most cases of organic amnesia

6435-510: Is supposed to result from a nonorganic cause: no structural brain damage should be evident but some form of psychological stress should precipitate the amnesia. Psychogenic amnesia as a memory disorder is controversial. Psychogenic amnesia is the presence of retrograde amnesia (the inability to retrieve stored memories leading up to the onset of amnesia), and an absence of anterograde amnesia (the inability to form new long term memories). Access to episodic memory can be impeded, while

6552-446: Is that genetic, psychological, and environmental factors all contribute to the development or progression of mental disorders. Different risk factors may be present at different ages, with risk occurring as early as during prenatal period. Dissociative amnesia Dissociative amnesia was previously known as psychogenic amnesia, a memory disorder , which was characterized by sudden retrograde episodic memory loss, said to occur for

6669-747: Is the third leading cause of disability worldwide, of any condition mental or physical, accounting for 65.5 million years lost. The first systematic description of global disability arising in youth, in 2011, found that among 10- to 24-year-olds nearly half of all disability (current and as estimated to continue) was due to psychiatric disabilities, including substance use disorders and conditions involving self-harm . Second to this were accidental injuries (mainly traffic collisions) accounting for 12 percent of disability, followed by communicable diseases at 10 percent. The psychiatric disabilities associated with most disabilities in high-income countries were unipolar major depression (20%) and alcohol use disorder (11%). In

6786-661: Is true for mental disorders, so that sometimes one type of definition is appropriate and sometimes another, depending on the situation. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) redefined mental disorders in the DSM-5 as "a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning." The final draft of ICD-11 contains

6903-464: The SSRI or SNRI type are the first-line medications used for PTSD and are moderately beneficial for about half of people. Benefits from medication are less than those seen with counselling. It is not known whether using medications and counselling together has greater benefit than either method separately. Medications, other than some SSRIs or SNRIs, do not have enough evidence to support their use and, in

7020-423: The community , Treatments are provided by mental health professionals. Common treatment options are psychotherapy or psychiatric medication , while lifestyle changes, social interventions, peer support , and self-help are also options. In a minority of cases, there may be involuntary detention or treatment . Prevention programs have been shown to reduce depression. In 2019, common mental disorders around

7137-522: The hippocampus , insula cortex , and anterior cingulate . Much of this research stems from PTSD in those exposed to the Vietnam War. People with PTSD have decreased brain activity in the dorsal and rostral anterior cingulate cortices and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex , areas linked to the experience and regulation of emotion. The amygdala is strongly involved in forming emotional memories, especially fear-related memories. During high stress,

SECTION 60

#1732797961706

7254-421: The hippocampus , which is associated with placing memories in the correct context of space and time and memory recall, is suppressed. According to one theory, this suppression may be the cause of the flashbacks that can affect people with PTSD. When someone with PTSD undergoes stimuli similar to the traumatic event, the body perceives the event as occurring again because the memory was never properly recorded in

7371-522: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis . The maintenance of fear has been shown to include the HPA axis, the locus coeruleus - noradrenergic systems, and the connections between the limbic system and frontal cortex . The HPA axis that coordinates the hormonal response to stress, which activates the LC-noradrenergic system, is implicated in the over-consolidation of memories that occurs in

7488-429: The perinatal period of their pregnancy. Those who have experienced sexual assault or rape may develop symptoms of PTSD. The likelihood of sustained symptoms of PTSD is higher if the rapist confined or restrained the person, if the person being raped believed the rapist would kill them, the person who was raped was very young or very old, and if the rapist was someone they knew. The likelihood of sustained severe symptoms

7605-507: The thyroid hormone triiodothyronine in PTSD. This kind of type 2 allostatic adaptation may contribute to increased sensitivity to catecholamines and other stress mediators. Hyperresponsiveness in the norepinephrine system can also be caused by continued exposure to high stress. Overactivation of norepinephrine receptors in the prefrontal cortex can be connected to the flashbacks and nightmares frequently experienced by those with PTSD. A decrease in other norepinephrine functions (awareness of

7722-526: The 1970s, in large part due to the diagnoses of U.S. military veterans of the Vietnam War . It was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980 in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). Symptoms of PTSD generally begin within the first three months after the inciting traumatic event, but may not begin until years later. In

7839-469: The DSM and ICD, some approaches are not based on identifying distinct categories of disorder using dichotomous symptom profiles intended to separate the abnormal from the normal. There is significant scientific debate about the relative merits of categorical versus such non-categorical (or hybrid) schemes, also known as continuum or dimensional models. A spectrum approach may incorporate elements of both. In

7956-495: The DSM. Substance use disorder may be due to a pattern of compulsive and repetitive use of a drug that results in tolerance to its effects and withdrawal symptoms when use is reduced or stopped. Dissociative disorder : People with severe disturbances of their self-identity, memory, and general awareness of themselves and their surroundings may be classified as having these types of disorders, including depersonalization derealization disorder or dissociative identity disorder (which

8073-946: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), revealed that 22% of cancer survivors present with lifetime cancer-related PTSD (CR-PTSD), endorsing cancer diagnosis and treatment as a traumatic stressor. Therefore, as the number of people diagnosed with cancer increases and cancer survivorship improves, cancer-related PTSD becomes a more prominent issue, and thus, providing for cancer patients' physical and psychological needs becomes increasingly important. Evidence‐based treatments such as eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) are available for PTSD, and indeed, there have been promising reports of their effectiveness in cancer patients. Women who experience miscarriage are at risk of PTSD. Those who experience subsequent miscarriages have an increased risk of PTSD compared to those experiencing only one. PTSD can also occur after childbirth and

8190-477: The HPA axis by dexamethasone . Studies on the peripheral immune have found dysfunction with elevated cytokine levels and a higher risk of immune-related chronic diseases among individuals with PTSD. Neuroimmune dysfunction has also been found in PTSD, raising the possibility of a suppressed central immune response due to reduced activity of microglia in the brain in response to immune challenges. Individuals with PTSD, compared to controls, have lower increase in

8307-523: The ICD). Popular labels such as psychopath (or sociopath) do not appear in the DSM or ICD but are linked by some to these diagnoses. Somatoform disorders may be diagnosed when there are problems that appear to originate in the body that are thought to be manifestations of a mental disorder. This includes somatization disorder and conversion disorder . There are also disorders of how a person perceives their body, such as body dysmorphic disorder . Neurasthenia

8424-765: The absence of therapy, symptoms may continue for decades. One estimate suggests that the proportion of children and adolescents having PTSD in a non-wartorn population in a developed country may be 1% compared to 1.5% to 3% of adults. On average, 16% of children exposed to a traumatic event develop PTSD, with the incidence varying according to type of exposure and gender. Similar to the adult population, risk factors for PTSD in children include: female gender , exposure to disasters (natural or man-made), negative coping behaviors, and/or lacking proper social support systems. Predictor models have consistently found that childhood trauma, chronic adversity, neurobiological differences, and familial stressors are associated with risk for PTSD after

8541-406: The aetiology of psychogenic amnesia is possible, which means cause and consequence can be infeasible to untangle. Because psychogenic amnesia is defined by its lack of physical damage to the brain, treatment by physical methods is difficult. Nonetheless, distinguishing between organic and dissociative memory loss has been described as an essential first-step in effective treatments. Treatments in

8658-606: The aftermath of trauma. This over-consolidation increases the likelihood of one's developing PTSD. The amygdala is responsible for threat detection and the conditioned and unconditioned fear responses that are carried out as a response to a threat. The HPA axis is responsible for coordinating the hormonal response to stress. Given the strong cortisol suppression to dexamethasone in PTSD, HPA axis abnormalities are likely predicated on strong negative feedback inhibition of cortisol, itself likely due to an increased sensitivity of glucocorticoid receptors . PTSD has been hypothesized to be

8775-403: The amnesia, and drugs such as intravenously administered barbiturates (often thought of as ' truth serum ') were popular as treatment for psychogenic amnesia during World War II; benzodiazepines may have been substituted later. 'Truth serum' drugs were thought to work by making a painful memory more tolerable when expressed through relieving the strength of an emotion attached to a memory. Under

8892-683: The brain and body. That is the point. In eliminating the nervous breakdown, psychiatry has come close to having its own nervous breakdown. Nerves stand at the core of common mental illness, no matter how much we try to forget them. "Nervous breakdown" is a pseudo-medical term to describe a wealth of stress-related feelings and they are often made worse by the belief that there is a real phenomenon called "nervous breakdown". There are currently two widely established systems that classify mental disorders: Both of these list categories of disorder and provide standardized criteria for diagnosis. They have deliberately converged their codes in recent revisions so that

9009-514: The brain. Disorders are usually diagnosed or assessed by a mental health professional , such as a clinical psychologist , psychiatrist , psychiatric nurse, or clinical social worker , using various methods such as psychometric tests , but often relying on observation and questioning. Cultural and religious beliefs, as well as social norms , should be taken into account when making a diagnosis. Services for mental disorders are usually based in psychiatric hospitals , outpatient clinics , or in

9126-502: The case of benzodiazepines , may worsen outcomes. In the United States, about 3.5% of adults have PTSD in a given year, and 9% of people develop it at some point in their life. In much of the rest of the world, rates during a given year are between 0.5% and 1%. Higher rates may occur in regions of armed conflict . It is more common in women than men. Symptoms of trauma-related mental disorders have been documented since at least

9243-417: The case of pure retrograde amnesia, unlike psychogenic amnesia it is not thought that purely psychological or 'psychogenic triggers' are relevant to pure retrograde amnesia. Psychological triggers such as emotional stress are common in everyday life, yet pure retrograde amnesia is considered very rare. Also the potential for organic damage to fall below threshold of being identified does not necessarily mean it

9360-499: The commonly associated behavioral symptoms such as anxiety, ruminations, irritability, aggression, suicidality, and impulsivity. Serotonin also contributes to the stabilization of glucocorticoid production. Dopamine levels in a person with PTSD can contribute to symptoms: low levels can contribute to anhedonia , apathy , impaired attention , and motor deficits; high levels can contribute to psychosis , agitation , and restlessness. hasral studies described elevated concentrations of

9477-545: The condition worsened, when substance use disorders are comorbid with PTSD. Resolving these problems can bring about improvement in an individual's mental health status and anxiety levels. PTSD has a strong association with tinnitus , and can even possibly be the tinnitus' cause. In children and adolescents, there is a strong association between emotional regulation difficulties (e.g. mood swings, anger outbursts, temper tantrums ) and post-traumatic stress symptoms, independent of age, gender, or type of trauma. Moral injury ,

9594-572: The current environment) prevents the memory mechanisms in the brain from processing the experience, and emotions the person is experiencing during a flashback are not associated with the current environment. There is considerable controversy within the medical community regarding the neurobiology of PTSD. A 2012 review showed no clear relationship between cortisol levels and PTSD. The majority of reports indicate people with PTSD have elevated levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone , lower basal cortisol levels, and enhanced negative feedback suppression of

9711-479: The degree of impairment to short term memory , semantic memory and procedural memory is thought to vary among cases. If other memory processes are affected, they are usually much less severely affected than retrograde autobiographical memory, which is taken as the hallmark of psychogenic amnesia. However the wide variability of memory impairment among cases of psychogenic amnesia raises questions as to its true neuropsychological criteria, as despite intense study of

9828-418: The development of PTSD. PTSD causes biochemical changes in the brain and body, that differ from other psychiatric disorders such as major depression . Individuals diagnosed with PTSD respond more strongly to a dexamethasone suppression test than individuals diagnosed with clinical depression . Most people with PTSD show a low secretion of cortisol and high secretion of catecholamines in urine , with

9945-427: The developmental period. Stigma and discrimination can add to the suffering and disability associated with mental disorders, leading to various social movements attempting to increase understanding and challenge social exclusion . The definition and classification of mental disorders are key issues for researchers as well as service providers and those who may be diagnosed. For a mental state to be classified as

10062-404: The diagnosis that the amnesia is psychological, however it is possible that some organic causes may fall below a threshold of detection, while other neurological ails are thought to be unequivocally organic (such as a migraine ) even though no functional damage is evident. Possible malingering must also be taken into account. Some researchers have cautioned against psychogenic amnesia becoming

10179-424: The diagnosis) within six weeks, and nearly all achieve it within two years, with nearly half regaining their prior occupational and residential status in that period. Less than half go on to experience a new episode of mania or major depression within the next two years. Some disorders may be very limited in their functional effects, while others may involve substantial disability and support needs. In this context,

10296-556: The differing ideological and practical perspectives need to be better integrated. The DSM and ICD approach remains under attack both because of the implied causality model and because some researchers believe it better to aim at underlying brain differences which can precede symptoms by many years. The high degree of comorbidity between disorders in categorical models such as the DSM and ICD have led some to propose dimensional models. Studying comorbidity between disorders have demonstrated two latent (unobserved) factors or dimensions in

10413-500: The eastern Mediterranean region, it was unipolar major depression (12%) and schizophrenia (7%), and in Africa it was unipolar major depression (7%) and bipolar disorder (5%). Suicide, which is often attributed to some underlying mental disorder, is a leading cause of death among teenagers and adults under 35. There are an estimated 10 to 20 million non-fatal attempted suicides every year worldwide. The predominant view as of 2018

10530-532: The fear of losing control or actual loss of control. The incidence of PTSD in survivors of psychosis may be as low as 11% and as high at 67%. Prevalence estimates of cancer‐related PTSD range between 7% and 14%, with an additional 10% to 20% of patients experiencing subsyndromal posttraumatic stress symptoms (ie, PTSS). Both PTSD and PTSS have been associated with increased distress and impaired quality of life, and have been reported in newly diagnosed patients as well as in long‐term survivors. The PTSD Field Trials for

10647-407: The feeling of moral distress such as a shame or guilt following a moral transgression, is associated with PTSD but is distinguished from it. Moral injury is associated with shame and guilt, while PTSD is associated with anxiety and fear. In a population based study examining veterans of the Vietnam War , the presence of PTSD and exposure to high level stressors on the battlefield were associated with

10764-456: The globe include: depression , which affects about 264 million people; dementia , which affects about 50 million; bipolar disorder , which affects about 45 million; and schizophrenia and other psychoses , which affect about 20 million people. Neurodevelopmental disorders include attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) , autism spectrum disorder (ASD) , and intellectual disability , of which onset occurs early in

10881-566: The increased noradrenergic response to traumatic stress. Intrusive memories and conditioned fear responses are thought to be a result of the response to associated triggers. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) has been reported to reduce the release of norepinephrine and has been demonstrated to have anxiolytic properties in animal models. Studies have shown people with PTSD demonstrate reduced levels of NPY, possibly indicating their increased anxiety levels. Other studies indicate that people with PTSD have chronically low levels of serotonin , which contributes to

10998-456: The influence of these 'truth' drugs the patient would more readily talk about what had occurred to them. However, information elicited from patients under the influence of drugs such as barbiturates would be a mixture of truth and fantasy, and was thus not regarded as scientific in gathering accurate evidence for past events. Often treatment was aimed at treating the patient as a whole, and probably varied in practice in different places. Hypnosis

11115-688: The internalizing-externalizing distinction, but also supports the formation of a third dimension of thought disorders such as schizophrenia. Biological evidence also supports the validity of the internalizing-externalizing structure of mental disorders, with twin and adoption studies supporting heritable factors for externalizing and internalizing disorders. A leading dimensional model is the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology . There are many different categories of mental disorder, and many different facets of human behavior and personality that can become disordered. An anxiety disorder

11232-446: The involvement of the same structures of the temporo-frontal region in the brain. It has been suggested that deficits in episodic memory may be attributable to dysfunction in the limbic system , while self-identity deficits have been suggested as attributable to functional changes related to the posterior parietal cortex . To reiterate however, care must be taken when attempting to define causation as only ad hoc reasoning about

11349-648: The manuals are often broadly comparable, although significant differences remain. Other classification schemes may be used in non-western cultures, for example, the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders , and other manuals may be used by those of alternative theoretical persuasions, such as the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual . In general, mental disorders are classified separately from neurological disorders , learning disabilities or intellectual disability . Unlike

11466-566: The old-fashioned concept of nervous illness. In How Everyone Became Depressed: The Rise and Fall of the Nervous Breakdown (2013), Edward Shorter, a professor of psychiatry and the history of medicine, says: About half of them are depressed. Or at least that is the diagnosis that they got when they were put on antidepressants. ... They go to work but they are unhappy and uncomfortable; they are somewhat anxious; they are tired; they have various physical pains—and they tend to obsess about

11583-470: The past have attempted to alleve psychogenic amnesia by treating the mind itself, as guided by theories which range from notions such as 'betrayal theory' to account for memory loss attributed to protracted abuse by caregivers to the amnesia as a form of self-punishment in a Freudian sense, with the obliteration of personal identity as an alternative to suicide . Treatment attempts often have revolved around trying to discover what traumatic event had caused

11700-435: The person's memory. Mental disorder A mental disorder , also referred to as a mental illness , a mental health condition , or a psychiatric disability , is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is also characterized by a clinically significant disturbance in an individual's cognition, emotional regulation, or behavior, often in

11817-452: The public perception of the level of disability associated with mental disorders can change. Nevertheless, internationally, people report equal or greater disability from commonly occurring mental conditions than from commonly occurring physical conditions, particularly in their social roles and personal relationships. The proportion with access to professional help for mental disorders is far lower, however, even among those assessed as having

11934-444: The risk increases if a woman has experienced trauma prior to the pregnancy. Prevalence of PTSD following normal childbirth (that is, excluding stillbirth or major complications) is estimated to be between 2.8 and 5.6% at six weeks postpartum, with rates dropping to 1.5% at six months postpartum. Symptoms of PTSD are common following childbirth, with prevalence of 24–30.1% at six weeks, dropping to 13.6% at six months. Emergency childbirth

12051-422: The risk of psychogenic amnesia becoming an umbrella term for any amnesia of which there is no apparent organic cause. Due to organic amnesia often being difficult to detect, defining between organic and psychogenic amnesia is not easy and often context of precipitating experiences are considered (for example, if there has been drug abuse ) as well as the symptomology the patient presents with. Psychogenic amnesia

12168-414: The scientific and academic literature on the definition or classification of mental disorder, one extreme argues that it is entirely a matter of value judgements (including of what is normal ) while another proposes that it is or could be entirely objective and scientific (including by reference to statistical norms). Common hybrid views argue that the concept of mental disorder is objective even if only

12285-466: The social environment. Some disorders may last a brief period of time, while others may be long-term in nature. All disorders can have a varied course. Long-term international studies of schizophrenia have found that over a half of individuals recover in terms of symptoms, and around a fifth to a third in terms of symptoms and functioning, with many requiring no medication. While some have serious difficulties and support needs for many years, "late" recovery

12402-470: The stress of having to hide a condition in work or school, etc., by adverse effects of medications or other substances, or by mismatches between illness-related variations and demands for regularity. It is also the case that, while often being characterized in purely negative terms, some mental traits or states labeled as psychiatric disabilities can also involve above-average creativity, non- conformity , goal-striving, meticulousness, or empathy. In addition,

12519-586: The stresses of war affect everyone involved, displaced persons have been shown to be more so than others. Challenges related to the overall psychosocial well-being of refugees are complex and individually nuanced. Refugees have reduced levels of well-being and a high rate of mental distress due to past and ongoing trauma. Groups that are particularly affected and whose needs often remain unmet are women, older people and unaccompanied minors. Post-traumatic stress and depression in refugee populations also tend to affect their educational success. Sudden, unexpected death of

12636-428: The structure of mental disorders that are thought to possibly reflect etiological processes. These two dimensions reflect a distinction between internalizing disorders, such as mood or anxiety symptoms, and externalizing disorders such as behavioral or substance use symptoms. A single general factor of psychopathology, similar to the g factor for intelligence, has been empirically supported. The p factor model supports

12753-420: The terms psychiatric disability and psychological disability are sometimes used instead of mental disorder . The degree of ability or disability may vary over time and across different life domains. Furthermore, psychiatric disability has been linked to institutionalization , discrimination and social exclusion as well as to the inherent effects of disorders. Alternatively, functioning may be affected by

12870-491: The time of the ancient Greeks . A few instances of evidence of post-traumatic illness have been argued to exist from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, such as the diary of Samuel Pepys , who described intrusive and distressing symptoms following the 1666 Fire of London . During the world wars , the condition was known under various terms, including ' shell shock ', 'war nerves', neurasthenia and ' combat neurosis '. The term "post-traumatic stress disorder" came into use in

12987-441: The traumatic event is also associated with a subsequent risk of developing PTSD, with experiences related to witnessed death, or witnessed or experienced torture, injury, bodily disfigurement, traumatic brain injury being highly associated with the development of PTSD. Similarly, experiences that are unexpected or in which the victim cannot escape are also associated with a high risk of developing PTSD. PTSD has been associated with

13104-409: The typical case, the individual with PTSD persistently avoids either trauma-related thoughts and emotions or discussion of the traumatic event and may even have amnesia of the event ( dissociative amnesia ). However, the event is commonly relived by the individual through intrusive, recurrent recollections, dissociative episodes of reliving the trauma (" flashbacks "), and nightmares (50 to 70%). While it

13221-913: The way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response . These symptoms last for more than a month after the event and can include triggers such as misophonia . Young children are less likely to show distress, but instead may express their memories through play . A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm . Most people who experience traumatic events do not develop PTSD. People who experience interpersonal violence such as rape, other sexual assaults, being kidnapped, stalking, physical abuse by an intimate partner, and childhood abuse are more likely to develop PTSD than those who experience non- assault based trauma, such as accidents and natural disasters . Those who experience prolonged trauma, such as slavery, concentration camps, or chronic domestic abuse, may develop complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). C-PTSD

13338-449: The whole business. There is a term for what they have, and it is a good old-fashioned term that has gone out of use. They have nerves or a nervous illness. It is an illness not just of mind or brain, but a disorder of the entire body. ... We have a package here of five symptoms—mild depression, some anxiety, fatigue, somatic pains, and obsessive thinking. ... We have had nervous illness for centuries. When you are too nervous to function ... it

13455-562: Was also popular as a means for gaining information from people about their past experiences, but like 'truth' drugs really only served to lower the threshold of suggestibility so that the patient would speak easily but not necessarily truthfully. If no motive for the amnesia was immediately apparent, deeper motives were usually sought by questioning the patient more intensely, often in conjunction with hypnosis and 'truth' drugs. In many cases, however, patients were found to spontaneously recover from their amnesia on their own accord so no treatment

13572-687: Was previously referred to as multiple personality disorder or "split personality"). Cognitive disorder : These affect cognitive abilities, including learning and memory. This category includes delirium and mild and major neurocognitive disorder (previously termed dementia ). Developmental disorder : These disorders initially occur in childhood. Some examples include autism spectrum disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder , and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which may continue into adulthood. Conduct disorder, if continuing into adulthood, may be diagnosed as antisocial personality disorder (dissocial personality disorder in

13689-422: Was required. The concept is scientifically controversial and remains disputed. Critics argue dissociative amnesia is merely a rebranding of the discredited repressed memory concept. Dissociative amnesia is a common fictional plot device in many films, books and other media. Examples include William Shakespeare 's King Lear , who experienced amnesia and madness following a betrayal by his daughters; and

#705294