Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Long Term Outlook Describes the long term outlook of post traumatic stress disorder, including problems, recurrence, and overall good news.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Long Term Outlook

Articles : Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Long Term Outlook



Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Long Term Outlook Articles




Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Long Term Outlook

The Problem

Post traumatic stress disorder, left untreated, will often get worse and worse. The disorder does not sit stable, but will continue to eat at victims. Early intervention is stressed in all treatment. Recovery rates, if the disorder is left untreated, are low.

Pervasive numbness is a common long-term effect. The victim, unable to make any sense of the trauma, will simply bury the event. They will go to great lengths to avoid anything that brings the trauma to mind. Those around them often report a sense that the victim has lost their personality.

Sufferers often feel that their life is out of their control, and that the world no longer makes any sense. Some feel that they are slipping deeply into madness. If they are not provided with any evidence to the contrary, they can become suicidally depressed.

Recurrence

Unfortunately, relapses are reasonably common. Because trauma can be buried so deeply in the subconscious mind, it can be difficult to tell if someone is still affected. If the symptoms are serious, then at least the problem can be caught and therapy restarted. However, the most insidious form of relapse is numbness, which swallows the personality of sufferers. Being less noticeable, it can escape treatment for many years.

The Good News

Victims can and do recover, but several things are required to ensure that their recovery is complete. First of all, a victim needs solid, practical assistance. For example, an assault victim will need medical treatment, and a flood victim will require food and shelter.

Next, a victim needs to begin proper treatment as soon as possible after the event. They must be given the opportunity to re-experience the event in some way, and to confront their fear and emotion. A victim also needs to be given education about the event, including as many details as possible. They need to learn about common responses to trauma, seeing their own response as part of a larger pattern. Making sense of trauma means less chance of lasting numbness.

A victim needs to be gradually introduced to any unrelated stimuli that now scare them. For instance, a car accident victim may need to confront the smell of leather seats, or the sight of shattered glass. They will learn that these things are nothing to be afraid of in themselves.

If these treatments are given rapidly and thoroughly, the sufferer has an excellent chance of recovery. A sense of self-control is returned to them, and they can begin to make sense of a world that allowed the trauma to happen.