Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Hormone levels may provide key to understanding psychological disorders in women

Women at a particular stage in their monthly menstrual cycle may be more vulnerable to some of the psychological side-effects associated with stressful experiences, according to a study from UCL.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 24, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Breathing exercises help veterans find peace after war, scholar says

(Medical Xpress)—Research by Stanford scholar Emma Seppala at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education found that post-traumatic stress disorder decreased in veterans who participated ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 24, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

Music therapy reduces anxiety, use of sedatives for patients receiving ventilator support

New research suggests that for some hospitalized ICU patients on mechanical ventilators, using headphones to listen to their favorite types of music could lower anxiety and reduce their need for sedative medications.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 20, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Repeat brain injury raises soldiers' suicide risk, study shows

People in the military who suffer more than one mild traumatic brain injury face a significantly higher risk of suicide, according to research by the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 15, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

For combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, 'fear circuitry' in the brain never rests

Chronic trauma can inflict lasting damage to brain regions associated with fear and anxiety. Previous imaging studies of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, have shown that these brain regions can over-or ...

Neuroscience created May 18, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

US psychiatry gets makeover in new manual

The latest makeover to a massive psychiatric tome honored by some, reviled by others and even called the "Bible" of mental disorders is being released Saturday with a host of new changes.

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 18, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

Individuals who drink heavily and smoke may show 'early aging' of the brain

Treatment for alcohol use disorders works best if the patient actively understands and incorporates the interventions provided in the clinic. Multiple factors can influence both the type and degree of neurocognitive abnormalities ...

Addiction created May 17, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Brain ultrasound improves mood

Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques aimed at mental and neurological conditions include transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for depression, and transcranial direct current (electrical) stimulation ...

Neuroscience created May 16, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Brain-imaging study links cannabinoid receptors to post-traumatic stress disorder

In a first-of-its-kind effort to illuminate the biochemical impact of trauma, researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have discovered a connection between the quantity of cannabinoid receptors in the human brain, known ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 14, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Study shows that individual brain cells track where we are and how we move

(Medical Xpress)—Leaving the house in the morning may seem simple, but with every move we make, our brains are working feverishly to create maps of the outside world that allow us to navigate and to remember ...

Neuroscience created May 03, 2013 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

PTSD research: Distinct gene activity patterns from childhood abuse

Abuse during childhood is different. A study of adult civilians with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) has shown that individuals with a history of childhood abuse have distinct, profound changes in gene activity patterns, ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 01, 2013 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The Lancet Series on bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder – where patients experience recurrent episodes of mood disturbance, ranging from extreme elation (mania) to severe depression – is thought to affect roughly 2% of the world's population in its most pronounced ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 09, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's ability to cope. As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response. Diagnostic symptoms for PTSD include re-experiencing the original trauma(s) through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, and increased arousal—such as difficulty falling or staying asleep, anger, and hypervigilance. Formal diagnostic criteria (both DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10) require that the symptoms last more than one month and cause significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.

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