Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Heavy drinking rewires brain, increasing susceptibility to anxiety problems

Doctors have long recognized a link between alcoholism and anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Those who drink heavily are at increased risk for traumatic events like car accidents and domestic ...

Neuroscience created Sep 02, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | 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

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

Researchers induce PTSD symptoms in mice

(Medical Xpress) -- Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition in which people find themselves experiencing intense fear following a traumatic experience due to unrelated circumstances. It’s ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Feb 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

In new book, leading neuroscientist describes your brain on emotion

Building on more than 30 years of cutting-edge brain research, a new book by UW-Madison psychology and psychiatry professor Richard J. Davidson offers an inside look into how emotions are coded in our brains and our power ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Post-traumatic stress disorder genes identified: Findings could lead to targeted therapies

Why do some persons succumb to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) while others who suffered the same ordeal do not? A new UCLA study may shed light on the answer.

Psychology & Psychiatry created Apr 02, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Remembering to forget

(Medical Xpress) -- New research suggests that it is possible to suppress emotional autobiographical memories.  The study published this month by psychologists at the University of St Andrews reveals that individuals ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jun 22, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Sleep deprivation may reduce risk of PTSD, according to new research

Sleep deprivation in the first few hours after exposure to a significantly stressful threat actually reduces the risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), according to a study by researchers from Ben-Gurion University ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Jul 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Psychologists link emotion to vividness of perception and creation of vivid memories

Have you ever wondered why you can remember things from long ago as if they happened yesterday, yet sometimes can't recall what you ate for dinner last night? According to a new study led by psychologists ...

Neuroscience created Aug 20, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Medical cannabis provides dramatic relief for sufferers of chronic ailments

Though controversial, medical cannabis has been gaining ground as a valid therapy, offering relief to suffers of diseases such as cancer, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, ALS and more. The substance is known to soothe severe ...

Medications created Jan 24, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Study reveals potential target to better treat, cure anxiety disorders

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have, for the first time, identified a specific group of cells in the brainstem whose activation during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is critical for the regulation ...

Neuroscience created Mar 05, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Navy creates iPad app for managing stress and fending off PTSD

The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is co-funding an affordable, hi-tech, solution for managing stress that could help prevent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), helping warfighters and potentially saving ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created Mar 07, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | 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

Study: Rates of PTSD among Afghanistan, Iraq soldiers dramatically lower than predicted

A decade after the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, studies have shown that the incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among troops is surprisingly low, and a Harvard researcher credits the drop, in ...

Psychology & Psychiatry created May 17, 2012 | popularity 2.6 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Greater traumatic stress linked with elevated inflammation in heart patients

Greater lifetime exposure to the stress of traumatic events was linked to higher levels of inflammation in a study of almost 1,000 patients with cardiovascular disease led by researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center ...

Cardiology created Mar 29, 2012 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast


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.

This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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