Psychology & Psychiatry

Study finds unique brain changes linked to witnessing trauma

For years, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been studied primarily in people who experience trauma firsthand. But what about those who witness it—military veterans, first responders, health care workers, or bystanders ...

Other

Addressing workplace violence for student nurses

In light of growing pressures on the nursing profession, including staff shortages, more needs to be done to combat workplace violence, say Flinders University researchers.

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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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