Clinical psychologyLesson 2 of 2 in the course Psychological Disorders

PTSD: Diagnosis, Risk, Support, and Explanatory Models

5 flashcards · 5 quiz questions · 5 match pairs · 5 fill-in sentences · English

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Summary

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can develop after exposure to extreme trauma. This lesson explains how PTSD is defined, what symptoms may occur, which factors affect risk, and how social support can help.

Historically, symptoms now associated with PTSD were called shell shock or combat neurosis because they were observed in soldiers. Researchers later recognized that people exposed to other forms of trauma, including sexual trauma, could experience similar symptoms. The term posttraumatic stress disorder reflects that traumatic experiences can affect people in many circumstances.

All flashcards

What is PTSD?
Posttraumatic stress disorder is a trauma-and-stressor-related disorder involving persistent symptoms after exposure to qualifying trauma, such as actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.
What is a flashback?
A flashback is an experience in which a person relives a traumatic event and may behave as if it is occurring again. It may last from seconds to days.
What is social support?
Social support is the comfort, advice, and assistance received from people such as relatives, friends, neighbors, and community members.
What is a diathesis-stress interpretation of PTSD?
It proposes that PTSD risk may reflect an interaction between vulnerabilities, including biological or personal factors, and stressful or traumatic experiences.
How does classical conditioning help explain PTSD symptoms?
Cues associated with a traumatic event can become conditioned stimuli. Later, those reminders may trigger learned fear or anxiety responses even when the original danger is absent.

Quiz questions

  1. How long must relevant symptoms persist for PTSD to be diagnosed?Answer: At least one month.
  2. Why can repeatedly encountering traumatic details through professional duties be relevant to PTSD exposure criteria?Answer: Exposure to details of trauma through professional duties can meet the exposure criterion.
  3. Which trauma-related circumstance is associated with greater PTSD risk?Answer: More severe trauma involving harm by another person.
  4. In a classical conditioning model of PTSD, what role may the traumatic event play?Answer: It may act as an unconditioned stimulus that elicits intense fear and anxiety.
  5. What is a negative appraisal in a cognitive model of PTSD?Answer: A harmful or self-blaming interpretation of the trauma or its consequences.

Based on Psychology 2e by Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.

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