Read complete books and articles on: Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - (PTSD), mental disorder that follows an occurrence of extreme psychological stress, such as that encountered in war or resulting from violence, childhood abuse, sexual abuse, or serious accident. The stressful event is usually followed by a period of emotional numbness and denial that can last for months or years. After that period, symptoms such as recurring nightmares, "flashbacks," short-term memory problems, insomnia, or heightened sensitivity to sudden noises may begin. In some cases outbursts of violent behavior have been observed. The usual treatment for PTSD is individual psychotherapy, including anxiety management, or group psychotherapy with others who have the disorder. Some antianxiety and antidepressant drugs are being studied for their effectiveness.

Certain traits (a history of depression, shyness, impulsivity) appear to heighten a person's risk of experiencing PTSD after a traumatic event. In those who do experience it, there is growing evidence that actual physical changes occur in the brain. The hippocampus, a structure that lies deep in the brain and that is associated with memory, has been found to be smaller in PTSD victims. It has been hypothesized that excesses of cortisol, a steroid hormone released during periods of extreme stress, may damage nerve fibers in the area or actually kill the nerve cells. However, the role of cortisol is not completely understood; studies of concentration camp survivors found abnormally low levels of cortisol rather than abnormally high levels.

Post-traumatic stress disorder was referred to as "shell shock" after World War I and as "battle fatigue" after World War II and was traditionally thought of as a condition of war veterans. Studies of Vietnam veterans and Nazi concentration camp survivors have added greatly to the knowledge of PTSD. The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (1988) estimated that 31% of the males and 27% of the females who served in the Vietnam War had symptoms of PTSD. Estimates of civilian populations put the rate of PTSD at 10% (women) and 5% (men) in the 15 to 54 age group. Childhood sexual abuse, sexual abuse, and assault are common causes of PTSD in both military and nonmilitary women. In 1989 the U.S. Congress created the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for the study and treatment of PTSD.

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16 of the Best Books and Articles on: Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Handbook of Post-Traumatic Therapy » Read Now
by Mary Beth Williams, John F. Sommer, Jr. 638 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

This handbook provides both a conceptual and practical framework for diagnosing, treating, and assessing post-traumatic stress in survivors of violence, abuse, war, ethnocultural problems, political torture, and disaster. The in-depth clinical experience of Williams and Sommer helps define a variety...
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This handbook provides both a conceptual and practical framework for diagnosing, treating, and assessing post-traumatic stress in survivors of violence, abuse, war, ethnocultural problems, political torture, and disaster. The in-depth clinical experience of Williams and Sommer helps define a variety of theories and methods for treating children, adults, families, and other groups with various types of post-tramautic stress disorders. They point to specific new kinds of therapies and types of interventions, and discuss new developments and trends for the treatment of post-traumatic stress. This reference volume, with its lengthy bibliography, is designed for students, teachers, and practitioners in the fields of psychology and psychiatry, social work, medicine, and public health.
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2.

Empathy in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD » Read Now
by Rhiannon Brwynn Thomas, John P. Wilson. 249 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

Empathy in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD examines how professionals are psychologically impacted by their work with trauma clients. A national research study provides empirical evidence, documenting the struggle for professionals to maintain therapeutic equilibrium and empathic attunement with...
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Empathy in the Treatment of Trauma and PTSD examines how professionals are psychologically impacted by their work with trauma clients. A national research study provides empirical evidence, documenting the struggle for professionals to maintain therapeutic equilibrium and empathic attunement with their trauma clients. Among the many important findings of this study, all participants reported being emotionally and psychologically affected by the work, often quite profoundly leading to changes in worldview, beliefs about the nature of humankind and the meaning of life.John P. Wilson and Rhiannon Thomas set out to understand how to heal those who experience empathic strain in the course of their professional specialization. The data included in the book allows for the development of conceptual dynamic models of effective management of empathic strain, which may cause vicarious traumatization, burnout and serious countertransference processes.
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3.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Review, in Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs » Read Now
by John B. Murray. 24 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

...Combat stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, and...1990 ). "Post-traumatic stress disorder among...posttraumatic stress disorder...The survivor syndrome: Massive psychic...
4.

Progress and Controversy in the Study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, in Annual Review of Psychology » Read Now
by Richard J. Mcnally. 23 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library
5.

The Harmony of Illusions: Inventing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder » Read Now
by Allan Young. 327 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

As far back as we know, there have been individuals incapacitated by memories that have filled them with sadness and remorse, fright and horror, or a sense of irreparable loss. Only recently, however, have people tormented with such recollections been diagnosed as suffering from "post-traumatic...
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As far back as we know, there have been individuals incapacitated by memories that have filled them with sadness and remorse, fright and horror, or a sense of irreparable loss. Only recently, however, have people tormented with such recollections been diagnosed as suffering from "post-traumatic stress disorder." Here Allan Young traces this malady, particularly as it is suffered by Vietnam veterans, to its beginnings in the emergence of ideas about the unconscious mind and to earlier manifestations of traumatic memory like shell shock or traumatic hysteria. In Young's view, PTSD is not a timeless or universal phenomenon newly discovered. Rather, it is a "harmony of illusions," a cultural product gradually put together by the practices, technologies, and narratives with which it is diagnosed, studied, and treated and by the various interests, institutions, and moral arguments mobilizing these efforts.This book is part history and part ethnography, and it includes a detailed account of everyday life in the treatment of Vietnam veterans with PTSD. To illustrate his points, Young presents a number of fascinating transcripts of the group therapy and diagnostic sessions that he observed firsthand over a period of two years. Through his comments and the transcripts themselves, the reader becomes familiar with the individual hospital personnel and clients and their struggle to make sense of life after a tragic war. One observes that everyone on the unit is heavily invested in the PTSD diagnosis: boundaries between therapist and patient are as unclear as were the distinctions between victim and victimizer in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
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6.

Coping with Catastrophe: A Handbook of Post-Disaster Psychosocial Aftercare » Read Now
by Peter E. Hodgkinson, Michael Stewart. 257 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

Coping with Catastrophe is a practical handbook for people who provide psychosocial aftercare for victims of disasters. This completely revised and updated second edition includes the latest findings on the nature and effects of trauma, the psychological debriefing process and the effects of...
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Coping with Catastrophe is a practical handbook for people who provide psychosocial aftercare for victims of disasters. This completely revised and updated second edition includes the latest findings on the nature and effects of trauma, the psychological debriefing process and the effects of emergency work, and the latest treatment models for post-traumatic stress and abnormal grief. Eminently practical and easy to read, this volume provides readers with information and skills to respond effectively and confidently to the needs of disaster survivors. It will be of immense value to a wide variety of helping professionals and carers, including social workers, psychologists, doctors, voluntary counsellors, and all those whose work brings them into contact with disaster victims.
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7.

Psychosocial Treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Critical Review, in Annual Review of Psychology » Read Now
by E.B. Foa, E.A. Meadows. 32 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

...rape trauma syndrome. Am. J. Psychol...LK. 1991. Post-traumatic stress disorder...treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder...Response Syndromes...
8.

Anxiety Disorders in Adults: An Evidence-Based Approach to Psychological Treatment (Chap. 7 "Posttraumatic Stress Disorder") » Read Now
by Peter D. Mclean, Sheila R. Woody. 369 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

This is the second book in Oxford's Guidebooks in Clinical Psychology series. This book provides practical guidelines on the treatment of anxiety disorders (the second most frequent clinical diagnosis), linking guidelines to empirical evidence. The authors review the several classifications of...
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This is the second book in Oxford's Guidebooks in Clinical Psychology series. This book provides practical guidelines on the treatment of anxiety disorders (the second most frequent clinical diagnosis), linking guidelines to empirical evidence. The authors review the several classifications of anxiety disorders using the latest DSM-IV categories, covering specific phobias, social phobia, panic disorder and agoraphobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, among others. The chapters assess the efficacy of various treatments, and the authors conclude with a discussion of how treatment standards can be implemented in clinical training and practice.
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9.

Childhood Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Diagnosis, Treatment, and School Reintegration, in School Psychology Review » Read Now
by Catherine Cook-Cottone. 12 pgs.

Collections: Education, Psychology, Entire Library
10.

Children and Disasters: A Practical Guide to Healing and Recovery (Chap. 5 "Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Reaction") » Read Now
by Joseph Capozzoli, Wendy N. Zubenko. 183 pgs.

Collections: Education, Psychology, Entire Library

Today, one in every three Americans will be affected by trauma, and the most vulnerable among these victims are children. Children and adolescents in our communities are exposed to disastrous and devastating events, including natural disasters, violence, accidents, and, most recently, terrorist...
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Today, one in every three Americans will be affected by trauma, and the most vulnerable among these victims are children. Children and adolescents in our communities are exposed to disastrous and devastating events, including natural disasters, violence, accidents, and, most recently, terrorist attacks, that have a great impact on their emotional and physical well-being. Children in Disasters is a training manual and reference for those who provide psychological relief in the wake of disasters. The expert contributors offer guidance for helping children integrate their traumatic experiences, develop healthy coping skills, and restore a sense of safety.
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11.

Exposure to Violence and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Urban Adolescents, in Adolescence » Read Now
by Margaret Wright Berton, Sally D. Stabb. 10 pgs.

Collections: Education, Psychology, Entire Library

...Exposure to violence and post-traumatic stress disorder in urban adolescents...symptoms in adolescents of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a major psychiatric...George, L.K...
12.

Unexpected Childhood Death: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Surviving Siblings and Parents, in Journal of Clinical Child Psychology » Read Now
by Debra R. Applebaum, G. Leonard Burns. 7 pgs.

Collections: Education, Psychology, Entire Library

...Measures The childhood post-traumatic stress disorder- parents questionnaire . The Childhood Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)-Parents...Sibling column in Table 1)...
13.

Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress: The Psychological Consequences of Killing » Read Now
by Rachel M. Macnair. 199 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

This volume introduces the concept of Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS), a form of PTSD symptoms caused not by traditionally expected roles, such as being a victim or rescuer in trauma, but by being an active participant in causing trauma. Sufferers of PITS may be in the roles of...
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This volume introduces the concept of Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress (PITS), a form of PTSD symptoms caused not by traditionally expected roles, such as being a victim or rescuer in trauma, but by being an active participant in causing trauma. Sufferers of PITS may be in the roles of soldiers, executioners, or police officers, where it is socially acceptable or even expected for them to cause trauma, including death.
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14.

Vietnam Veterans: The Road to Recovery (Chap. 4 "From Shell Shock to PTSD") » Read Now
by Joel Osler Brende, Erwin Randolph Parson. 270 pgs.

Collections: History, Psychology, Entire Library
15.

Assessment of Psychological Distress in Persian Gulf Troops: Ethnicity and Gender Comparisons, in Journal of Personality Assessment » Read Now
by Patricia B. Sutker, John Mark Davis, Madeline Uddo, Shelly R. Ditta. 13 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

...Stevens, V. ( 1990 ). "Post-traumatic stress disorder among Special Forces...McEvoy, M. A. ( 1987 ). "Post-traumatic stress disorder in the general...Norman, E. M. ( 1988...
16.

Workplace Trauma: Concepts, Assessment, and Interventions » Read Now
by Noreen Tehrani. 278 pgs.

Collections: Psychology, Entire Library

How can organisations defend their employees against psychological trauma? Post-traumatic stress is a topical subject of increasing importance. Yet much of the writing on this subject so far has concerned stress suffered by people exposed to serious turmoil such as war and ethnic conflict...
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How can organisations defend their employees against psychological trauma? Post-traumatic stress is a topical subject of increasing importance. Yet much of the writing on this subject so far has concerned stress suffered by people exposed to serious turmoil such as war and ethnic conflict. Workplace Trauma is an extremely welcome presentation of the subject of stress in the workplace. This book explores the ways that traumatic events impact the psychological well being of organisations and their employees. The effects of disasters, accidents, crime, injury and death are examined alongside examples of organisational trauma care programmes and reviews of the current thinking regarding post trauma interventions. The insights generated are illustrated with case studies from the author's extensive experience of counselling victims of trauma at work. The theory, research and practical advice contained in this volume will prove a valuable resource for organisations and practitioners seeking guidance on reducing the impact of psychological trauma.
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