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DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA FOR POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
The person has experienced or witnessed or was confronted with an unusually traumatic event or events that involved threatened death or serious injury and the person felt intense fear or helplessness. Examples are found in veterans returning from war, people who have experienced fatal or near fatal accidents, childhood abuse, sexual assault, and domestic violence (experienced or witnessed as a child).
The person relives the event or has a numbing of general responsiveness as indicated below:
____ 1. Intrusive, distressing thoughts or images
____ 2. Repeated, distressing dreams
____ 3. Flashbacks or hallucinations
____ 4. Marked mental distress in reaction to internal or external cues that resemble the event
____ 5. Physiological reactions such as elevated blood pressure to the cues
____ 6. Avoidance of activities or events that recall the event
____ 7. Inability to recall certain aspects of the event
____ 8. Feeling detached or isolated from other people
____ 9. Excessive vigilance
____10. Poor concentration
____11. Experiences restriction in ability to love or feel other strong emotions
____12. Increased startle response
____13. Angry outbursts or irritability
____14. Insomnia (partial or interval)
____15. Marked loss of interest or participation in activities important to the person
The symptoms have lasted longer than one month from the event and cause important distress or impair work, social, or personal functioning.
EMDR is most powerful tool for this difficulty. Other methods that have been of benefit are Guided Visualization, Thought Field Therapy, Hypnosis, and Emotional Freedom Therapy. See Emotional Calming Techniques on this site for self help strategies that can assist in rebalancing the nervous system.
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