Post-traumatic stress disorder: The plaintiff who cried wolf

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#333333" TEXT="#F7F7FF" background="03cdedc2ddualp.png"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id8.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U><B>Contact Us</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id147.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="FAQs"><U><B>FAQs</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id16.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Dr. Silverman"><U><B>About Dr. Silverman</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id146.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Great links"><U><B>Great links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Mind Reader© archive"><U><B>The Mind Reader© archive</B></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="03d64643.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#666633" FACE="Times New Roman" ><B>Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D</B></FONT>    |     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000BF" FACE="Times New Roman" ><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dr. Wade Silverman, Ph.D"><U>home</U></A></FONT></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> Post-traumatic stress disorder: The plaintiff who cried wolf</div> <bR> <div> One of the most frequent complaints regarding the psychological consequences of physical trauma, sexual harassment, and other forms of employment discrimination is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It has been frequently misapplied, however, because of ignorance surrounding its definition.</div> <div> Key to the definition of PTSD is that the individual has been exposed to a traumatic event where both of the following were present. First, an actual death or threat of death or serious injury or at least a threat to the physical integrity of the individual or others was either directly experienced or witnessed. Second, the response to this event was intense fear, helplessness, and/or horror. These two key concepts: extreme threat and intense fear and helplessness set the stage for a number of symptoms that more specifically define PTSD. These symptoms include 1) a persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event in one or more ways: recurrent and intrusive recollections, recurrent dreams, flashbacks or reliving of the event, extreme stress when exposed to cues associated with the event, 2) persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, 3) persistent symptoms of increased tension such as irritability, difficulty concentrating, and hypervigilence, 4) symptoms lasting at least one month, and 5) causing clinically significant distress.</div> <div> It is important to note that not all life threatening events produce PTSD. It is also important to note that nowhere in the definition of PTSD does it state that a series of "mini-threats" such as intimidation at work or sexual harassment acts can cause PTSD. More about this in the next newsletter. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>