Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on a persons life. Symptoms may include disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in the way a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress but instead may express their memories through play. A person with PTSD is at a higher risk of suicide and intentional self-harm.Most people who experience traumatic events do not develop PTSD. People who experience interpersonal violence such as rape, other sexual assaults, being kidnapped, stalking, physical abuse by an intimate partner, and incest or other forms of childhood sexual abuse are more likely to develop PTSD than those who experience non-assault based trauma, such as accidents and natural disasters. Those who experience prolonged trauma, such as slavery, concentration camps, or chronic domestic abuse, may develop complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). C-PTSD is similar to PTSD but has a distinct effect on a persons emotional regulation and core identity.Prevention may be possible when counselling is targeted at those with early symptoms but is not effective when provided to all trauma-exposed individuals whether or not symptoms are present. The main treatments for people with PTSD are counselling (psychotherapy) and medication.
These idioms reflect the emphasis that collectivist cultures place on healing trauma through familial, cultural and religious activities while avoiding the stigma that accompanies a mind-body approach. Prescribing PTSD diagnostics within these communities is ineffective and often detrimental. For trauma that extends beyond the individual such as the effects of war, anthropologists believe applying the term “social suffering” or “cultural bereavement” to be more beneficial.Every facet of society is affected by conflict; the prolonged exposure to mass violence can lead to a ‘continuous suffering’ among civilians, soldiers, and bordering countries. Entered into the DSM in 1980, clinicians and psychiatrists based the diagnostic criteria for PTSD around American veterans of the Vietnam war. Though the DSM (in its fifth edition at the time of writing) gets reviewed and updated regularly, it is unable to fully encompass the disorder due to its Americanization (or Westernization). That is, what may be considered characteristics of PTSD in western society, may not directly translate across to other cultures around the world. Displaced people of the African country Burundi experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety, though little symptoms of PTSD were noted. In a similar review, Sudanese refugees relocated in Uganda were ‘concerned with material [effects]’ (lack of food, shelter, and healthcare), rather than psychological distress. In this case, many refugees didn’t present symptoms at all, with a minor few developing anxiety and depression.