PTSD Diagnosis vs. Developmental Trauma Diagnosis PTSD Diagnosis Criteria DT Diagnosis Criteria Happens later in life as a single event Happens during childhood, involves witnessing or experiencing multiple adverse interpersonal events involving caretaker(s) for at least one year. The person experienced, witnessed or Seven major diagnostic criteria: was confronted with an event or events Affective and physiological that involved actual or threatened death dysregulation. or serious injury, or a threat to the Attentional and behavioral physical integrity of self or others. dysregulation. Vicarious traumatization occurs when a Self and relational dysregulation. person witnesses the serious injury or Chronically altered perception and death of others. expectations. At least two posttraumatic symptoms. Functional impairment- at least two of the following areas: academic, family, peers, legal, and health. Duration of disorder is at least 6 months. The person has intense fear, Can directly affect subsequent helplessness, or horror. development, which if not addressed, can impact a person for the rest of his/her life span. The person has clinically significant Affects the HPA axis, the immune system distress and impairment in social, digestion, appetite, sleep, and occupational, or other important areas temperature regulation. The effects are of functioning. as disorders of the body. Can be categorized as acute, delayed, Can cause auto-immune disorders chronic, or intermittent/recurrent. because the heightened awareness of perceived threats eventually depletes the immune system. Meet the standard criteria for PTSD: Affects speech areas of the brain, blocking the ability to talk about a Re-experiencing the traumatic event traumatic state while in it. Difficult to Avoidance of things that remind one heal with talk therapy because the of the traumatic event or a general connections between the amygdala and numbing reaction the language areas of the pre-frontal Hyperarousal symptoms cortex are not well developed. Difficult to health with trauma-specific therapies such as EMDR, as they do not address the relational trauma.
PTSD Diagnosis vs. Developmental Trauma Diagnosis PTSD Diagnosis Criteria DT Diagnosis Criteria Happens later in life as a single event Happens during childhood, involves witnessing or experiencing multiple adverse interpersonal events involving caretaker(s) for at least one year. The person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others. Vicarious traumatization occurs when a person witnesses the serious injury or death of others. Seven major diagnostic criteria: Affective and physiological dysregulation. Attentional and behavioral dysregulation. Self and relational dysregulation. Chronically altered perception and expectations. At least two posttraumatic symptoms. Functional impairment- at least two of the following areas: academic, family, peers, legal, and health. Duration of disorder is at least 6 months. The person has intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Can directly affect subsequent development, which if not addressed, can impact a person for the rest of his/her life span. The person has clinically significant distress and impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Affects the HPA axis, the immune system digestion, appetite, sleep, and temperature regulation. The effects are as disorders of the body. Can be categorized as acute, delayed, chronic, or intermittent/recurrent. Can cause auto-immune disorders because the heightened awareness of perceived threats eventually depletes the immune system. Meet the standard criteria for PTSD: Re-experiencing the traumatic event Avoidance of things that remind one of the traumatic event or a general numbing reaction Hyperarousal symptoms Affects speech areas of the brain, blocking the ability to talk about a traumatic state while in it. Difficult to heal with talk therapy because the connections between the amygdala and the language areas of the pre-frontal cortex are not well developed. Difficult to health with trauma-specific therapies such as EMDR, as they do not address the relational trauma.
PTSD-vs.-DTD-diagnoses.docx