Traumatic events may participate acute physical responses in affected persons that are considered an acceptable adaptation to the stress of the traumatic event (American Psychiatric, 2000; Pittman & Fowler, 1998). A chronic stress response from a precipitating traumatic event is diagnosed when a personal reaction endures for more than 4 weeks and the responses are viewed by mental health professionals as maladaptive (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).
Characteristics features of PTSD include anger, recurrent distressing thoughts, depression, guilt, shame, fear, anxiety, hyperarousal, dissociation, and intrusive recollections of the precipitating event (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). AS reported in Bisson and Shepherd’s (1995) work, Symonds discussed a four-stage reaction to a traumatic event: initial shock and denial, which are typically followed by fight fear, then apathy and anger, develop, and then a sense of guilt and depression.
This is followed by cognitive and affective resolution of the trauma, or use of the defense mechanism of repression (Bisson & Shepherd, 1995). Intense impetus threatening stimuli may produce differences in psychological and psychological response (Schwebel & Suls, 1999). emotional hyperactivity, one several symptoms of PTSD, has intrapersonal and interpersonal components (Kandel, 1999; Schwebel & Suls, 1999). The level of stress perceived by survivors may change as they experience interactions that support or refute theier beliefs about the hostility of the environment (Schwebel & Suls, 1999).
Exaggerated response to a stressor may be, in part, a premorbid condition within the neuroticism they exhibited to the trauma (Kandel, 1999), or it may result from subjective distress recognition after traumatic event (Schwebel & Suls, 1999). Regardless of the origin of their response mechanism, people’s current hyperreactivity levels could be manifested in the beliefs and controls they demonstrate intrapersonally and socially (Schwebel & Suls, 1999).
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) represent a pathological response to a potentially threatening or harmful event that occurred in a person’s life (Cauffman, Feldman, & Waterman, 1998; Classen, Koopman, Hales & Spiegel, 1998; Mueser et. al. , 1998). Te extent and duration of the symptomatology exceeds the diagnosis of acute stress disorders (ASD) in terms of chronicity, intensity, etiology not withstanding (Harvey & Byant, 1998).
Although research indicates that ASD symptoms involving dissociation tend to correlate with later onset of PTSD, the linkage between ASD and PTSD is still in need of additional study and is beyond the scope of this research (Classen, Koopman, Hales, & Spiegel, 1998). Higher sympathetic nervous system arousal is often associated with a person’s posttrauma response to stimuli that resemble the traumatic event (Orr, Metzger, Lasko, Macklin, Peri, & Pitman, 2000).
Hyperrarousal, observed as intrusive recollections of the precipitating event; dissociation and depersonalization; and motor restlessness are possible indicators of PTSD. These symptoms are generally not observed in ASD (Harvey & Bryant, 1998). Improved global functioning may reflect self-awareness of the trauma and the acceptance of assistance, thus possibly reducing the intensity of PSTD symptoms to subclinical levels (Kazak et. Al. , 1998).
Global functioning after the trauma may also be indicative of the resiliency of the individual in terms of hardiness and personal protective factors, and attempts to reestablish control (Hartup & van Lieshout, 1995). Control is perceived by the individual as the ability to influence the posttraumatic symptomalogy and the belief about personal responsibility within the dynamics of the traumatic event (Goenjian et. Al. , 1999; Hartup & van Lieshout, 1995; Shepperd & Kashani, 1991).