![]() Single, unexpected events such as a single instance of bullying or harassment, witnessing a horrific crime or being involved in a car accident. Prior to a formal diagnosis of ptsd, trauma exists as an independent entity/phenomena/construct and can thus be conceptualized in 3 ways It is important to understand that a ptsd diagnosis is only be made when it abides by the strict criteria within the DSM-5. Whilst all ptsd diagnoses stems from a single traumatic event, not all trauma will lead to a ptsd diagnosis. Most people who have experienced bullying know that the bully does not always inflict serious physical injury as their methods and sadistic predilections are much more covert, emotional, malevolent and pernicious which affect the mind more than the body.Ī common misconception that people make is that trauma and ptsd are the same thing. However, the only way that bullying can satisfy criteria A (and thus lead to a ptsd diagnosis) is if the bullying results directly in serious injury. A survivor of bullying is also likely to self-report the event as being ‘traumatic’. ![]() You might recognise straight away that events such as bullying would not meet the conditions of criteria A even though those who have been bullied, either once or repeatedly, commonly manifest behaviours, emotions, thoughts etc similar to those of an individual formally diagnosed with ptsd. Therefore, the current classification of ptsd does not account for the effects of long-term chronic complex trauma or experiences of trauma due to other self-defined and appraised potentially traumatic events (PTE). ![]() Furthermore, the diagnostic criteria of ptsd within the DSM-5 focuses specifically on discrete (single) events. ![]() The DSM-5 has stipulated that a formal diagnosis of ptsd must rely upon a definition of ‘traumatic event’ (criterion A) which is defined by a restricted and finite number of external factors - exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence which must be experienced directly, as a witness, indirectly or vicariously. However, the criterion A ( ‘trauma’) is a notoriously difficult construct to clearly and definitively operationalise due to a wide variety of external factors/events having the potential to be subjectively and objectively appraised as being traumatic. That is, a diagnosis of ptsd demands a causal link between an external factor/event (criterion A) and psychopathology (distress). Of all the disorders classified with the DSM-5, ptsd is unique in that a formal ptsd diagnosis explicitly depends upon etiology. It is therefore crucial that one looks at ptsd only as it is classified in the DSM-5. The symptomology of ptsd as it is classified within the DSM-5 today differs markedly from the ptsd symptomology classified in earlier DSM editions. The notion of post-traumatic stress was legitimized when it was introduced into the DSM-III in the 1980’s. Post-traumatic stress Disorder is a relatively new psychological phenomena which was classified in the early 1970s largely in response to psychologists recognizing that a proportion of Vietnam War veterans reported and experienced a unique type of distress and social/emotional/familial/occupational dysfunction.
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