Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) knows no age. Anyone who has experienced an extremely traumatic event can suffer from PTSD. Whether you're a child who has been sexually abused, or a young adult involved in a near-death car accident, or an elderly person who just came home from a war, you can have PTSD. This anxiety condition is more usual in adults than in children although its effects on children are less studied and harder to treat.
A child with PTSD grows up with this anxiety disorder if not treated immediately. As an adult, the patient is haunted by the horrors from the past. Some adult patients experienced the trauma in the later part of their lives. War veterans are the best examples of this. In fact, the concept of PTSD was formulated during the Vietnam War when numerous veteran soldiers suffered from an anxiety disorder and experienced extreme fear, guilt, and helplessness after coming home from the war. Some rescue workers also get this disorder after serving at a place with mass casualties like the South Asian Tsunami in 2004 and the September 11 attacks in 2001. Other traumatic events than can trigger PTSD include elder abuse, rape, serious illness, surgery, severe accidents like plane or car crashes, natural disasters, and terrorist attacks.
PTSD is relatively common in elderly patients. It is more prevalent in patients with cancer, people who've just had heart surgery, war veterans, and Holocaust survivors.
Symptoms of PTSD in adults are similar to that of children. These can be classified into three cardinal symptom categories. The first category includes symptoms that show that the patient is re-experiencing the traumatic event. These symptoms include distressing recollections or flashbacks, and nightmares. The second category involves avoidance or numbing. The patient avoids conversations, places, activities and people that remind him or her of the trauma. He or she also gets a feeling of hopelessness. Some patients develop selective amnesia. The last category involves increased arousal. The symptoms in this category include irritability, hypervigilance, sleep disorders, and exaggerated startled response.
PTSD is a treatable condition. If left untreated, PTSD is disabling in 50% of cases. The usual treatment employed is a combination of medications like antidepressants and psychotherapy like cognitive therapy, a form of interactive counseling.
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