How Do You Understand How Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Is Diagnosed?
Maybe there are nightmares that just won’t go away. Perhaps hearing loud sounds is very startling. Violent movies might be just be a little more scary than for everyone else. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that affects almost eight percent of Americans adults at some point in their lives. Far from being something that is exclusive to veterans returning from war, it can come upon anyone. Witnessing or experiencing abuse, rape, attempted or successful murder, torture, disaster, illness or even a car accident can set in motion the responses that leads to PTSD. With so many possible causes, it can sometimes be hard to distinguish a normal reaction to something traumatic from full-blown PTSD. It is only after a full month of experiencing symptoms that it can even be diagnosed. A case might be qualified through a clinical interview, which might also be supplemented by an assessment tool. The MMPI, a common psychological test, has a scale that checks for PTSD.
