[Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): the syndrome with multiple faces]

Abstract

We choose to discuss from the PTSD's point of view because this diagnostic reference is commonly used. We wish outline its restrictive sight which could prevent the professional from having a diagnosis of PTSD. We don't want to say there is a PTSD everywhere but it appears to us that a traumatic reading can be a precious advantage for the clinician to establish a real therapeutic relation with some patients. Post-traumatic syndrome differs from the majority of other diagnostic categories as it includes in its criteria the presumptive cause of the trauma (criterion A). In the case that this syndrome originates in war experiences, the presumed cause presents itself as an exceptional event overcoming the individual's resources. The notion of war traumatisation has been extended to other events such as catastrophes, physical attacks, rapes, child and wife battering, and sexual abuses. But the events which cause PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) are significantly more numerous. It can be seen that medical events such as giving birth, miscarriage, heart attack, cancer, or hospitalisation following resuscitation may give rise to PTSD. Further, people experiencing prolonged periods of distress may equally develop a post-traumatic syndrome without any particular event having occurred to surpass their defences. It's the case of the Prolonged Duress Stress Disorder (PDSD). The series of discontinuous stress "waste" the psychic balance and may give rise, at one moment, to posttraumatic symptoms described in DSM, without any specific stressful event. The existence of criterion A is therefore not a necessary prerequisite in establishing a diagnosis of PTSD. It is, in fact, very difficult to predict which events could cause a PTSD, and this, especially, as the subjective aspects count at least as much as the objective aspects. The clinician should have to carefully explore how the patient experienced the event or, how he apprehended the event itself and it's outcome, if he wants get the traumatic range of a life event. The feeling of deep distress, the feeling of being trapped, the loss of control, the collapse of basic beliefs, the feeling that one's life is in jeopardy, that the physical integrity is (really or in one's imagination) threatened, the feeling of helplessness, are quite as much clues for a possible PTSD which hides behind others clinical manifestations either psychological or somatic. Furthermore, the "pure" form described in the DSM and grouping together three further criteria (reliving events, avoiding stimuli associated with the trauma, hyper-reactivity) is extremely rare in the chronic form. An untreated post-traumatic syndrome evolves with time and may present, initially, with very different pathological symptoms giving rise to equally varied diagnoses. Different etiopathogenic models propose to account for the PTSD 's heterogeneous appearance and instability with time. The comorbidity concept sees the PTSD as an independent entity other independent pathologies coexist with. The typologic concept suggests that the PTSD is an independent entity which shows different clinical appearances based on symptomatic descriptions. The "cascade" concept suggests to see the PTSD as an independent entity which offers, with time, different symptomatic appearances, in evolution, because of events caused by after effects, in different areas of the PTSD itself. All of these concepts outline the transnosologic appearance of the PTSD which makes it hardly recognizable. The "chronic" syndrome is rarely diagnosed forming a real challenge to prevention. In effect, the present authors insist on the crucial nature of early detection of PTSD since the greater the time elapsed the more difficult it becomes due to the evolutionary aspect of the syndrome, which initially has more readily recognizable symptoms. The consequences of an unrecognised PTSD are serious and affect both the individual and his immediate family and friends, contributing further to the aggravation of the problems. When a PTSD is diagnosed, it can allow the clinician to further a more global care which will help the patient to get a better recovery. With patients who suffered an infarct, the treatment of PTSD which prevents their recovery will help to go back to the way they lived before the event. It has been showed how important could be the PTSD detection on the severe burned people's pain control. Thus it seems to be crucial for the clinician to keep this diagnosis in mind alongside any other.