Description
Post Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition of increasing prevalence and significant morbidity. In the wake of recent terrorist and natural disasters around the world, practitioners will be faced with increasing numbers of patients presenting with psychological and physical symptoms of PTSD.
Patients will often be reluctant to disclose information.
Therefore practitioners should try to elicit symptoms of PTSD in suspected patients by direct questioning. First line treatment for PTSD is based around a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy approach, with pharmacotherapy being used as a second line or
adjunctive therapy. With better identification and assessment of possible sufferers treatments can be targeted more effectively, reducing the psychological, physical and economic burdens of this condition.
