Risk Factors for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

In the 1980's, the psychiatric community first officially recognized posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a diagnosis to describe the disorder that can occur following exposure to extremely traumatic events. Since that time, it have been observed that some patients who have been exposed to trauma do not develop PTSD or only have symptoms immediately following the event, whereas others show signs of chronic PTSD. Recently, it has been hypothesized that the development of chronic PTSD results from a combination of factors, only some of which are related to exposure to trauma.

Risk Factors for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder assembles almost 20 experts to examine the latest research on this topic. Specifically, it covers:

• Several important demographic and environmental risk factors for the development of PTSD
• Genetic risk factors identified through twin studies
• Neurbiological risk factors of PTSD and findings from several family studies
• Psychophysiological expressions of risk factors as well as neurocognitive risk factors for PTSD
• Personality characteristics in individuals with a propensity to develop PTSD and risk factors for the acute biological and psychological response to trauma

Complete with a summary of the latest findings that advance our knowledge of the effects of trauma, this resource it useful in identifying and treating individuals much earlier following a traumatic experience as well as in helping prevent vulnerable individuals from being exposed to traumatic events.