The Five Kinds of PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, in one form or another, may be the most common car crash injury. About 60 percent of these victims struggle with extreme symptoms like hypervigilance, flashbacks, anger, and depression.

A San Marcos personal injury lawyer can obtain substantial compensation for these victims. This compensation usually includes money for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.

Normal Stress Response

The percentage of NSR victims may be closer to 100 percent. Almost everyone is “shaken up” after a car crash. This feeling usually begins to dissipate in a few days, or even a few hours. Furthermore, this feeling usually dissipates on its own. Typically, normal stress response can be effectively managed with the support of loved ones and peers, along with a handful of individual or group therapy sessions. Individuals suffering from normal stress response should see a full recovery within a few weeks.

Acute Stress Disorder

If NSR is like a mild concussion, ASD is like a serious concussion. ASD doesn’t go away on its own. Furthermore, treatment usually goes beyond “talking it out.” A psychiatrist must supervise ASD treatments, to ensure the condition doesn’t develop into a more serious form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The line between these two conditions is a fine one. Only an experienced doctor can tell the difference between them. A San Marcos personal injury lawyer refers car crash victims to top-notch doctors who accurately evaluate and treat head injuries, like PTSD. As a bonus, these doctors normally charge nothing upfront for their professional services.

Uncomplicated PTSD

A single stressful event, like a car crash, causes uncomplicated PTSD. The aforementioned symptoms are much more intense.

Nightmares are a good example. NSR and even ASD nightmares are little more than bad dreams, at least in most cases. PTSD nightmares are more like night terrors. These vivid, horrific dreams wreak havoc on both the mind and the sleep cycle.

PTSD treatment is very hit and miss. Everyone responds to a combination of medication and therapy. But the balance is unique in each case. Some people need limited medication and intense therapy. Other victims need the opposite combination.

Making matters worse, most available PTSD drugs treat the symptoms, but not the chemical imbalance that causes these symptoms. That’s like taking aspirin every day to treat a broken leg.

Complex PTSD

This form of PTSD is “the straw that broke the camel’s back” PTSD. If the chemical imbalance has been building up over time, a relatively mild accident, like a parking lot fender bender, could cause a serious and debilitating form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Complex PTSD treatment is much more intense than uncomplicated PTSD treatment. For example, individuals with complex PTSD often also develop borderline or antisocial personality disorder or dissociative disorders. Moreover, they exhibit behavioral issues, such as impulsivity, aggression, substance abuse or sexual impulsivity. Some complex PTSD victims also have extreme emotional issues, such as intense rage, depression or panic.

If a pre-existing condition, like a prior stressful event, contributed to the risk and/or severity of a car crash injury, full compensation is still available.

Comorbid PTSD

Many PTSD victims self-medicate with drugs or alcohol to dull their extreme symptoms. This approach often works in the short term. But in the long term, it’s incredibly destructive. Extreme symptoms, like suicidal thoughts, are very common in these cases.

Connect With a Hard-Working San Diego County Lawyer

Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a confidential consultation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Carlsbad, contact the Pursley Law Firm. We routinely handle matters throughout the Golden State.

Source:

bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-023-04673-4