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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine

  • 23 Accesses

Definition (and Description)

A majority of adolescents have been exposed to a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime (61.8%; McLaughlin et al. 2013), and a significant percentage of trauma-exposed youth develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Alisic et al. 2014). PTSD is a debilitating condition that is associated with several poor mental and physical health outcomes. As such, it is imperative to understand the development and course of PTSD, including its prevalence, comorbid conditions, assessment, treatment, and prognosis.

Diagnostic Criteria

PTSD is listed under trauma- and stressor-related disorders in the DSM-5 (American Psychiatric Association 2013). Criteria for diagnosis includes (A) direct or indirect exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence as well as symptoms from the following clusters; (B) one or more intrusion symptoms following the event; (C) persistent avoidanceof stimuli (i.e., memories, thoughts, feelings, or external...

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References and Further Reading

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, FL, USA

    Cortney Taylor Zimmerman

  2. Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, Dallas, TX, USA

    Whitney M. Herge

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA

    Annette M. La Greca

Authors
  1. Cortney Taylor Zimmerman
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  2. Whitney M. Herge
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  3. Annette M. La Greca
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cortney Taylor Zimmerman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Marc Gellman

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA

    Alan M. Delamater

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Zimmerman, C.T., Herge, W.M., La Greca, A.M. (2019). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_774-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_774-2

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-6439-6

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