There seem to be changes proposed to the PTSD diagnosis in the DSM-V (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) published by the American Psychiatric Association provides a common language and standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. It is used in the United States and in varying degrees around the world).
The article / study can be seen here:
http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/192/1/3.full
And from reading it, I came to pretty much the same conclusions as another Redditor did, and thus I'll just share what that person wrote:
whatwouldscoobydo:
So, I skimmed this a bit and have a few comments.
It seems like they are wondering whether PTSD is one thing in itself, of a combination of other of things. We've had this problem with a lot of other mental disorders. For example, with depression and anxiety- they are almost always comorbid (existing at the same time). Depression and anxiety almost always are comorbid with other disorders (meaning that if you are bipolar, schizophrenic, etc, you will also fall under the criteria for depression and anxiety). This also happens with adult ADD/ADHD, with most the criteria for adult ADHD and ADD being shared with anxiety and depression.
These are just examples I give of mental illnesses that all have some relation to one another. This is important because we need to recognize that it is not a perfect science. There are not clear borders between the disorders that we can already diagnose.
Now, on to PTSD. They propose that PTSD is a combination of other disorders, and I can't disagree with that. However, I feel as though PTSD can remain it's own diagnosis because of it's specific features, most notably the re-living of traumatic events- in dreams, or otherwise. This seems to have always been a hallmark of PTSD and should be considered.
They also argued that they have seen PTSD-like symptoms from people experiencing the grief of others, and non-direct trauma like "watching tv". I think that this should be considered a separate disorder, as they seemed to deal more with anxiety than re-living an event, and thus would not completely fall under the current criteria for PTSD.
"New diagnostic categories modeled on PTSD have been proposed, including prolonged duress stress disorder, post-traumatic grief disorder, post-traumatic relationship syndrome, post-traumatic dental care anxiety, and post-traumatic abortion syndrome."
I think these are all real, but they deal more with anxiety than an actual traumatic event. I believe that those with PTSD suffer because they experienced something traumatic where they felt they had no control or say (rape, being under fire in war, witnessing a murder, etc.). Whether the person experienced the event once, and it stuck, or experienced it prolonged- if they meet the criteria of re-experiencing, they meet the criteria for PTSD. As for the "prolonged duress stress disorder"- I think this would depend. If this is stress in the work place and you are experiencing more anxiety than normal, but your situation is controllable, I think that should be a subset of general anxiety, rather than PTSD. However, if you experienced prolonged abuse from a relationship partner, and meet the criteria of fearing and re-experiencing traumatic events, then that can be considered a subset of PTSD (as the symptoms are sometimes different with prolonged exposure to that much stress).
I am not saying anxiety and PTSD are unrelated- I think we all know they very much are. But PTSD traditionally has been centered around the experiencing and continued experiencing of a traumatic event or events, and I believe expanding the definition would not be wise. Creating other subsets of PTSD is legit in my mind if the symptoms are very different, but still include re-experiencing. However, if they do not, I believe the subset would be more appropriate under general anxiety rather than post-traumatic stress.
I hope this makes sense and gives some food for thought.
The thread on Reddit can be seen here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/ptsd/comments/14fuin/changes_to_ptsd_diagnosis_in_the_dsm_v_thoughts/
