MCQ Psychiatry Answer 27

The Correct Answer is E


This patient's findings include all four categories of criteria for the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). First, a traumatic event occurred in which the patient witnessed or experienced actual or threatened death or serious injury and responded with intense fear, horror, or helplessness. Second, on exposure to memory cues, the patient has reexperiencing symptoms such as intrusive recollections, nightmares, flashbacks, or psychologic distress. Third, the patient avoids trauma-related stimuli and feels emotionally numb. Finally, the patient has increased arousal, manifested by hypervigilance, irritability, or difficulty sleeping. The symptoms must also persist for at least 1 month and significantly disturb the patient's social or occupational functioning, or both.


Acute stress disorder also occurs after exposure to a traumatic event, but symptoms appear within 4 weeks of the trauma and last from 2 days to 4 weeks. Patients with this disorder also have more dissociative symptoms, describing themselves as feeling "in a daze" or having temporary amnesia about the event. PTSD increases the risk of later developing comorbid psychiatric problems. The most common diseases that occur with PTSD are major depression, dysthymia, generalized anxiety disorder, substance abuse, somatization, panic disorder, bipolar disorder, and dissociative disorders.


Ref: Lange JT, Lange CL, Cabaltica RB: Primary care treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Am Fam Physician 2000; 62(5): 1035-1040.

Category: Psychiatry MCQs