Post-traumatic stress disorder may develop (either immediately or delayed) following exposure to a stressful event or situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature.

According to DSM-5, it is characterised by 4 groups of symptoms: intrusion symptoms, avoidance, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and alterations in arousal and reactivity. These symptoms must impair function for a diagnosis to be made.

In this podcast, Mathew Hoskins, Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Teaching Fellow, Cardiff University, gives us a clinical overview of the disorder.

For more on PTSD, visit BMJ Best Practice: https://bestpractice.bmj.com/topics/en-gb/430

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