Sample CASC Station: Assessment of Prognosis in a Patient with OCD

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Risk Factors for PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

Risk Factors for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The following description of risk factors also answers QID:919472837474

The best answer would be d) her intelligence quotient. The patient has developed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including the most specific “intrusive symptoms.” These have occurred after the life-threatening event she went through. Both the international classification of diseases and the diagnostic and statistical manual require such a precipitating factor for making the diagnosis. It is an event that is life-threatening, or according to the diagnostic and statistical manual, one that threatens body-integrity (e.g. rape). One may either be a bystander or directly threatened by the event. However, this factor interacts with other predisposing or vulnerability factors in an individual to trigger the condition. Genetic factors account for about one-third of the vulnerability, according to a study conducted on twins working in the U.S. military. Other notable predisposing factors include female gender, a history of anxiety or depression, lower levels of intelligence, neurotic traits, a history of trauma, and lower social support. Her gender, her history of depression, of experiencing a similar event, and her personality, may all have predisposed her to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Low and not an elevated level of intelligence predisposes to post-traumatic stress disorder. Thus, her elevated level of intelligence may not have added to her risk.

FAINTS

•      Female Gender, Family History of Psychiatric Illness
•      Anxiety/mood disorder (history of)
•      Intelligence (low)
•      Neuroticism
•      Trauma, history of
•      Social support (poor)