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Rape Trauma Syndrome
Rape trauma syndrome (RTS) is the psychological trauma experienced by a rape survivor that includes disruptions to normal physical, emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal behavior. The theory was first described by nurse Ann Wolbert Burgess and sociologist Lynda Lytle Holmstrom in 1974. RTS is a cluster of psychological and physical signs, symptoms and reactions common to most rape victims immediately following a rape, but which can also occur for months or years afterwards. While most research into RTS has focused on female victims, sexually abused males (whether by male or female perpetrators) also exhibit RTS symptoms. RTS paved the way for consideration of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, which can more accurately describe the consequences of protracted trauma than post-traumatic stress disorder alone. The symptoms of RTS and post-traumatic stress syndrome overlap. As might be expected, a person who has been raped will generally experience high levels of distress imm ...
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Psychological Trauma
Psychological trauma (also known as mental trauma, psychiatric trauma, emotional damage, or psychotrauma) is an emotional response caused by severe distressing events, such as Major trauma, bodily injury, Sexual assault, sexual violence, or other threats to the life of the subject or their loved ones; indirect exposure, such as from watching television news, may be extremely distressing and can produce an involuntary and possibly overwhelming physiological stress response, but does not always produce trauma ''per se''. Examples of distressing events include violence, rape, or a Terrorism, terrorist attack. Short-term reactions such as acute stress disorder, psychological shock and denial, psychological denial typically follow. Long-term reactions and effects include flashback (psychology), flashbacks, panic attacks, insomnia, nightmare disorder, difficulties with interpersonal relationships, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and brief psychotic disorder. Physical symptoms ...
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Hypervigilance
Hypervigilance is a condition in which the nervous system is inaccurately and rapidly filtering sensory information and the individual is in an enhanced state of sensory sensitivity. This appears to be linked to a dysregulated nervous system which can often be caused by traumatic events or complex PTSD. Normally, the nervous system releases stress signals (e.g. norepinephrine) in certain situations as a defense mechanism to protect one from perceived dangers. In some cases, the nervous system becomes chronically dysregulated, causing a release of stress signals that are inappropriate to the situation, creating inappropriate and exaggerated responses. Hypervigilance may bring about a state of increased anxiety which can cause exhaustion. Other symptoms include high responsiveness to stimuli and constant scanning of the environment. In hypervigilance, there is a perpetual scanning of the environment to search for sights, sounds, people, behaviors, smells, or anything else that i ...
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Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation is an enduring personal pattern of romantic attraction or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. Patterns are generally categorized under heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, while asexuality (experiencing no sexual attraction to others) is sometimes identified as the fourth category. These categories are aspects of the more nuanced nature of sexual identity and terminology. For example, people may use other labels, such as '' pansexual'' or '' polysexual'', or none at all. According to the American Psychological Association, sexual orientation "also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions". ''Androphilia'' and ''gynephilia'' are terms used in behavioral science to describe sexual orientation as an alternative to a ...
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Alcohol Abuse
Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of alcohol-related substance abuse. This spectrum can range from being mild, moderate, or severe. This can look like consumption of more than 2 drinks per day on average for men, or more than 1 drink per day on average for women, to binge drinking. Alcohol abuse was a psychiatric diagnosis in the DSM-IV, but it has been merged with alcohol dependence in the DSM-5 into alcohol use disorder. Alcohol use disorder, also known as AUD, shares similar conditions that some people refer to as alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol addiction, and the most used term, alcoholism. Globally, excessive alcohol consumption is the seventh leading risk factor for both death and the burden of disease and injury, representing 5.1% of the total global burden of disease and injury, measured in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). After tobacco, alcohol accounts for a higher burden of disease than any other drug. Alcohol use is a major cause of preve ...
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Drug Abuse
Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definitions of drug misuse are used in public health, medical, and criminal justice contexts. In some cases, criminal or anti-social behavior occurs when some persons are under the influence of a drug, and may result in long-term personality changes in individuals which may also occur. In addition to possible physical, social, and psychological harm, the use of some drugs may also lead to criminal penalties, although these vary widely depending on the local jurisdiction.. Drugs most often associated with this term include alcohol (drug), alcohol, Substituted amphetamine, amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabis (drug), cannabis, cocaine, hallucinogens, methaqualone, and opioids. The exact cause of substance abuse is sometimes clear, bu ...
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Self Harm
Self-harm refers to intentional behaviors that cause harm to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues, usually without suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-abuse, self-injury, and self-mutilation have been used for any self-harming behavior regardless of suicidal intent. Common forms of self-harm include damaging the skin with a sharp object or scratching with the fingernails, hitting, or burning. The exact bounds of ''self-harm'' are imprecise, but generally exclude tissue damage that occurs as an unintended side-effect of eating disorders or substance abuse, as well as more societally acceptable body modification such as tattoos and piercings. Although self-harm is by definition non-suicidal, it may still be life-threatening. People who do self-harm are more likely to die by suicide, and self-harm is found in 40–60% of suicides. Still, only a minority of those who self-harm are suicidal. The desire to self-harm ...
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Panic Attacks
Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a rapid, irregular heartbeat, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, shortness of breath, trembling, dizziness, numbness, confusion, or a sense of impending doom or loss of control. Typically, these symptoms are the worst within ten minutes of onset and can last for roughly 30 minutes, though they can vary anywhere from seconds to hours. While they can be extremely distressing, panic attacks themselves are not physically dangerous. The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5) defines them as "an abrupt surge of intense fear or intense discomfort that reaches a peak within minutes and during which time four or more of the following symptoms occur." These symptoms include, but are not limited to, the ones mentioned above. Panic attacks function as a marker for assessing severity, course, and comorbidity (the simultaneous p ...
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Dissociation (psychology)
Dissociation is a concept which concerns a wide array of experiences, ranging from a mild emotional detachment from the immediate surroundings, to a more severe disconnection from physical and emotional experiences. The major characteristic of all dissociative phenomena involves a detachment from reality, rather than a false perception of reality as in psychosis. The phenomena are diagnosable under the ''DSM-5'' as a group of disorders as well as a symptom of other disorders through various diagnostic tools. Its cause is believed to be related to neurobiological mechanisms, trauma, anxiety, and psychoactive drugs. Research has further related it to suggestibility and hypnosis. History French philosopher and psychologist Pierre Janet (1859–1947) is considered to be the author of the concept of dissociation. Unlike some conceptions of dissociation, Janet did not believe that dissociation was a psychological defense. Janet claimed that dissociation occurred only in person ...
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Flashback (psychology)
A flashback, or involuntary recurrent memory, is a psychological phenomenon in which an individual has a sudden, usually powerful, re-experiencing of a past experience or elements of a past experience. These experiences can be frightful, happy, sad, exciting, or any number of other emotions. The term is used particularly when the memory is recalled involuntarily, especially when it is so intense that the person "relives" the experience, and is unable to fully recognize it as memory of a past experience and not something that is happening in "real time". History Flashbacks are the "personal experiences that pop into your awareness, without any conscious, premeditated attempt to search and retrieve this memory". These experiences occasionally have little to no relation to the situation at hand. For those suffering post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), flashbacks can significantly disrupt everyday life. Memory is divided into voluntary (conscious) and involuntary ( unconscious) ...
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Insomnia
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder where people have difficulty sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep for as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, irritability, and a depression (mood), depressed mood. It may result in an increased risk of accidents of all kinds as well as problems focusing and learning. Insomnia can be short term, lasting for days or weeks, or long term, lasting more than a month. The concept of the word ''insomnia'' has two distinct possibilities: insomnia disorder (ID) or insomnia symptoms, and many abstracts of randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews often underreport on which of these two possibilities the word refers to. Insomnia can occur independently or as a result of another problem. Conditions that can result in insomnia include psychological stress, chronic pain, heart failure, hyperthyroidism, heartburn, restless leg syndrome, menopause ...
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Anger
Anger, also known as wrath ( ; ) or rage (emotion), rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong, uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, hurt, or threat. A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and increased levels of epinephrine, adrenaline and norepinephrine, noradrenaline. Some view anger as an emotion that triggers part of the fight-or-flight response, fight or flight response. Anger becomes the predominant feeling behavior, behaviorally, cognition, cognitively, and physiology, physiologically when a person makes the conscious choice to take action to immediately stop the threatening behavior of another outside force. Anger can have many physical and mental consequences. The external expression of anger can be found in facial expressions, body language, physiological responses, and at times public acts of aggression. Facial expressions can range from ...
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