Answer to Question 1
The most effective types of treatments for PTSD involve a reexposure to the events or stimuli that caused the trauma in the first place. A study of prolonged exposure to traumatic stimuli found it to be more effective in relieving symptoms than relaxation and supportive counseling. Similarly, a method that involves imagining nightmares while awake, called imagery rehearsal therapy, was also found to relieve symptoms. Other cognitive techniques are also employed, such as challenging faulty assumptions like no one cares, but it is the exposure to the events that seem to have the most consistent therapeutic effect.
Answer to Question 2
Earlier versions of DSM defined trauma as an event outside the range of usual human experience. Recent research has revealed that many traumatic events are common in the United States. Now, DSM defines traumatic events as (1) the experience of an event involving actual or threatened death or injury to self or others, and (2) a response of intense fear, helplessness, or horror in reaction to the event. A study of a random sample of over 2,000 adults living in the Detroit area found that almost 90 percent of the participants reported having experienced at least one traumatic stressor in their lives. About 9 percent of the participants developed PTSD following the trauma.
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