The different levels of PTSD leave people confused

NATIONAL CENTER FOR PTSD has a list of the 5 different levels of PTSD. Normal stress response, acute stress disorder, uncomplicated PTSD, comorbid PTSD and complex PTSD.

It begins with this one

Normal Stress Response
The normal stress response occurs when healthy adults who have been exposed to a single discrete traumatic event in adulthood experience intense bad memories, emotional numbing, feelings of unreality, being cut off from relationships or bodily tension and distress. Such individuals usually achieve complete recovery within a few weeks.

Often a group debriefing experience is helpful. Debriefings begin by describing the traumatic event. They then progress to exploration of survivors’ emotional responses to the event.

Next, there is an open discussion of symptoms that have been precipitated by the trauma.

Finally, there is education in which survivors’ responses are explained and positive ways of coping are identified.

This is the one where intervention does in fact help prevent PTSD. "Help" is the key word because if it is done right, even if PTSD does develop, they have the tools to fight against it and the results are not as bad as the last one on the list.

Complex PTSD
Complex PTSD (sometimes called “Disorder of Extreme Stress”) is found among individuals who have been exposed to prolonged traumatic circumstances, especially during childhood, such as childhood sexual abuse. These individuals often are diagnosed with borderline or antisocial personality disorder or dissociative disorders.

They exhibit behavioral difficulties (such as impulsivity, aggression, sexual acting out, eating disorders, alcohol or drug abuse, and self-destructive actions), extreme emotional difficulties (such as intense rage, depression, or panic) and mental difficulties (such as fragmented thoughts, dissociation, and amnesia).

The treatment of such patients often takes much longer, may progress at a much slower rate, and requires a sensitive and highly structured treatment program delivered by a team of trauma specialists.

Where it says "childhood" you have to be aware of the fact most of the men and women serving in the military are under 25 so when they were exposed to prolonged events, the emotional part of their brain was not fully developed.

Do we help them right now or do we wait?

Reflections from conflicts past: No PTSD, but returning can still be a challenge
Filed by KOSU News in Public Insight Network
April 24, 2013

Editor’s note: This is the second post in our series on veterans, reintegration and mental health.

One thing Zack Geneseo wants people to know is that not all veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are crippled by their experience.

“Sometimes I think people are surprised that I’m not an alcoholic, covered in tattoos, self-medicating for PTSD, living on the streets,” he says.

Geneseo joined the Army in March 2005. Now a captain in the Army Reserve, he spent much of 2010 and 2011 in Iraq.

Geneseo recently received his law degree from Boston University. He hopes to work in criminal law some day, but with the poor hiring climate in the legal field these days, he says he’ll take what he can get.

Despite his own successes with returning to life after war, Geneseo says he sympathizes with those veterans who have been unable to put the war behind them. He admits that he, too, struggled psychologically and emotionally when he first returned from active duty.

“No matter how many times the Army told me that people have a hard time adjusting, I thought – I knew – that it wasn’t going to happen to me, that I would be just fine because I’m so self-aware,” he says. “I couldn’t have been more naive.”

read more here