The Comprehensive PTSD Course

Trace the history of ptsd, from shellshock to modern diagnosis, and explain how external trauma redefined ptsd in dsm-iii, with insights into medical and social models and recovery.

Explain what PTSD stands for, post-traumatic stress disorder, a distressing emotional or mental disturbance following difficult or adverse circumstances, and its origin in the DSM-III.

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a debilitating condition that arises after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event involving harm or threat, such as war or natural disasters, causing long-lasting anxiety.

Discover the DSM-5 criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, including four clusters—re-experiencing, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal—onset within six months and symptoms lasting at least one month with impairment.

Analyze PTSD statistics—5–10% in the general population and about one third of traumatized children and adolescents—and explore why women experience PTSD at twice the rate of men, plus policy implications.

Explore medical and social models of PTSD, contrasting pathology-focused care with person-centered approaches that view the condition as an aspect of the person within health systems.

Explore the shift from PTSD being called a disorder to post-traumatic stress injury, addressing stigma, empowerment, DSM labels, and a brief activity.

Explore the PTSD diagnostic criteria, including exposure to a traumatic event and the four symptom clusters—intrusion, avoidance, negative cognitions and mood, and arousal—plus depersonalization and derealization.

Criterion A defines trauma exposure as direct exposure to death, threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence, witnessing, learning a relative was exposed, or indirect exposure to aversive details.

Explore criterion B intrusion symptoms, including intrusive thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks, and emotional or physical reactivity after exposure to traumatic reminders.

Experience how avoidance shapes PTSD, with victims evading trauma-related thoughts, reminders, people, places, conversations, activities, and situations, leading to isolation and family strain.

Explore Criterion d: negative alterations in cognition and mood after trauma, including dissociative amnesia, distorted beliefs, exaggerated blame, reduced interest, isolation, and difficulty experiencing positive affect.

Examine criterion e, alterations in arousal after trauma, including irritability, aggression, hypervigilance, startle, concentration, and sleep difficulties. These may also involve PTSD-related risky behavior, substance use, and sleep hygiene issues.

Explain PTSD criteria f, g, h: symptoms last one month, cause distress or impairment, and aren’t due to medication, substances, or other illness; includes depersonalization and derealization as dissociative symptoms.

Identify risk factors for PTSD across pre, during, and post trauma, examine signs and symptoms and gender differences, triggers, and the existence of a PTSD test for diagnosis.

Identify the PTSD diagnostic criteria, including trauma exposure, re-experiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal, with duration longer than one month, onset timing, and the four symptom groups: reliving, hyperarousal, avoidance, and numbing.

Identify signs and symptoms of PTSD, including anxiety, avoidance, irritability, startle responses, and phobias. Examine the wide-ranging physical, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral impacts that disrupt daily functioning and relationships.

Outlines PTSD symptoms in women—reliving, avoidance, numbing, and hyperarousal—and explains that sexual assault increases PTSD risk and self-blame compared with men.

Identify how internal and external triggers provoke memories and flashbacks of trauma. Explore how bodily sensations, emotions, and everyday situations like sights, sounds, or dates can trigger responses.

Review the range of PTSD assessments, including self-tests like the PTSD checklist and Davidson Trauma Scale, and clinician tools such as CAPS and the PTSD symptom scale.

Explore complex post-traumatic stress disorder, its roots in chronic, long-term trauma, and how repeated abuse and gaslighting shape enduring symptoms. Understand how early life trauma, isolation, and abuse intensify complexity.

Explore complex PTSD symptoms, including emotional regulation difficulties, dissociation, distorted self-perception, relationship mistrust, and loss of faith, while previewing at-risk groups like women, disabilities, Indigenous and First Nations people.

this lecture examines how social disadvantage elevates PTSD risk among women, indigenous and culturally diverse groups, people with disabilities, and at‑risk workers, linking socioeconomic factors to outcomes and inclusion barriers.

Explore the global prevalence of disabilities, the barriers to education and employment, abuse risks up to 70%, and how social factors shape disability and PTSD risk.

Examine how Aboriginal, Indigenous and First Nations people endure trauma and PTSD shaped by colonisation, dispossession, and the social systems that set them as the most disadvantaged.

Explore how LGBTQ, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people face discrimination and violence that harm mental health, while human rights protections and united nations documents provide context.

Explore culturally and linguistically diverse CALD groups, including migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees, and examine the trauma, discrimination, and risk of PTSD these populations face in new environments.

Investigate why women have a higher PTSD risk due to violence and abuse, and how cultural competence, health care access, and social justice address education, workplace equality, and reproductive rights.

Identify high risk occupational groups for ptsd, including police officers, firefighters, ambulance personnel, military personnel, healthcare workers, social workers, and journalists, due to cumulative trauma from repeated traumatic events.

Explore PTSD in children, its symptoms, interventions, and available resources for children and caregivers. Understand risk factors, child-specific signs, and the importance of swift professional help to prevent long-term effects.

Identify how ptsd manifests in children through nightmares, anxiety, irritability, social withdrawal, and school changes; emphasize family awareness, professional assessment, and frontline roles like teachers.

Recognize PTSD symptoms in children, refer for assessment and diagnosis, then use play or talk therapies, encourage return to normal activities and school collaboration to support recovery.

Explore resources for children with PTSD from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, including free training and webinars, with upcoming focus on PTSD treatment and coping.

Explore PTSD treatment options across medical, lifestyle, and complementary approaches, including therapies, medications, cannabis, MDMA and psychedelics, with focus on coping, recovery, nutrition, sleep, and exercise.

Explore PTSD therapy options, including psychotherapy such as prolonged exposure, trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive processing therapy, and EMDR, plus pharmacology with antidepressants like SSRIs and sleep aids.

Explore PTSD medication and pharmaceutical interventions, including SSRIs and tricyclic antidepressants, plus sleeping tablets like benzodiazepines and non-benzodiazepines, and learn to manage interactions with complementary and alternative medicines.

Examine cannabis, MDMA, and psychedelics like LSD and psilocybin in PTSD trials as potential therapeutics, addressing self-medication, sleep disturbance, and mood impairments with MAPS’ research context.

Explore nutritional interventions for ptsd by reducing inflammation with omega-3 rich foods and b vitamins to support nerve signals, while avoiding allergens and stimulants, and following gradual professional guidance.

Elevate mood, reduce anxiety, and support self-management in PTSD through low to moderate intensity exercise. Enhance motivation, self-care, and routine by adopting a consistent exercise regimen.

Learn sleep hygiene for PTSD, addressing nightmares, hyperarousal, and sleep disruptions, and apply environment, routines, and avoiding stimulants and blue-light from screens to improve rest.

Explore coping strategies for PTSD and the value of education to inform treatment choices. Create a personalized plan to minimize triggers and build social supports with professionals.

Explore PTSD recovery as a non-linear, holistic process that centers the person over symptoms and treats recovery as a journey, requiring a supportive network and optimism.

Explore ptsd help, resources, and a growing evidence base for prevention, treatment, and recovery; learn how awareness and reduced stigma enable support from trained health professionals.

Explore social interventions for PTSD, addressing stigma, housing, vocational training, education, and employment through rehabilitation counselling, community supports, and rehabilitation strategies.

Discover how stable housing supports recovery from PTSD, addressing homelessness, service access, and employment barriers while highlighting the link between trauma and housing insecurity.

Explore how vocational assessment and supported employment help people with PTSD regain work, sustain life satisfaction, and access accommodations like flexible schedules and mentoring.

Explore access to training and education within a vocational assessment, outlining retraining and skill transfer to secure employment, accommodation, transitions, and personal development for real world outcomes in PTSD recovery.

Reengage with culture, enjoyable activities, and community supports such as group therapy and peer support to anchor PTSD recovery, using staged, safe reintroduction to family, friends, and beloved pastimes.

Minimise environmental harms by removing factors that worsen ptsd, including substances, violence, and self-harm triggers such as weapons and ropes, with a focus on duty of care.

Explore prolonged exposure therapy (PET) for PTSD, including imaginal and in-vivo exposure, trauma memory processing, cognitive modification, and strategies to reduce avoidance and distress.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) combines cognitive and behavioral techniques to identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, offering practical self-help strategies and evidence-based relief for PTSD across the lifespan.

Explore eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (emdr), a trauma-focused therapy using bilateral processing to reframe traumatic memories in PTSD, backed by major health organizations and empirical evidence.

Group therapy for PTSD connects clients with professionals to address specific problems, provide validation and social support, and offer coping strategies in a peer-led, accountable setting.

Explore animal assisted therapy for PTSD, focusing on canine and equine therapies, their therapeutic goals, activities, and evidence of reducing anxiety, depression, isolation, and enhancing social skills.

Explore art therapy as psychotherapy using visual art, drama, and movement to improve well-being and self-esteem, help express emotions, and develop coping skills and resilience in individual or group sessions.