在1980年聖海倫斯火山噴發之前,居住在附近的許多長期居民儘管有即將噴發的警告,但仍拒絕撤離。一位居民哈里·杜魯門(Harry R. Truman)甚至因拒絕離開並讓記者放心而成為當地媒體的名人,“如果這座山走了,我就順其自然。這個地區樹木繁茂;精神湖在我和山之間。而山就在一英里之外。那座山不會傷害我……男孩。” 從未發現他的屍體,據信他是5月18日噴發的57名受害者之一。
生活中的壓力事件,足以對我們的身心帶來很大的影響,當中可能包括對自律神經系統等生理層面的影響,令身體激發以便於戰鬥或逃跑(fight or flight),也可能令身體變得僵硬或凍結(freeze)來避免刺激敵人。這些自然的反應,不僅出現在人類,也出現在很多其他動物身上,可見這是演化而來的保護機制,並不是軟弱的表現[2]。
一般來說,PTSD的治療需要認知行為治療,有實證研究支持的治療方法包括延長暴露療法(prolonged exposure therapy)、認知處理療法(cognitive processing therapy)和眼動減敏與歷程更新(eye movement desensitization and reprocessing)。
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