ABSTRACT
Traumas as diverse as armed combat and road traffic accidents may produce an emotional destabilization of the individual. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a particular manifestation of destabilization and the term can only be applied to a specific collection of symptoms that exist at least a month after the trauma. Physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event. The distinction between acute stress disorder and PTSD highlights the increasing concern over clients with symptoms after longer periods post trauma. Cognitive avoidance is likely to be a pointless endeavour, because only a conceptualization of the trauma will contain the trauma. Clients with post-traumatic stress disorder and particularly their relatives often report that they have undergone a 'personality change'. It may well be that a debriefing in which an individual is put under pressure to disclose their feelings or to talk about the trauma is deleterious.
