ABSTRACT
This contribution is mainly motivated by the question how disruptive life events and their consequences affect peoples’ lives and feelings. In the last ten years, the diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder has become a main topic among researchers and clinicians. The inclusion of post-traumatic stress disorder in the DSM-III was an important milestone in psychiatric nomenclature. Prior to this, the signs and symptoms of stress response had appeared in descriptions of traumatic neuroses, and combat neuroses. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder include intrusions, avoidance, hypervigilance, and general failure to adapt to changing circumstances. These signs occur not only after unusual events, such as combat experience, hurricanes, and cruel accidents, but also after more common events, such as bereavement. What happens after experiencing a personal loss or an extremely stressful event, is that the old working models of the world no longer apply to the new circumstances. In addition, a person often experiences psychological conflicts involving unresolved issues and contradictory views of themselves and others. Due to such conflicts, feelings of guilt after surviving an accident where a close person died, often lead to complicated and prolonged forms of grief. Blaming others or believing that one’s real self is far discrepant from an ideal self are other possible reactions.
