http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/PTStress.html
excerpt:
To understand the development of PTSD, we need to realize that any trauma - the death or loss of a loved one, moving house, war experiences or financial crisis - will cause stress hormones to interfere with the normal production of our feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin and others. These are environmental stresses that can result in environmental depression. Nature makes sure that we have the right neuro-chemicals to deal with the stress.
Normally, after the removal of the environmental stress people start to produce serotonin again and life resumes for most people. However, for some people this is not what is happening,. They continue to be depressed for some reason not quite understood by the person. He keeps on producing excess stress hormones, such as adrenaline, that prevents him from producing serotonin. And because he fails to produce serotonin, he will also be lacking in melatonin, our sleeping hormone. Thus the clinical picture is of a person depressed and unable to sleep, waking up with sweats during the night. He may have other symptoms such as anxiety attacks and unpredictable mood swings.
It is natural for a person with PTSD to link his depression with the trauma, because this was indeed the direct cause of his depression at the time of the trauma. In fact this indelible link with the traumatic event(s) will probably amount to an obsession, as the only possible logical explanation for his physical symptoms that are internally generated by a flaw in his metabolism.
Perhaps the difference between endogenous depression and PTSD is that the latter is usually associated with a specific traumatic event. A student who becomes depressed because of exposure to stresses due to a competitive educational, program is not generally seen to be a victim of PTSD, although the underlying mechanism is the same.
The fundamental question is, why is the person not producing serotonin?
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