PTSD Lawyers Explain Arizona Workers’ Compensation for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

What PTSD Sufferers Should Know

How PTSD Is Diagnosed and Treated

Post-traumatic stress disorder is particularly difficult to diagnose and treat because individuals who suffer from this condition are often resistant to seeking professional help and are keen to avoid the fact that they are struggling. They often feel isolated and helpless. At the same time, many first responders, healthcare personnel and other people suffering from PTSD are highly individualistic and believe they can manage their symptoms on their own. In some occupations, mental illness is perceived as “weakness,” which establishes a dangerous and harmful stigma.

Diagnosing post-traumatic stress disorder

In order to be compensated for work-related PTSD in Arizona, the injured worker must first be diagnosed by a medical professional. To determine this, a doctor may conduct a rigorous physical examination to rule out any other medical conditions that may be responsible for your symptoms. The physician might also order a psychological examination during this period to examine whether or not your PTSD symptoms arise from a traumatic event that you witnessed, experienced or were exposed to.

Finally, the medical expert will likely use the criteria provided by the American Psychiatric Association’s “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5) to formally diagnose you. PTSD was first added to the DSM-5 in 2013, in the fifth edition. The APA released the latest update to its codes in October 2020.

According to the DSM-5, all of the following 8 criteria are required in order to diagnose a patient with PTSD:

1. Criterion A: Stressor. The individual was exposed to “death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence” either directly, through witnessing the trauma, after learning that a close loved one was exposed to trauma or indirectly through “averse details of the trauma” (as is common with first responders).
2. Criterion B: Symptoms. The individual must experience at least 1 recurring symptom such as unwanted memories and flashbacks of the trauma, nightmares, emotional distress or physical reactivity to the traumatic event.
3. Criterion C: Avoidance. The individual avoids thoughts, feelings or external stimuli that might trigger reminders of the traumatic event.
4. Criterion D: Negative thoughts or emotions. The individual experiences at least 2 changes in cognitive or behavioral well-being after the trauma, including memory loss, self-blame, loss of interest in activities, feelings of isolation, negative perceptions of the world and difficulty seeing things in a “positive light.”
5. Criterion E: Changes in arousal and reactions. The individual’s natural arousal and reactivity following a traumatic event worsen through destructive behavior such as increased irritability or aggression, risky behavior, hypervigilance, easy to startle, difficulty concentrating and insomnia.
6. Criterion F: Duration. The symptoms have lasted longer than 1 month.
7. Criterion G: Impairment. The symptoms disrupt or impair the individual’s life in some way, such as socially or occupationally (in work).
8. Criterion H: Exclusion. The symptoms are not caused by medications the individual is taking, or due to substance abuse or another illness.

Evidence-based PTSD treatments

• Prolonged Exposure (PE). This type of treatment involves gradually confronting what you’ve been avoiding. By facing negative thoughts and navigating trauma with the help of a counselor or therapist, patients can eventually gain a sense of control over their PTSD.
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Processing upsetting memories, thoughts, and feelings related to the trauma can bring relief from the worst symptoms of PTSD. Though there is some disagreement on how it works, EMDR has been shown to be effective in helping patients process their trauma while focusing on back-and-forth visual movements or sounds and recalling the traumatic event.
• Stress Inoculation Training (SIT). In this type of psychotherapy, patients gain coping skills to help prepare for and react differently to stressors that might trigger PTSD. Skills learned include breathing exercises, muscle relaxation techniques, cognitive retraining and assertiveness.
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy. The goal of this type of therapy is to help patients recognize harmful patterns and coping mechanisms in order to “reprogram” their response to more healthy processing techniques to better manage stress and adjust their behavior. Psychodynamic therapy also aims to improve the patient’s self-esteem and their relationship with the outside world.

Types of PTSD medication you might be prescribed include:

• Antidepressants. If you suffer from depression, difficulty concentrating and/or insomnia, certain medications can help you manage PTSD symptoms—namely, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) and serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRI). Antidepressants commonly prescribed for PTSD include Zoloft (sertraline), Paxil (paroxetine), Prozac (fluoxetine) and Effexor (venlafaxine) may. (Note: The FDA has only approved Paxil and Zoloft for treating PTSD.)
• Anti-anxiety drugs. Anxiety is another common symptom of PTSD, and some anti-anxiety drugs have been used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. However, these medications are often only approved for short-term use because of the risk of abuse.
• Prazosin. There is some evidence that prazosin is effective for managing PTSD nightmares, as well for select patients who are diagnosed with bipolar disorder. However, these uses are generally considered “off-label,” and the drug has potentially serious side effects—including high blood pressure and insomnia. It’s important to consult with your doctor before taking prazosin for PTSD.
• Topiramate. Although this medication is traditionally used to treat epilepsy, some data have suggested a possible efficacy in treating the symptoms of PTSD. In particular, topiramate can be helpful in controlling alcohol abuse urges, which are common in PTSD cases. However, the American Psychological Association has not yet recommended the use of topiramate for treating PTSD because the potential side effects are greater than SSRI antidepressants.

Other types of medication that may be prescribed “off label” to treat PTSD include monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), antipsychotics or second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs), beta-blockers and benzodiazepines.

Statute of Limitations for PTSD Claims