A critical survey of hypotheses regarding Post-traumatic Stress Disorders in light of recent research findings

This paper reviews briefly recent findings from psychobiological research upon Post-traumatic Stress Disorders. A critical assay is provided of the various hypotheses advanced as the result of this research data. The author suggests neuropsychological theory provides the best explanation for understanding and classifying both the clinical phenomenology and the biological abnormalities discovered in the chronic forms of PTSD.Initial draft presented at a workshop Delayed Effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorders, sponsored by the Emergency Services Branch of the National Institutes of Mental Health April 14–15, 1986.