Clinical forms of post-traumatic depression

As a result of determinants specific to the psychopathological structure of the psychological trauma, psycho-traumatised patients very rarely solicit the health care system directly with a request for treatment centred on their trauma. The medical profession is consulted for non-specific symptoms and complications, which are mainly somatoform, addictions and depressive disorders. After a few epidemiological reminders followed by a discussion concerning contemporary depressive and post-traumatic nosographic features, we define, through our clinical experience collated with the data in the literature, different clinical and etiopathogenic contexts of post-traumatic depression in order to control their therapeutic treatment. Burnout post-traumatic depression in response to re-experiencing is the most common: it is a reactive psycho-physiological burnout in response to the emotional distress re-experienced during flashbacks, insomnia, a constant feeling of insecurity and the deleterious consequences of this symptomatology in terms of social adaptation. A common genetic predisposition affecting serotoninergic regulation seems to be a vulnerability marker of both depressive and psychotraumatic symptoms. In this case, SSRI will be effective on sadness. In addition, these antidepressants have been widely prescribed for the first-line treatment of depressive and psychotraumatic symptoms. However, this pharmacological class is often insufficient in relieving autonomic hyperactivity such as re-experiencing which are mediated more by noradrenergic hyperactivity. SNRI such as venlafaxine can be used as a first-line treatment. Post-traumatic depression with psychotic features congruent with mood is dominated by a feeling of incurability; the subject blames himself and feels guilty about the traumatic event and its consequences. Symptoms of denial of identity are sometimes observed: confined by an intense depersonalization, the psycho-traumatised subject evokes that he is "no longer himself" and that his mind "is disconnected". Confronted with the psychological emptiness of the traumatic scene, the psycho-traumatised subject remains devoid of thought as if their mind has left him. In addition to antidepressant therapy, an atypical antipsychotic drug must be prescribed to relieve the melancholic symptoms as well as the concomitant psychotraumatic symptoms. Post-traumatic depression masked by peripheral physical injuries is the result of accidents combining psychological a