Dr. Ida Fonkoue

So post-traumatic stress disorder, and this is a disorder that was commonly described

associated with the military before, but it's a psychological disorder that often develops after a traumatic event.

We have a lot of symptoms that are usually associated with traumatic events, losing sleep, re-experiencing, avoidance of places or people that remind us of the trauma.

But the particularity of PTSD is that about 50% of those who

experience those symptoms after trauma will actually go on to have the same symptoms four weeks later.

So there's two important things that needs to be considered for the diagnosis of PTSD.

The traumatic event, it's important.

And second, the length of the symptoms.

So about four weeks minimum, because PTSD is in fact a diagnosis of extension, which means that

Everybody will experience it, those symptoms after trauma, but just a handful, like I said, 50% of individuals will go on to after four weeks to continuously develop that.

And one of the disclaimer I want to give here is that I am not a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist.

I am a cardiovascular physiologist.

So I don't diagnose people.

a PTSD participant comes to me with a diagnosis, but my goal is to really show them it's not all in their head and see what's happening in their heart, blood vessels, and metabolism.

It's a good question you ask.

And I like to use example.

I had an example of a participant who came to us and had her own experience of trauma, and it was more of an interpersonal.

I want to give a disclaimer here if I use some words that can be triggering for other people.

So this was a sexual assault.

that was the traumatic event for this young individual.