Question: do, or how do, hormones affect ptsd

Keith Siew answered on 17 Jun 2013:

Well if we’re talking about Post-traumatic stress disorder its certain that hormones are feeding into the problem, but it is more fundamentally a psychological issue.

If for example you’d been shot at… and that was the cause of your PTSD then we could assume that loud bangs are a trigger for you… cause large releases of adrenaline when you get scared… you’d be in a constant unnatural state of stress and alertness… your body would be flooded with stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline… slowing digestion, suppressing the immune system causing increases in heart rate, constriction of blood vessels and raised blood pressure.

You might also be suffering from depression or anxiety which could be a result of imbalances in in neurotransmitter levels (the hormones used by the nervous system to send messages) such as serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, etc…

So in addition to psychiatric therapy for treating PTSD often it is complemented with drug therapies like anti-depressants, anxiolytics, antipsychotics, etc…