Trying to understand, diagnose, conceptualize and treat Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) leads to a range of ideas and propositions reaching from a simple reaction to a meaningful dealing with threat expectations. While the theories of PTSD are centered around one specific segment of human behavior (e.g. conditioning or coping) many treatment programs are eclectic. It is suggested that conceptualizing processes involved in PTSD in terms of an action theory informed frame of reference would allow to devise an integrative understanding of PTSD, integrative theory of the target processes and, finally, a theory-based treatment integrating the individual techniques in a well-reasoned system. The contextual action theory is suggested as an alternative satisfying the criteria required by the integration proposition.
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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms within an ActionFacing these open questions and problems in understanding PTSD we propose the contextual action theory [21] based on the theory of goal-directed action [22] as a conceptual backdrop for dealing with PTSD symptoms. In this view,