Case Vignette
J is a 35 year old male who works and attends school in the evening. J is married with 3 kids. His wife is a nurse and works on weekends so that one parent can be home during the weekday evenings with the children. J is majoring in psychology, and works during the day as an administrative assistant at a community outreach center.
About 2 months ago, J was walking from his building to his car, around 9:30pm. He had just finished class, and meeting with his group for a project that they were working on. As he approached his car, another person dressed in blue shirt and a skull cap appeared from the other side of the car with what looked like a gun and demanded that J give him his wallet and keys. J pleaded with the person not to hurt him, however the person yelled back at him insisting that he give him his wallet at keys. Things happened so quickly, from what J recalled. As he was doing this, he remembers trying to defend himself as the person reached up to hit him with the gun or whatever the object was in his hand. J remembers being hit other times and then recalls waking up with an EMT standing over him.
Immediately after the incident, J decided to take a couple of weeks off from work and school; and his professors were very flexible and allowed him to work from home. However, throughout this time, J found it hard to sleep and eat and focus. When he would try to work, or complete his school work at home, he would find himself thinking of the night he was walking to his car and the attack. J eventually found it difficult to drive at night, and could not return back to class when he wanted to. At first he asked his wife to drop him off at his evening classes, however, that could not work every evening due to her needing to help the kids with their homework, etc. He ended up having to take a hardship withdrawal for the semester, with the hopes of beginning back in the Fall. Eventually, he stopped going out at all in the evenings.
J continued to work although his persona and demeanor at work were different. Co-workers described him as being "irritable...on edge." When walking to his car from work he would often have reactions to people talking to him, often becoming startled. A couple of times when a person parked next to him happened to be exiting their car as he was approaching his car, he experienced panic attacks.
J also had several dreams that resulted in his wife having to reassure him that he was o.k. and that he was not being attacked. J's symptoms lasted for several months, and began to impact his sleep, overall energy, relationships, and work productivity. He didn't feel safe anywhere, but especially when walking to his car and especially at night.
Based on what we have read this semester, as well as the above information, what diagnosis would you provide?What disorder does J might have?