Posttraumatic stress disorder also known as PTSD is a trauma and stressor-related disorder that develops from directly or indirectly experiencing actual or threatened death, serious injury, or violence. Many people think PTSD is caused by military combat which is actually only one of the leading cause. PTSD is caused by any traumatic event, which is an event that involves a near death experience or psychological event that leaves the person frightened, horrified, and helpless. Situations that could cause PTSD symptoms are natural disasters, physical or sexual assault, and terrorist attacks. Some may think PTSD is a pretty new psychological disorder but it has actually been documented that people were having the same symptoms around the Industrial …show more content…
Revolution. PTSD is actually a pretty common psychological disorder. In the entire US population, an estimated 6.8% of Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. PTSD actually starts off as an acute stress disorder until the person suffering from it still is having traumatic “flashbacks” of the event after one month of being evaluated. These “flashbacks” are caused usually by one of the senses such as taste, touch, and smell. The senses cause the person suffering to believe they are actually reliving the traumatic event over again. Suffers of PTSD after triggering a sense that reminded them of the traumatic event will cause them to act differently then they usually do. PTSD events can make sufferers stay away from places or people that remind them of the trauma, causing isolation. PTSD can make people feel on guard, irritable, or startled easily because they do not know when an experience can trigger their memories of the traumatic event. Symptoms of PTSD could come up as far as months or ever years after a traumatic event. One theory on the reason PTSD exists is that the area of the brain that controls fear and aggression the amygdala, is right next to the hippocampus which controls memories. Since they are so close to one another it has been noted that this correlation could be one of the causes of PTSD. There are some therapies to help cope or even cure PTSD. Severe PTSD can be treated with therapy that is trauma focused. One therapy known to work with severe cases of PTSD is cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. In cognitive behavioral therapy, the therapist tries to help the person suffering understand and change how they think about their trauma. The goal for the therapist is to have the person learn to identify thoughts about the world and themselves that are causing them to trigger their PTSD. CBT treatment usually lasts anywhere between3 and 6 months. Exposure therapy is also used to treat PTSD. In exposure therapy is believed that the suffer has learned to fear thoughts, feelings, and situations that remind them of a past traumatic event. By talking about the trauma repeatedly with a therapist, they learn to get control of their thoughts and feelings about the traumatic experience. PTSD patients learn that they do not have to be afraid of their memories. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is another type of therapy for PTSD. Like other kinds of counseling, it can help change how you react to memories of your trauma. While thinking of or talking about your memories, you'll focus on other stimuli like eye movements, hand taps, and sounds.
Group therapy is very important for treatment against PTSD. It is way easier to go through any treatment for any psychological disorder when there are multiple people going through the same problems that they are having. Being able to have deep conversations and connecting with people by learning their stories and possibly finding someone who may be effected by a traumatic event similar to theirs can really help in the process of getting over PTSD. Some medications are used to help treat PTSD since chemicals in the brain affect the way that a person feels. A type of medication used for PTSD are SSRIs or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors which are antidepressant drugs. These drugs are used to keep patients from being depressed so they do not have any experiences that bring up their traumatic experience. Some antidepressant drugs used for PTSD are Prozac, Zoloft, and Celexa. There are some things that can be done by either someone suffering or someone that has a friend or family member suffering from PTSD. If you are suffering from PTSD you should talk to somebody do not bottle up the emotions you are carrying. Know that the feeling you are experiencing are normally fine for the traumatic experience you have gone through. If someone is suffering from PTSD that you know you should be patient with them. Look for reactions that may have been caused by PTSD and comfort them. Tell them that you are there for them and if needed make sure they go to counseling to help them become
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PTSD is a battle for everyone who is diagnosed and for the people close to them. The only way to fight and win a battle is to understand what one is fighting. One must understand PTSD if he or she hopes to be cured of it. According to the help guide, “A positive way to cope with PTSD is to learn about trauma and PTSD”(Smith and Segal). When a person knows what is going on in his or her body, it could give them better control over their condition. One the many symptoms of PTSD is the feeling of helplessness, yet, knowing the symptoms might give someone a better sense of understanding. Being in the driver’s seat of the disorder, can help recognize and avoid triggers. Triggers could be a smell, an image, a sound, or anything that could cause an individual to have a flashback of the intimidating event. Furthermore, knowing symptoms of PTSD could, as well, help one in recovering from the syndrome. For instance, a person could be getting wor...
PSTD treatments range from intricate psychobiologic features make therapy difficult. The three arms of treatment are patient education, pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy (Cabaltica, 2000). Pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy have been shown to alleviate the three clusters of PTSD symptoms: reexperiencing, avoidance and hypervigilance (Cabaltica, 2000).
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop after a traumatic event (Riley). A more in depth definition of the disorder is given by Doctor’s Nancy Piotrowski and Lillian Range, “A maladaptive condition resulting from exposure to events beyond the realm of normal human experience and characterized by persistent difficulties involving emotional numbing, intense fear, helplessness, horror, re-experiencing of trauma, avoidance, and arousal.” People who suffer from this disease have been a part of or seen an upsetting event that haunts them after the event, and sometimes the rest of their lives. There are nicknames for this disorder such as “shell shock”, “combat neurosis”, and “battle fatigue” (Piotrowski and Range). “Battle fatigue” and “combat neurosis” refer to soldiers who have been overseas and seen disturbing scenes that cause them anxiety they will continue to have when they remember their time spent in war. It is common for a lot of soldiers to be diagnosed with PTSD when returning from battle. Throughout the history of wars American soldiers have been involved in, each war had a different nickname for what is now PTSD (Pitman et al. 769). At first, PTSD was recognized and diagnosed as a personality disorder until after the Vietnam Veterans brought more attention to the disorder, and in 1980 it became a recognized anxiety disorder (Piotrowski and Range). There is not one lone cause of PTSD, and symptoms can vary from hallucinations to detachment of friends and family, making a diagnosis more difficult than normal. To treat and in hopes to prevent those who have this disorder, the doctor may suggest different types of therapy and also prescribe medication to help subside the sympt...
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm. The person who develops PTSD may have been the one who was harmed or the person may have witnessed a harmful event that happened to loved ones or strangers.
PTSD, also known as post-traumatic stress disorder, is an anxiety disorder. It affects people that have experienced, witnessed, or were confronted with a life threatening event. It can cause flashbacks, depression, nightmares, and change of mood. Other common symptoms of PTSD are difficulty sleeping, anger outbursts, decreased interest in activities, avoidance of people and places that can trigger a memory, and inability to recall part of the trauma. Symptoms can occur right after the incident but also much later in life. Other common occurrences with PTSD are depression, suicide, and alcohol or drug abuse (FAQs about PTSD).
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short, is defined as a mental health disorder triggered by seeing or experiencing a terrifying event.
What is post-traumatic stress disorder? Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a disorder that is characterized by the repeated experiencing or “reliving” of a traumatic event. With this disorder, the sufferer will also experience extreme emotional, mental, and physical distress. Recurrent nightmares, memories of the event, and vivid flashbacks are very likely too. (Wagman 915). PTSD wasn’t recognized as an illness until the 1980s, but it has been around as long as men have been killing one another (McGirk). Before PTSD was given its official name, many different names floated around within the whole entire world. In 1678, Swiss soldiers identified the disorder as nostalgia while German soldie...
Treatments for PTSD cannot erase your memory of those events,” (Tull) and, “That said, it is important to remember that symptoms of PTSD can come back again” (Tull). Even though it cannot be cured, it can be treated effectively with treatment. According to mayoclinc.org, “The primary treatment is psychotherapy, but often includes medication” (None). With the help of psychotherapy and medication, people who suffer from PTSD can begin to regain their life from anxiety and
PTSD is a debilitating mental illness that occurs when someone is exposed to a traumatic, dangerous, frightening, or a possibly life-threating occurrence. “It is an anxiety disorder that can interfere with your relationships, your work, and your social life.” (Muscari, pp. 3-7) Trauma affects everyone in different ways. Everyone feels wide ranges of emotions after going through or witnessing a traumatic event, fear, sadness and depression, it can cause changes in your everyday life as in your sleep and eating patterns. Some people experience reoccurring thoughts and nightmares about the event.
There are hundreds of different kinds of psychiatric disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV). One of them is called Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Based on the research, post-traumatic disorder usually occurs following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape (Harvard Women’s Health Watch, 2005). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the risk factors, pathophysiology, clinical manifestation, diagnostic criteria and tests, treatment, prognosis and future research and approaches to treat this psychiatric illness of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that develops after exposure to an event that is perceived to be life threatening or pose serious bodily injury to self or others (Sherin & Nemeroff, 2011). According
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) occurs when a person is involved in a stressful event that triggers persistent intense emotions for some time afterward (Post- traumatic stress disorder). This disaster can be triggered
At least 50% of all adults and children are exposed to a psychologically traumatic event (such as a life-threatening assault or accident, humanmade or natural disaster, or war). As many as 67% of trauma survivors experience lasting psychosocial impairment, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); panic, phobic, or generalized anxiety disorders; depression; or substance abuse.(Van der Kolk, et al, 1994) Symptoms of PTSD include persistent involuntary re-experiencing of traumatic distress, emotional numbing and detachment from other people, and hyperarousal (irritability, insomnia, fearfulness, nervous agitation). PTSD is linked to structural neurochemical changes in the central nervous system which may have a direct biological effect on health, such as vulnerability to hypertension and atherosclerotic heart disease; abnormalities in thyroid and other hormone functions; increased susceptibility to infections and immunologic disorders; and problems with pain perception, pain tolerance, and chronic pain.(Fesler, 1991) PTSD is associated with significant behavioral health risks, including smoking, poor nutrition, conflict or violence in intimate relationships, and anger or hostility.
Being a soldier who is experiencing PTSD, it boggles the mind how they live their life as one.The feeling to be in prison from his or her own will to be a normal human being, veterans has troubles to overcome it. Enduring the stress, but by in their mind, it haunts them. PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) is a condition that fails to recover from a traumatic experience. Fighting fatigue causes stress to the soldiers, and moreover, it infects the mind that they are murderers instead of serving the country. It leaves them with regret and anxiety, which follows them to the best option, suicide. PTSD soldiers believe it is best to repay for those who have killed during the war. Soldiers who return home are likely to do erratic behaviors which
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs talks about several different treatments, and how they work in this article. Two of the major treatments that the US Department of Veterans Affair speaks about are cognitive processing therapy, and prolonged exposure therapy. With cognitive processing therapy, therapists teach you how to find your triggers, stressors, and feelings for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and control them. Cognitive processing therapy teaches the trauma victim how to destress and cope with the world around them, and how to not place the blame on themselves which can cause bad episodes, and flashbacks. Prolonged exposure therapy is where therapist have you bring up traumatic memories from the past. The therapist can have you