Post traumatic stress disorder - Essay Example

These situations may scar a person’s psyche to the degree that they are unable to function in the same manner in society, or that the person has recurring flashbacks of the event. It is a common pattern in abuse for victims to subconsciously re-create situations that model the initial trauma as a type of behavior seeking resolution or vital processing that will allow the individual to move on. Yet, in many instances, the symptoms of people who have suffered through these events linger and never subside, with symptoms growing worse over time.

In analyzing these cases, psychologists have established Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome as an identifiable mental illness operating on a pattern of symptoms, though there has been less success at identifying a treatment or a cure for individuals suffering from this problem. The DSM-IV lists the following symptoms as characteristic of PTSD: “A. The person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both of the following were present: (1) The person experienced witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of others (2) The person's response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. B. The traumatic event is persistently re-experienced in one (or more) of the following ways: (1) Recurrent and distressing recollections of the event, including images, thoughts, or perceptions. (2) Recurrent distressing dreams of the event (3) Acting or feeling if the traumatic event were recurring (includes a sense of reliving the experience, illusions, hallucinations, and dissociative flashback episodes, including those that occur on awakening or when intoxicated). (4) Intense psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event. (5) Physiological reactivity on exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event.

” (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) Along with these symptoms, there may also be signs such as “efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma, efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma, or inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma” as part of the effects of the condition. (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) PTSD sufferers may also feel apathetic, detached, estranged, or alienated from society and display some of the restricted range of emotion seen in schizophrenia and autism, though generally to a lesser degree.

There may also be feelings of helplessness and an abandonment of social goals related to career or family life. The PTSD patient may be suicidal, confused, disoriented, and in various degrees of psychosis related to the hallucinations and flashbacks related to the disease. The patient may be aggressive, paranoid, and prone to insomnia and substance abuse as further issues related to the trauma. There may be additionally a general nervousness and high stress or tension level experienced by the patient in association with the disease.

(American Psychiatric Association, 1994) Anger management and counseling are typically tried in combination with drugs typically used to treat depression or bipolar illnesses, such as Xanax or Prozac, in an attempt to treat the symptoms