Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Melissa Richardson Anxiety disorder is described as a set of psychological and physiological conditions whichmay arise in any individual because of abnormal disturbances in his/her normal brain functions. Anxiety gives a sense of worry, panic, fear and distress to the individual suffering from it. Additionally, anxiety is a sense of feeling which is experienced by everyone at one time in his/her lifetime and so it is very significant to distinguish between the normal levels of anxiety and the pathological levels. This can be clearly differentiated if an investigation is done to find out the levels of distress encountered by the individuals in their life and the effect of this distress on the normal behaviors of the same character. Approximately 25% of adults are believed to be suffering from this anxiety disorder (National Institutes of Health, 1995). Introduction There are many sorts of anxiety disorders which necessitates the proper diagnose so as to be on familiar terms with which type of disorder the person is facing. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is one variety of anxiety disorder faced by some individuals and comes about in people who have faced dangerous circumstances in their lives in the past and these dangerous conditions repeats themselves frequently in the mind of those people which ensues in causing fear, anxiety, horror and dreadfulness. The individuals suffering from the disorder experience the events of the trauma in their minds over and over again and every so often a specific motivation takes place and this stops the trauma from taking place but the disorder may be acute or chronic depending upon the period of time the symptoms has been affecting the individual. What we need to know is what kind of trauma it is that causes this disorder. The DSM IV affirms that trauma is any event which involves death, threat or injury to anyone involved and the reaction of the person creates panic, nervousness and horror. However, the symptoms of anxiety disorder can range from mild to severe depending upon the capacity of the person (Thomas, 2008) At the same time, anxiety disorders may be Psychodynamic which means that their internal state of mind might not be stable enough and the impulses and instincts may perhaps be in conflict which results in causing the distress to the affected individual who had previous nervous experiences which he/she faces once again. This is a part of the learning process of the individual and he/she may possibly not be able to forget those previous events which caused the malfunctioning of his/her brain normal functions. What is more, these disorders may well be experienced by individuals who are mentally disturbed by the environment in their house, but it is even implied that anxiety disorders in individuals happen due to the abnormal functioning of the neurotransmitters in the brain. GABA receptors are known to play a significant role in the normal functioning of the brain and if they are disturbed the individual can suffer from anxiety disorders but the problems with the normal functioning of the body may possibly also be the source of anxiety in the individual which can be related to gastrointestinal tract, lung diseases, cardiovascular problems or brain disorders (Thomas, 2008). The symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder are divided into three broad grouping of re-experiencing, avoidance and arousal and by examining these categories will clearly show if a person is suffering from this disorder. Re-experiencing is a category which includes intrusive thoughts of the trauma in the form of nightmares, flashbacks or other reminders while the category of avoidance includes features which facilitate in avoiding the trauma by doing different actions. In this case, the affected person would not be fond of paying a visit to places or individuals which remind him/her of the trauma and this decreases rate of pleasure in anything which he/she previously used to enjoy. The category of arousal includes the symptoms such as a sudden awakening, shivers, anger, irritability as well as sleep problems. Nevertheless, headache, dizziness, paranoia and substance abuse are common problems associated with the disorder but depression and suicidal thoughts are noticeably prominent in the people suffering from these disorders (Ballenger, 2003). Post traumatic stress disorder may be caused by psychological trauma, physical trauma, endocrinal disturbances and anatomic disturbances in the nervous system but the physical trauma and psychological trauma are the major causes of post traumatic stress disorder. Incidentally, any incidence which may be life threatening such as wars, sexual assault, accidents and calamities can lead to post traumatic stress disorder. A trauma causes the release of increased adrenaline which affects the brain and the effects of this continued increase of adrenaline leads to post traumatic stress disorder. The disturbance in the structure of certain areas of brain which is caused by any kind of trauma might result in post traumatic stress disorder and examinations of this subject shows that disturbance in the prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus which result from head injuries in wars may cause post traumatic stress disorder because amygdala stores the emotional memories and any disorder in the structure of amygdala can arouse the effects of trauma but genetics also plays a role in causing post traumatic stress disorder (Ballenger, 2003). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Post traumatic stress disorder is some kind of anxiety disorder which can be treated by relieving the symptoms that the patient may perhaps be suffering from and physiological and drug therapies are used as the cure but cognitive behavioral therapy is a kind of physiological treatment alternative which is likely to be the most effective means of treating the disorder because different choices are made through which the affected individuals can be counseled about the symptoms. This cognitive behavioral therapy is based on different principles which help the patients to explore their thoughts confidently so as to enable them to come to terms with the effects so that their symptoms can be relieved. The therapist helps the patients in talk therapies by counseling which helps to vent out the problem faced by the individual and results in making the patient feel at ease and also helps to relieve the individual of the tension that he/she is facing in his/her life. Another therapy is that which is associated to imagery and training helps to reduce the symptoms of anxiety in a child so as to get used to the problems he/she is facing in life and ensues in reducing the responses in reply to specific stimuli (Kendall, 1992). PTSD in military and veteran community The military and veteran communities frequently get some special treatment in their particular countries due to the fact that they made sacrifices during the wars. Each of the concerned countries tackles them differently with some openly supporting the veterans through government programs while others ignore them. Veterans and the military community are sometimes subject to illnesses which are directly related to their military service such as PTSD. The consequences of active military service can be profound and lasting, and some veterans have found it not easy to adjust to normal life again. Veterans prone to suicide and records show that enough was not done to care for the Afghanistan war veterans and many of them plunged into alcohol problems, crime and suicide upon their return. But fortunitely enough new treatment programs are emerging that assist the veterans who suffer from post-combat mental health problems such as depression and post traumatic stress disorder. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), is becoming an imperative method for the treatment of the mental health issues among the military and veteran community, and is currently considered the standard of care for depression and PTSD by even the United States Department of Defense. CBT is a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to change the patterns of behavior or thinking that is responsible for patient’s negative emotions and in doing so manages to change the way they feel and it has been proven to be an effective treatment for PTSD among war veterans. Family therapy is one more category of cognitive behavioral therapy which is used for people suffering from anxiety disorder where a therapist approaches the family to talk out the patient about the problems that he/she is going through and this helps the family to communicate better and get over the tribulations that they may perhaps be facing together. Family therapy is particularly practical since Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is assumed to be a genetic disorder which runs in a particular family. Consequently, family therapy can not only be valuable for the patient only but it may be also useful for the whole family. Correspondingly pharmacological treatment has been given to patients suffering from anxiety disorder because it targets the receptors of brains but selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are prescribed to these patients so that the level of the hormone serotonin can be maintained in the body. At the same time, Alpha Adrenergic drugs are prescribed to anxiety disorder patients as they suppressing and decreasing the ratio of nightmares. The doctors may also prescribe anti psychotics, antidepressants and anticonvulsants to counter the different symptoms that arise in patients with anxiety disorders (Springer, 2011). Conclusion Another treatment option being used these days is related to the cognitive behavioral therapy and is termed as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing in which the patients are advised to use their eye movements to get over the anxiety disorders since the eye movements are understood to work by opening the information system of the brain (Springer, 2011). Adults or children can develop PSTD signs by experiencing mobbing or bullying and preliminary investigation implies that child abuse can interconnect with mutations in a stress-related gene to enhance the risk of PSTD in adults. Even though 50 per cent to 90 per cent of the people get affected by trauma over a lifetime, only approximately 8 per cent develop full PTSD. However, the first form of preventive treatment is that of a psychological debriefing, which incidentally happens to be the most frequently used preventive measure. One of the fundamental reasons for this is the relative ease with which this treatment may be given to individuals directly subsequent to the event. It includes the interviews that are meant to let the individuals to directly meet head-on experience and share their feelings with the counselor and also helps the formation of the memories of the event. However, while this form of therapy is the most frequently used, it is in reality the least effective kind of treatment of PSTD (Spates, 2007). References Springer, J. (2011). Using war games to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. New York, Oxford University Press. National Institutes of Health, (1995). National Institute of Mental Health. Atlanta. NIH Publication. Thomas, P. (2008). Post traumatic stress disorder, Diseases and disorders series. Farmington Hills, MI Lucent Books. Top of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Kendall, P. (1992). Anxiety disorders in youth: cognitive-behavioral interventions, Boston, Mass, Allyn and Bacon. Top of Form Ballenger, J. (2003). Anxiety disorders, Malden, Mass: Blackwell Science. Spates, R. (2007). Treatment of PTSD and Substance Abuse Co-morbidity, The Behavior Analyst Today, London, UP. Top of Form . Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More