The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - Literature review Example

 The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) defines Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as suffering from an incident in which one has experienced serious threat of damage or death and then suffers from extreme fear and horror along with helplessness (Dryden-Edwards and Stoppler, n.d., p.1). It is nothing but an emotional illness that is characterised as an anxiety disorder (Dryden-Edwards and Stoppler, n.d., p.1). This is a psychological and physical condition that can be caused by any life-threatening or frightening or distressing incident. Almost 30% of people who have experienced any one those incidents suffer from this problem (Dryden-Edwards and Stoppler, n.d., p.1). There are various reasons for a person to suffer from PTSD. These causes are related to interpersonal, psychological, and social consequences. Any one of the following events can cause people to suffer from this problem: military combat, serious road accidents or physical injury, terrorist attacks, natural disasters (like storm or cyclone), other disasters (like plane crash), hostage experiences, violent deaths, violent personal assaults, such as sexual assault, mugging or robbery, involvements in civil conflict, emotional torture etc. PTSD can also occur in any other situations or incidents where the person feels helpless and experience fear or horror (Parkinson, 1993, p.12). However, it does not occur in case of incidents like failing in the examination or losing job etc. which just create upsetting modes for the person. But recent experiences of doctors reveal that these events can also be causes for PTSD. These are the major causes for developing this condition (Post-traumatic stress disorder, 2009, p.1). But the most affected people from the PTSD are the soldiers who have severe experiences of warfronts or battles. PTSD affects the person or a group of persons who had directly experienced the incident. But it can also affect the person who witnesses the incident or listens to the story about the incident afterward. It can also affect family members or friends of the person who had actually experienced the incident (Joseph, Williams, and William, 1997, pp.10-11). The development of the symptoms of PTSD varies from person to person. For some people it takes hours or days to develop the symptoms; but for some persons it takes weeks or even years to develop. Sometimes the symptoms come out very casually; but sometimes some other related or similar kinds of incidents force those symptoms to develop. There are three common or mostly seen symptoms of PTSD. They are: habit of re-experiencing the traumatic incident, increment in anxiety and emotional arousal of the affected person and trying to avoid the reminders of the trauma. There are few sub-symptoms of these broader symptoms (Yule, 1991, pp.20-27). The first symptom contains flashbacks (like the incident is happening again) or nightmares, or intense physical reactions, such as sweating, rapid breathing etc. The second symptom includes difficulty in sleeping, getting outbursts in anger, hypervigilance or difficulty in concentrating on something etc. And the last major symptom includes habit of avoiding places, thoughts, comments that remind the person of the traumatic incident, complete loss of interests in any activity or general life etc. PTSD is also found among children. They have common symptoms like fear of getting separated from parents, nightmares or new phobias, aggression and irritability etc. (Smith, 2011, p.1). PTSD and War: PTSD was first noticed after the World War I. Many soldiers started to suffer from the problem recalling their horrible experiences of battlefields. This problem was then called shell shock or battle fatigue syndrome. Until recently this was the only cause of suffering from PTSD (Goldstein, 2001, p.1). But after experiencing several life cases doctors and psychologists have argued that other causes of PTSD can gave similar effects. The term PTSD was first used after the Vietnam War that started in 1955 and ended in 1975. After 1980, PTSD was recognised as a serious mental health condition and it was included in the DSM developed by American Psychiatric Association (APA) (Post-traumatic stress disorder, 2009, p.1). After the First World War, soldiers started to suffer from “combat fatigue”. Many soldiers have suffered from serious and long-lasting psychological and mental damage after their battle experiences. In World War II, almost 400,000 soldiers have suffered from traumatic problems. They have suffered from helplessness, threat of annihilation, loss of control etc. (Goldstein, 2001, p.1). Civil war of Yugoslavia in 1991: These symptoms are also found in the soldiers of Civil war in Yugoslavia in 1991(O'balance, 1991, 66-67). The war was between Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks in Croatia in Eastern Europe (Lecture 25: The Yugoslav Civil War, 1995, p.1). The war was between newly created state "Republic of Serbian Krajina" and Republic of Croatia. This led to the Croatian War of Independence. This war will be noted in history forever for its cruelty, war crimes, and ethnic distillation. The civil war of Yugoslavia was a series of war that started in 1991 and ended in 1995 (Lecture 25: The Yugoslav Civil War, 1995, p.1). In 1989, Yugoslavia was consisting of six republics, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia (Lecture 25: The Yugoslav Civil War, 1995, p.1). The civil war of 1991 was characterised by two main reasons; one is the long-standing ethnic differences between Serbs and Croats (Klemenčič and Žagar, 2004, p.184), and the other is the growing territorial ambitions of the Slobodan Milosevic, the Serbian president. Apart from these two reasons there were several reasons behind this war (Sell, 2002, p.120). Nationalist forces: The emergence of nationalist feeling among the people of Croatia in 1971 was the starting of the conflict. After 1980 this has become the major issue regarding the isolated freedoms for Croatia. In 1989, Yugoslavia started to use an economic reform model that was based on the communist nationalist agenda, not on the progressive, western-oriented economic reform (Biro and Milin, 2005, p.2-3). This reform has dominated over democratic parties and human rights. From this time tensions started to develop between northern and southern part of Yugoslavia regarding cultural and economic factors, and also regarding the stagnation of the overall economy (Lecture 25: The Yugoslav Civil War, 1995, p.1). Croatian dissent: After 1966, in Croatia, there emerged the concept of Croatian nationalism. This movement began mainly among students. Many of the students, including the future president of Croatia Franjo Tudjman, were sent into jail (Biro and Milin, 2005, pp.3-4). These political currents, along with the socio-economic dissatisfaction have created huge tension in the northern part of the country. This was followed by the emergence of ethnic differences among these states and growing need for political reform and the concept of separatism 9 Lecture 25: The Yugoslav Civil War, 1995, p.1). Serbian dissent: Not only in Croatia, but also in Serbia there emerged a voice of separatism. During the period of 1980, there evolved Great Serb nationalism. Although there was the believe that the Serbians were the most benefitted section of the country, but the Serbians started to believe that outside Serbian states their minority people were not getting proper facilities compared to what other minority people were getting in the Serbian state. Tension emerged largely in Kosovo, a Serbian state dominated by Albanian minority people (Biro and Milin, 2005, p.4). After emerging all these tensions Slobodan Milosevic started to fulfill his communist political goals and hence the platform for the war began (Lecture 25: The Yugoslav Civil War, 1995, p.1). Civil War: Civil war is nothing but a conflict between the government of a nation-state and the opposing side of that government that results in sustained combat activities by both the sides (Lounsbery and Pearson, 2009, p.4). This is less likely to happen between the member nations of a united nation-state. The major aim of civil war is to gain control of the nation and over the political and economic factors (Dyker, 1990, p.23-24). The civil war of Yugoslavia in 1991 was also related to these political and economic issues that have caused many people to die and many to suffer from severe traumatic problems (Symynkywicz, 1997, pp.45-46). Brief analysis of documentary video techniques: Documentary films and videos capture those events that has effected or influenced the lives of many human beings. Traumatic documentaries are generally made in a narrative mode and intend to be autobiographical. Researches based on traumatic documentaries particularly the autobiographical ones reveal that they have the power to leave a deep impact on the mind. Memories of such documentaries separate an individual from the material world. The technique of making such traumatic videos is completely different than the ones used for fiction based films (Walker, 2005, p.84). The medically based shows concerned with like Trauma: Life in the E.R., Paramedics has a tendency to become a historical one. But it is not necessary that historical documentaries have to be traumatic. However to make a good documentary like Ken Burn’s The Civil War which came out in 1990, the technique is to keep aside the traditional video techniques which has a fair distinction between imagination and reality. In such a remarkable documentary an individual can relive the horrors of battle. Such an instance is produced with the help of cinematic lens with sharp clarity (Walker, 2005, p.85). Researches in the field of art history emphasize on the need to set a relation between the element of trauma and the visual field. This is deemed necessary in the modern period. The objects should be placed in such a manner and the art itself needs to be effective enough so that it can produce a haunting effect (Saltzman and Rosenberg, 2006, p.269). Trauma as if produces a redefinition of life and death. Applications of new methods and techniques in the field of art have produced trauma in a way in the documentaries that it has got linked with the cultural works. But occurrence of trauma should not be seen at any cost as that producing an admiration for culture (Saltzman and Rosenberg, 2006, p.269). Research conducted on the treatment of mental patients suffering from the trauma of 9/11 terrorist attacks has shown that mental doctors or psychiatrists have included playing of videos or documentaries on traumatic events to the patients in the course of their treatment. S it is important that the videos techniques used for the documentary should be able to produce those special effects that the videos have an impact on the minds of these traumatic patients and that would be of great help in the treatment (Neria, Gross and Marshall, 2006, p.319). Exposure to war has been considered as disastrous for mental health and leads to a large number of mental casualties. Army men who have been on duty for more than a year during the war on Afghanistan and Iraq have high chances of suffering from PTSD but they never think about consulting a psychiatrist for such a mental disorder. Hence it is important that mental treatment programs should be conducted in the war zone. Playing traumatic documentaries can be a good option under such circumstances. But it is important that the videos are prepared with such techniques that help to realize the human cost of war (Scurfield, 2006, p.75). The videos or documentaries picturized on war has got huge responses from PTSD victims and they have put in their efforts to get back to normality. It has also been found that these types of documentaries have also provided a better knowledge of the nature of sufferings of PTSD patients (Ashplant, Dawson and Roper, 2004, p.241). The war documentaries are also widely used on those special dates in memory of the war victims and to realize their sufferings and experience of trauma from the war zone (Ashplant, Dawson and Roper, 2004, p.96). A good documentary based on the Yugoslavia war like Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War Part I have highlighted clearly the traumatic experiences of people in the war zone such as dead bodies, broken houses, women running with children to save their lives. The pictures of fighter jets and guns create an environment of violence and bloodshed in the documentary. The post war scenes are also very influential on human minds. The documentary has also shown the mistaken committed by the West which led to such a disastrous war in Yugoslavia in 1991. The NATO bombing of 1999 was an out outcome of this war (Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War Part I, 2006). Other documentaries like Yugoslavia: The Death of a Nation have a lot of hardcore research involved in the film. The video techniques used have given a depth to the documentary. For documentaries like The Fifty Years War, the approach has been quite different. Here the entire story of war and its underlying trauma has been narrated by a central character who happens to be the leader fighting for a particular social cause (Michalski and Gow, 2007, p.21). Lots of dramatic experiences have been injected in the film and this is reflected in the cinematography. References: 1. Ashplant, TG, Dawson, G and Roper, M. (2004). Commemorating war: the politics of memory, New Jersey: Transaction Publishing 2. Biro, M. and Milin, P.(2005), TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE AND THE PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION, PSIHOLOGIJA, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp.1-16, available at: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0048-5705/2005/0048-57050502133B.pdf (accessed on December 21, 2011) 3. Dryden-Edwards, R. and Stoppler, M. C. (n. d.), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Medicine Net, available at: http://www.medicinenet.com/posttraumatic_stress_disorder/article.htm (accessed on December 20, 2011) 4. Dyker, D. A. (1990), Yugoslavia: socialism, development, and debt, New York: Routledge 5. Goldstein, J. S. (2001), War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa, Cambridge University Press, available at: http://www.warandgender.com/wgptsd.htm (accessed on December 20, 2011) 6. Joseph, S., Williams, R. and William, Y. (1997), Understanding Post-traumatic stress: A Psychosocial Perspective on PTSD and Treatment, Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd 7. Klemenčič, M. and Žagar, M. (2004), The former Yugoslavia's diverse peoples: a reference sourcebook, California: ABC-CLIO 8. Lecture 25: The Yugoslav Civil War, (1995), Twenty-Five Lectures on Modern Balkan History, available at: http://staff.lib.msu.edu/sowards/balkan/lect25.htm (accessed on December 20, 2011) 9. Lounsbery, M. O. and Pearson, F. (2009), Civil wars: internal struggles, global consequences, Toronto: University of Toronto Press 10. Michalski, M and Gow, J. (2007). War, Image and Legitimacy: Viewing contemporary conflict, New York: Routledge Group 11. Neria, Y, Gross, R and Marshall, R. (2006). 9/11: Mental Health in the Wake of Terrorist Attacks, New York: Cambridge University Press 12. O'balance, E. (1991), Civil war in Yugoslavia, USA: Galago 13. Parkinson, F. (1993), Post Trauma Stress. London: Sheldon Press 14. Post-traumatic stress disorder, (2009), NHS Choices, available at: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Post-traumatic-stress-disorder/Pages/Introduction.aspx (accessed on December 20, 2011) 15. Saltzman, L and Rosenberg, EM. (2006). Trauma and visuality in modernity, Lebanon: Dartmouth College Press 16. Scurfield, RM. (2006). War Trauma: Lessons Unlearned, from Vietnam to Iraq, United States: Algora Publishing 17. Sell, L. (2002), Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, USA: Duke 18. Smith, M. (2011), Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): SYMPTOMS, TREATMENT, AND SELF-HELP, Helpguide, available at: http://helpguide.org/mental/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm (accessed on December 20, 2011) 19. Symynkywicz, J. B. (1997), Civil War in Yugoslavia: The Fall of Communism, USA: Dillon Press 20. Walker, J. (2005). Trauma cinema: documenting incest and the Holocaust, Los Angeles: University Of California Press 21. Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War Part I, (2006), Google Videos, available at: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5860186121153047571 (Accessed on December 21 2011). 22. Yule, W. (1991), Post traumatic stress disorder: concepts and therapy, Edited, USA: Wile Read More