Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example

The Disorder of Anxiety: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) All the people experience some kind of anxiety on many occasions during their life span. When anxiety crosses certain limits, it is often labeled as a psychological problem. In other words mild anxiety is normal whereas intense anxiety is a psychological disorder. The reasons for anxiety can be different among different people. Some people may have genuine reasons for anxiety whereas others develop anxiety even for silly reasons. There are plenty of cases in which a person develops anxiety after a traumatic experience. Such anxiety disorders are often referred as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This paper analyses the peculiarities of PTSD. Overall description/Diagnostic Features “PTSD is an anxiety disorder that follows exposure to life-threatening experiences such as war, sexual assault, homicide, motor vehicle crashes, and natural disasters. The sufferer vacillates between the intense distress associated with unwanted trauma-related memories and psychic numbness”(Sayer, 2009, p. 704). “Diagnostic criteria for PTSD include a history of exposure to a traumatic event meeting two criteria and symptoms from each of three symptom clusters: intrusive recollections, avoidant/numbing symptoms, and hyper-arousal symptoms” (DSM Criteria for PTSD, 2011). People who experienced, witnessed or confronted with a traumatic event may develop serious stress. The memories of the traumatic event may haunt them all the time and they may difficulties in doing their activities normally. Such people may face difficulties in sleeping, concentrating, and controlling their emotions. Some of the common incidents which may cause PTSD are; serious earthquakes, fire accidents, transport accidents, floods, war, rape etc. Essential Features “The essential features of PTSD are hyperarousal, re-experiencing of aspects of the stressful events and avoidance of reminders” (What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?, n.d.). Insomnia, anxiety, reduced pain tolerance etc are some of the symptoms of hyperarousal. People who suffer PTSD would like to avoid the reminders of the traumatic event thy faced. They may develop negative thoughts and may face difficulties in seeing the brighter sides of life. Characteristic Symptoms “Symptoms of PTSD include impaired concentration, tension headaches, mental slowness, and indecision” (Ruff et al., 2010). PTSD victims may face difficulties in concentrating. They cannot spend too much time on a particular activity. Even during night, they may wake up quite frequently. Flashbacks and recurrent nightmares may cause trouble to PTSD victims while sleeping. For example, soldiers who kill enemies mercilessly may face PTSD later in their life. The mental processes of the soldiers in the war fronts and that of the returning soldiers are entirely different. At war fronts, they see only enemies and hence humanitarian considerations may not affect them much. However, once they return from the war fronts, humanitarian considerations may begin to develop in their minds. The faces and emotions of the enemies, who were killed by them, may haunt them later in their lives. As a result of that headaches, sleep problems and memory difficulties may develop among the soldiers returning from war fronts. Diagnostic Criteria Diagnostics of PTSD is quite difficult since many of the symptoms associated with PTSD are normally taking place in a layman’s life. For example, headaches, anxiety and sleeplessness can be occurred because of various reasons. It is not necessary that all these problems are symptoms of PTSD. In order to label a problem as the symptom of PTSD, the following criteria are used. Criterion A:- A person must have experienced a traumatic event Criterion B:- The person experiences at least one re-experiencing symptoms of PTSD Criterion C:- The person experiences at least three of the avoidance symptoms of PTSD Criterion D:- The person experiences at least two of the hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD Criterion E:- The symptoms described above must have lasted for more than a month. Criterion F:- The symptoms described above have a great negative impact on your life, interfering with work or relationships (Tull, 2009) Associated Features “Recent reports indicate that the rate of PTSD and other psychiatric disorders in returning OIF/ OEF service members is similar to the rate of TBI and that 37 to 44% of those with possible MTBI may also have PTSD” (Sayer, 2009, p. 704). Many of the soldiers returning from war fronts may have Mild Traumatic Brain Injuries or (MTBI). Many researches have proved that PTSD is associated with MTBI in many ways. In other words, people who are suffering from MTBI may have PTSD also. Pietrzak et al. (2009) pointed out that “Injuries involving loss of consciousness were associated with greater work-related difficulties and unmet psychological needs. PTSD mediated the relationship between MTBI and all of these outcomes” (Pietrzak et al., 2009). Moreover, Helterness, (2011) mentioned that “PTSD commonly coexists with MTBI because of the violent and life-threatening circumstances often associated with brain trauma. Studies have found prevalence rates of PTSD among those with MTBI from 13% to 84% (p. 147). Specific Cultural, Age, Gender “There continues to be controversy about the role of PTSD in other cultures – most people believe that there is considerable variation both within and between cultures”(What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?, n.d.). PTSD can occur among any people irrespective of which culture they belong to. However, there are certain cultures which respond more positively to traumatic incidents. For example, the world has witnessed the response of Japanese people when tsunami struck them badly in recent times. Japanese people showed little panic even when their life was in danger. On the other hand, it should be noted that Americans showed panic reactions when 9/11 incident occurred. In short, the ability to tolerate panic incidents can be different among different people and hence the prevalence of PTSD can also be different among different cultures. According to Ditlevsen and Elklit (2010), “Men and women differed in lifespan distribution of PTSD. The highest prevalence of PTSD was seen in the early 40s for men and in the early 50s for women, while the lowest prevalence for both genders was in the early 70s” (p.1). These statistics clearly suggest that women have better tolerance than men as far as problems associated with PTSD are concerned. At the same time, it should be noted that women are more vulnerable to PTSD problems than men. In fact women who face traumatic experiences may develop PTSD three times more than men. Prevalence “There are several factors that predispose an individual to developing PTSD. These include gender, low IQ, family history and pre-existing anxiety or depression” (What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?, n.d.). As mentioned earlier, females are more vulnerable to PTSD than men. The rate of prevalence of PTSD among professionally trained people such as soldiers is less than that among civilians. Moreover, people who are frequently facing traumatic incidents may not develop PTSD just like others. Course, Familial Pattern & Differential Diagnosis PTSD is a chronic disease which may last the entire life span of a person. “Specific symptom clusters—especially avoidant symptoms—might be associated with the course of PTSD. In addition, the occurrence of new traumatic events differentiates PTSD cases with a chronic course from those with remission” (Perkonigg et al., 2005, p.1320). Heredity plays an important role in causing PTSD. In other words, the possibility of developing PTSD among children of PTSD patients is more compared to others. PTSD and Acute stress disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder has almost the same symptoms. But symptoms of acute stress disorder may last only for few weeks. If the symptoms last more than four weeks from the occurrence of traumatic event, the person can be diagnosed as a patient with PTSD. References Ditlevsen, D.N. and Elklit, A. (2010). The combined effect of gender and age on post- traumatic stress disorder: do men and women show differences in the lifespan distribution of the disorder? Annals of General Psychiatry 2010, 9:32 DSM Criteria for PTSD. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/pages/dsm-iv-tr-ptsd.asp Heltemes, K. J., Dougherty A. L., MacGregor, A. J. & Galarneau, M. R. (2011). Alcohol Abuse Disorders Among U.S. Service Members With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Military Medicine, 176(2011). Pietrzak, R. H., Johnson, D. C., Goldstein, M. B., Malley, J. C. & Southwick, S. M. (2009). Posttraumatic stress disorder mediates the relationship between mild traumatic brain injury and health and psychosocial functioning in veterans of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19829203 Perkonigg, A.; Pfister, H.; Stein, M.B.; Höfler, M.; Lieb, R.; Maercker, A. & Wittchen, H. (2005). Longitudinal Course of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms in a Community Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults The American Journal of Psychiatry, 2005. VOL. 162, No. 7 Ruff, R. L., Riechers, R. G. & Ruff, S. S. (2010). Relationships between mild traumatic brain injury sustained in combat and post-traumatic stress disorder. Retrieved from http://f1000.com/reports/m/2/64 Sayer, N. A., Rettmann, N. A., Carlson, K. F., Bernardy, N., Sigford, B. J., Hamblen, J. L. & Friedman, M. J. (2009). Veterans with history of mild traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress disorder: Challenges from provider perspective. Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development, 46 (6), 703–716, DOI:10.1682/JRRD.2009.01.0008. Tull, M. (2009). The Requirements for a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Diagnosis. Retrieved from http://ptsd.about.com/od/symptomsanddiagnosis/a/PTSDdiagnosis.htm What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?, (n.d.). 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