Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder- Cause or Effect of Bullying - Term Paper Example

? Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Cause or Effect of Bullying? An Assignment Submitted by of Establishment XXXX, Section XXXX, Fall 2012 Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder- Cause or Effect of Bullying? Hyman, I., Cohen, I., & Mahon, M. (2003). Student Alienation Syndrome: A Paradigm for Understanding the Relation Between School Trauma and School Violence. California School Psychologist 8: 73-86. This article deals with the problem of measuring the causes and effects of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children. The topic is problematic because there are relatively few studies of PTSD in this age group and almost no attempts to address the issue specifically in the school environment (Hyman, Cohen, & Mahon, 2003, pp. 74-75). Furthermore, when children are maltreated by peers, school staff and other people in school surroundings, the assessment of their condition may be complicated by the fact that they try to conceal some events and/or symptoms from their teachers and parents. The study is focused on the application of the previous model of assessment of PTSD in children and adolescents by Hyman and his colleagues (such as Snook, Zelikoff, Clarke and others) in the school surroundings. As a result, the new self-diagnostic scale has been developed under the name SATS (Student Alienation and Trauma Survey) Like the previous survey, SATS consists of two parts, the first one of which is focused on the events of school setting and the second help to identify psychical and somatic symptoms (Hyman, Cohen, & Mahon, 2003, p. 76). The authors also introduce the five-stage treatment model for the children diagnosed with PTSD (p. 79). The article offers a working quantitative system for diagnosing the presence of PTSD, as well as its causes and effects. The list of the events in the first part of SATS can be used in this study both as reference and as a scientific case that does not necessarily cover all possible complications and hence needs to be improved. Idsoe, T., Dyregrov, A., & Cosmovici, E. (2010). School Bullying and PTSD Symptoms in a National Representative Sample. Washington, District of Columbia, US: American Psychological Association (APA). This research is especially important because it addresses the problem of school bullying on the national scale and takes into account not only live but also digital forms of interaction. The sample consists of 963 students of both sexes, of 8th and 9th grades; their reports have been assessed in accordance with The Children's Impact of Event Scale (CRIES-13) and have indicated that 53.2% of the students who were victims of bullying developed critical score of intrusion and avoidance symptoms (Idsoe, Dyregrov, & Cosmovici, 2010, p. 2). This means that they are likely to suffer from PTSD. Thus, there is large scale evidence for the connection between bullying and PTSD in its victims. Kamen, C., Bergstrom, J., Mardini, M., Alhadi, F., Lee, S., Lazar, R., & ... Gore-Felton, C. (2011). HIV-Positive Men with a History of Childhood Bullying Report PTSD Symptoms Above and Beyond the Effect of Exposure to Other Forms of Trauma. Washington, District of Columbia, US: American Psychological Association (APA). This comparative study with the sample of 113 HIV-positive homosexual men and 51 HIV-positive heterosexual men (both groups from San Francisco Bay area) reveals that the experience of being bullied in childhood is a predictive factor for the indices of PTSD in adult men. Together with PTSD, substance consumption and “difficulties in emotion regulations” are likely to develop in such groups (Kamen et al., 2011, p. 2). The researchers state that being bullied in childhood is typical for HIV-diagnosed men and that this public health and psychological problem affects more those men who have sex with men (p.2). The fact that PTSD maladjustment (lack of ability to control emotions) depends on bullying in childhood testifies that PTSD could be not only the cause but also the effect of bullying. The finding of Kamen et al. that traumatic effects of bullying in childhood have far-reaching implications for adults (these reach in time and beyond other traumatic experiences) is a ground for the comparison of bullying effects to prolonged PTSD symptoms related to the accidents and loss. Matthiesen, S., & Einarsen, S. (2004). Psychiatric Distress and Symptoms of PTSD among Victims of Bullying at Work. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 32(3), 335-356. Matthiesen and Einarsen (2004) introduce a new dimension in PTSD research, namely, the hypothesis that negative affectivity (NA) may mediate bullying and psychiatric consequences (p. 339). Their study reveals that there is almost no direct connection between negative affectivity and the indicators of distress and reactions. Hence, there should be another explanation for the strength of post-bullying stress that does not decline considerably even a year after the termination of exposure to bullying, as the study indicates (Matthiesen, Einarsen, 2004, p. 345). The researchers see the reason for this in the “just world hypothesis”, that is, the assertion that bullied persons react traumatically to the shattering of their perception of world as safe and benevolent and the notion of themselves as worth living (pp. 349-350). This finding positions post-bullying distress as a type of trauma different from PTSD: it is a “cumulative trauma” characterized by remarkable subjectivity rather than “a postponed negative health effect after the exposure to one shocking, stultifying stressor” (Matthiesen, Einarsen, 2004, p. 349). This means that PTSD could be rather cause than effect of bullying: it may result in lack of adaptive strategies (which in some cases causes aggressive behavior), but it never comes directly from exposure to bullying. The study is focused on reactions to bullying and the correlation of their numerical equivalent with the timeline of exposure to trauma and with negative affectivity. 102 employers (more of 70% of whom were women) were surveyed; the results were compared to the ones of the samples of medical students performing their first autopsy, downsized postal employees, divorcees, people with psychiatric problems, parents of the children who experienced a major bus disaster and war personnel (Matthiesen, Einarsen, 2004, p. 342). For measures, the Impact of Event Scale (IES-R), the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSCL, 25-item version) and the Positive and Negative Affectivity Scale (PANAS) were used (Matthiesen, Einarsen, 2004, pp. 341-342). Penning, S., Bhagwanjee, A., & Govender, K. (2010). Bullying Boys: The Traumatic Effects of Bullying in Male Adolescent Learners. Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 22(2), 131-143. doi:10.2989/17280583.2010.528580. The article deals with the consequences of bullying in school settings with the focus on the symptoms of bullying-related trauma and the relation of traumatic experience to the roles in bullying (namely, bully, bully-victim, victim and bystander) (Penning, Bhagwanjee, & Govender, 2010, p. 136). Trauma is approached in this study in multi-faceted way: the authors distinguish between PTSD (associated with anxiety, re-experience and avoidance) and Complex PTSD occurring in cases of chronic distress (p. 132). The researchers have taken the sample of male students of the grades 8 to 11, most of whom were from the families with low income (the school was multi-racial with Black students as the majority) (p. 134). The boys were surveyed according to the Olweus Bully/Victimization Scale; the results indicate that there is a significant correlation between typical PTSD symptoms and bullying, peaking for victims (Penning, Bhagwanjee, & Govender, 2010, p. 134). One of the findings important for this study is the comparison of the significance of post-bullying anger and depression (the effect size of depression is twice larger than that of anger) (Penning, Bhagwanjee, & Govender, 2010, p.137) which means that bullying is associated primarily with victim role and results more likely in depression and internalization than in anger and externalizing behavior (Penning, Bhagwanjee, & Govender, 2010, p.141). The distinction between four roles in bullying is one of the key dimensions of the problem. Rodriguez-Munoz, A., Moreno-Jimenez, B., Sanz Vergel, A., & Garrosa Hernandez, E. (2010). Post-Traumatic Symptoms Among Victims of Workplace Bullying: Exploring Gender Differences and Shattered Assumptions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(10), 2616-2635. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00673.x This case-control research involved work with a group of 183 people who experienced bullying at their work place and 183 non-bullied persons as a control group. The participants were required to complete the Bullying at Work Questionnaire that listed 13 bullying actions and the symptoms of PTSD (which had to be assessed according to the demands of the Structured Interview for PTSD (Rodriguez-Munoz et al., 2010, p. 2621). As a result, 42% of the employees in the bullying group have met the criteria of PTSD, most of them women (Rodriguez-Munoz et al., 2010, p. 2623). The assessment of the results against the control group has shown that the people of bullied group were more inclined to depression and negative self-perception. The researchers highlight the problematic nature of PTSD diagnosis for the victims of bullying: on the one hand, bullying-related stress does not correspond to the criterion A1 (death threat), but on the other hand, the symptoms of bullying victims are reported to be even more harmful than of the people affected by the A1 events (p. 2618). This is an important comparison for the focus of our study. Tehrani, N. (2004). Bullying: A Source of Chronic Post Traumatic Stress?. British Journal of Guidance And Counselling, 32(3), 357-366. Tehrani has conducted a survey of workplace bullying focused on bullying rate, gender and position characteristics and the resulting symptoms. One of the subthemes of this article is the complex of symptoms that appear after workplace bullying and their relation to PTSD. The author seems to hold to the opinion that bullying causes the psychosomatic disorders which are close to post-accident symptoms; that is, this study is aimed to be the evidence that bullying may cause PTSD. Specifically, workplace PTSD characteristics are different from those caused by environmental disasters in 3 main aspects: firstly, re-experience and arousal in workplace situation form a cluster separate from avoidance due to the subjective and private nature of workplace bullying cases; and secondly, unlike one-time exposure to PTSD as a result of social disturbances and natural catastrophes, workplace bullying is prolonged and may lead to the psychic consequences that have not been studied yet (Tehrani, 2004, pp. 364-365). The statistics discussed in the study could be useful for this paper also, in particular, the fact that “a ‘caseness’ level” of PTSD was observed in the 44% of those 67 employers who reported being bullied (Tehrani, 2004, pp. 363). Terranova, A. M., Boxer, P., & Morris, A. (2009). Changes in Children's Peer Interactions Following a Natural Disaster: How Predisaster Bullying and Victimization Rates Changed Following Hurricane Katrina. Psychology In The Schools, 46(4), 333-347. This quantitative research of bullying and victimization in late elementary school children 1 year before and 1.5 months after the outbreak of hurricane Katrina was based on two hypotheses: 1) that increase in bullying and victimization is related to the disasters affecting the given area and 2) that disasters influence bullying and victimization rate through the increase of PTSD symptoms (Terranova, Boxer, & Morris, 2009, p. 335). For this, two groups of schoolchildren were asked to complete the surveys that included self-reporting bullying behaviour (according to Child Social Behaviour Scales with several questions added) and peer victimization, with the distinction between relational and overt bullying. The focus of the study, the role of PTSD symptoms in the process of increasing bullying rates, is of special interest for our study. Unexpectedly, the survey has shown that bullying rate increased substantially after the hurricane, but no correlation of bullying rate with PTSD indices was observed (Terranova, Boxer, & Morris, 2009, p. 342). At the same time, PTSD symptoms are reported to influence the victimization rate (p. 342). Hence, the authors adhere to the notion that “bullying as a form of aggressive behavior relatively less in?uenced by high levels of negative emotions in comparison to other manifestations of aggression” (Terranova, Boxer, & Morris, 2009, p. 342). This data is inconsistent with the view that bullying is an effect of PTSD. References Hyman, I., Cohen, I., & Mahon, M. (2003). Student Alienation Syndrome: A Paradigm for Understanding the Relation Between School Trauma and School Violence. California School Psychologist 8: 73-86. Idsoe, T., Dyregrov, A., & Cosmovici, E. (2010). School Bullying and PTSD Symptoms in a National Representative Sample. Washington, District of Columbia, US: American Psychological Association (APA). Kamen, C., Bergstrom, J., Mardini, M., Alhadi, F., Lee, S., Lazar, R., & ... Gore-Felton, C. (2011). HIV-Positive Men with a History of Childhood Bullying Report PTSD Symptoms Above and Beyond the Effect of Exposure to Other Forms of Trauma. Washington, District of Columbia, US: American Psychological Association (APA). Matthiesen, S., & Einarsen, S. (2004). Psychiatric Distress and Symptoms of PTSD among Victims of Bullying at Work. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 32(3), 335-356. Penning, S., Bhagwanjee, A., & Govender, K. (2010). Bullying Boys: The Traumatic Effects of Bullying in Male Adolescent Learners. Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 22(2), 131-143. doi:10.2989/17280583.2010.528580. Rodriguez-Munoz, A., Moreno-Jimenez, B., Sanz Vergel, A., & Garrosa Hernandez, E. (2010). Post-Traumatic Symptoms Among Victims of Workplace Bullying: Exploring Gender Differences and Shattered Assumptions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 40(10), 2616-2635. doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2010.00673. Tehrani, N. (2004). Bullying: A Source of Chronic Post Traumatic Stress?. British Journal of Guidance And Counselling, 32(3), 357-366. Terranova, A. M., Boxer, P., & Morris, A. (2009). Changes in Children's Peer Interactions Following a Natural Disaster: How Predisaster Bullying and Victimization Rates Changed Following Hurricane Katrina. Psychology In The Schools, 46(4), 333-347. Read More