The Link Between PTSD and Traumatic Events - Essay Example

 The Link between PTSD and Traumatic Events Introduction Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is a serious anxiety normally derived directly from the exposure to an event that causes psychological trauma. As the explanation suggests, PTSD occurs when the person meets a new kind of phenomenon that they are not used to in their natural environment (Card, 1987). For instance, take the sudden loud explosion of a bomb in the middle of the night. For many people, this can be very disturbing. Later on, it might lead to hallucinations that are serious and require emergency medical intervention. The explanation to PTSD offered in the first sentence also suggests that PTSD is a direct result of these disturbing events. However, how sure can we be that PTSD is caused by actual events and not by anything else? This paper shall seek to create the link between these disturbing events and the resulting stress. The paper in doing so will strive to create the background to PTSD, as well as study the current diagnostic criteria for this disturbing condition. Discussion The initial cases of PTSD were most common in soldiers who had just been from war. The most interesting thing about PTSD is that the soldiers who were affected started to feel its toll once they were out of the battlefield. For as long as they were in the battlefield, they were okay. This brings in the environmental angle in as far as PTSD is concerned. The suggestion therefore is that PTSD sets in once someone moves out of the area in which the traumatic event occurred. For the soldiers this is the battlefield. Once they return home from war, the real fight begins. It can be said therefore that, with PTSD, the body might leave the scene of the original event but the mind somehow remains stuck there (Thompson, 1985). Some of the common symptoms include; nightmares, hallucinations, flashbacks, anger, vigilance, difficulty in falling asleep, among many others. These reactions clearly have to be directly related to the events that happened. The simple reason to prove this is because; the person with this condition has special aversive reactions towards things that might produce the same reaction as the stimuli that caused the stress in the first place. These events also have to cause the victim extreme helplessness, fear, horror, or even pain. In the case of a battlefield, the death of a soldier one is fighting alongside can easily cause PTSD or even being wounded by enemy fire. Such a person is likely to be averse to loud screaming and even the sound of gunfire (Parkinson, 1993). PTSD has caused significant concern because the effects it leaves in the victim in many cases are life-long. A case in point was the Second World War. Many Americans fought amongst the Europeans. They witnessed acts of brutality (Orner, 1992). The main one is the Holocaust. This event continued to affect many people, and for those who are still alive, the effects are still there. The darker side of PTSD; however, is that it leads to suicidal tendencies in the victims. The effects of having to struggle with this condition are too severe for many to bear (Wardi, 1992). It is with this in mind that several governments in the world have set aside centers specifically dedicated to the treatment of PTSD for their soldiers who are returning from war. In several cases, the mental effects of PTSD are more severe than actual physical injuries. These symptoms among many others have made the early detection and diagnosis of PTSD much easier. However, the full diagnosis of PTSD is a more complex affair. It is well known that someone may encounter a traumatic event that disturbs them for a short while, and then it gradually fades out. This is not PTSD; although, it means the minimum criteria through which PTSD is caused. Such symptoms might just be normal body responses to stress (Kring, Johnson, Davison & Neale, 2013). The most common criterion of diagnosing PTSD is referred to as Criteria A-F. The first one, Criterion A, demands that the person suspected of having PTSD must have faced a traumatic experience in which their life or well-being is threatened. The same applies to a person close to them. Their response to such an event must have involved fear, helplessness or horror as stated above. Criterion B asserts that the same person has recurring thoughts about the original event. They might be in the form of disturbing memories, nightmares, flashbacks among others like an increase in pulse rate and sweating (McFarlane, 1989). Criterion C demands that the alleged victim tries avoidance to forget the event. They might as a result be unwilling to talk about it, or even be repulsed by the thought of the event. The person might also try as much as possible to avoid places similar to the place where the original event took place. Such people might as a result always have negative thoughts and even entertain suicide as a way of getting away from their torment. Criterion D is at a more advanced stage. The victim might have problems falling asleep. This is common since they fear a repeat of the event in the form of a nightmare. They might also be quick to anger and have difficulty maintaining a healthy sense of perspective. Criterion E has to do with time. This is the distinction between PTSD and other traumatic events. PTSD starts to set in after about a month (Thompson, 1985). By this time, the above criteria have been fulfilled. For merely traumatic events, the memory fades away long before this. The final criterion suggests that, should all the above criteria be met and the resulting situation greatly affects one’s life, then there is a great likelihood of the existence of PTSD. When PTSD has been confirmed, the focus has to shift to treatment. Early treatment is necessary since PTSD affects all areas of the person’s life; thus, it should be treated early to minimize the effects and prevent them from falling deeper into this hole. PTSD treatment in essence seeks to help you deal with your fears. There is a lot of trauma that result from PTSD. This trauma is in existent because the person seeks to work out ways in which they could have behaved that would have resulted in a different ending. PTSD seeks to help the victim understand their feelings and place them in a healthy context. The memory cannot just go away, so treatment tries to make it rational (Joseph, Yule, Williams, 1997). In the process, the person understands their role in the whole event and then seeks to free themselves from the negative thoughts that can break down their lives and those of the people around them. The relationship between PTSD and the traumatic event cannot be denied. There is a clear nexus at the causal, diagnostic and treatment stages. At the causal stage, there is an event that happens that is greatly disturbing to the person which over time haunts them. Such an event usually causes grave personal danger to the physical or intellectual well-being of a person or someone who is close to them. Diagnostically, there is a 6 stage procedure that is outlined above. This strict procedure ensures that any other kind of trauma does not pass off for PTSD (Hodgkinson & Stewart 1998). This is important because a strict and long procedure ensures all other similar, but less severe conditions are filtered so that the person conducting the diagnosis ends up with only one unmistakable condition. At this stage, the emphasis is also on a traumatic event that has happened in the person’s recent past. This is important since long occurred events can come into the picture. However, for PTSD the time frame is a month. Finally, at the treatment stage, the focus is still on that traumatic event. The common treatments seek to reduce anxiety which is the root cause of all the other symptoms. The treatment is also psychological. The person is advised to pay less and less attention to that traumatic event which is the cause of all the anxiety (Zimbardo, McDermott, Jansz & Metaal, 1995). Clearly there could be no reason to emphasize the traumatic event if there was no linkage between the two. Conclusion In conclusion, the relationship between PTSD and traumatic events is very clear. Without the focus on the traumatic event, understanding the cause, diagnosis and treatment of PTSD could all be in vain (Kring, et.al, 2013). This focus on the traumatic event at every stage is akin to what happens in chemotherapy where cancerous cells are targeted. Without precise targeting, these cancerous cells can spread and cause harm to other untouched areas of the patient’s anatomy. A precise focus on the traumatic event is similarly important for effective cure (Brewin, Andrews & Valentine, 2000). There has to be a narrowing down of focus to the most recent and most traumatizing event if there has to be overall success in dealing with the condition. References Adams, P.R. & Adams, G.R. (1984). Mount Saint Helen's Ashfall: Evidence for a disaster stress reaction. American Psychologist, 39(3), 252-260. Brewin, C.R., Andrews, B. & Valentine, J.D. (2000). Meta-analysis of risk factors for post- traumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed adults. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68(4), 748-66. Card, J. (1987). Epidemiology of PTSD in a national cohort of Vietnam veterans. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43(1), 6-17. Hodgkinson, P.E. & Stewart, M. (1998). Coping with Catastrophe: A Handbook of Post-disaster Psychological Aftercare. (2nd Ed.) London: Routledge. Joseph, S., Yule, W. & Williams, R.M. (1997). 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