Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example

?Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mood disorder that is characterized by severe anxiety and feelings of hopelessness. PTSD occurs in individuals who have been subjected to psychologically traumatic events, whether they were immediately involved in the event or witnessed as someone else experienced the trauma. The onset of PTSD comes as a result of the human brain attempting to protect the individual against the intensity of the traumatic incident. It is a normal function of the brain to react in a way that promotes coping in the individual, and each person is unique in how their brain responds. In some people, though, when the period of coping exceeds a certain length of time, they are often diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, thus requiring new methods of emotional coping. Post-traumatic stress disorder is among a variety of mood disorders that do not have a concrete cause. This is primarily due to the fact that each person is unique in how they develop PTSD, making it difficult to determine a single cause. However, through decades of research, scientists and psychologists have concluded that there are four categories of potential causes of PTSD, all of which are broad enough to encompass the emotional variances between each individual who has been diagnosed with PTSD. These categories of possible causation are genetics, chemical regulations of the brain, life experiences, and the environment in which a person works or lives. Mental risks, such as those associated with mood disorders, are believed to be, in part, a result of genetics, and PTSD is no exception. It has been consistently proven that individuals with close family members who have been diagnosed with any type of mood disorder, from depression to bipolar disorder, are predisposed to developing a mood disorder themselves. Though the exact gene that causes such a phenomenon among families has yet to be discovered, various studies have concluded that PTSD is in all probability hereditary. One such study was conducted between groups of twins with one twin having been in the military and exposed to war. The majority of the military-bound twins were diagnosed with PTSD after serving tours of duty; interestingly enough, a significant number of the twins not exposed to war also developed symptoms associated with PTSD (Winkle, 2010). The findings of this study suggest that there is a hereditary connection among those who have been diagnosed with a mood disorder. Chemical regulations of the brain are yet another possible factor of causation, and numerous doctors have hypothesized that individuals with PTSD may have variances in the brain that differ from individuals who do not have a mood disorder. Since each individual’s brain is different in the way that it reacts to stressful situations, the regulation of chemicals and hormones also vary. In many individuals who have been diagnosed with PTSD, a traumatic event they experienced or witnessed caused an overabundance of adrenaline, which then created deep neurological patterns in their brain. These patterns remain in the brain and, as a result, cause the individual to be hyper-responsive to traumatic events they face in the future (Afgan, 2010). The additional stress hormones that are released during this new trauma alter the individual’s response to the fear, onsetting post-traumatic stress disorder. Among the possible causes of PTSD are life experiences that individuals face, often during their childhood. If an individual has been physically, sexually, or mentally abused during their childhood, they increase their chances of developing PTSD during adulthood if they are faced with a similar trauma. Similarly, if they witnessed someone else being abused, like a child watching one parent attack another, then their risk is increased. The amount of trauma that is experienced or witnessed during childhood, as well as the severity of that trauma, can determine the likelihood of someone developing PTSD in the future. The final hypothesized cause of post-traumatic stress disorder is the environment in which one works or lives. Individuals who are constantly exposed to traumatic events risk developing this mood disorder. Military men and women, police officers, firefighters, emergency responders, nurses, and doctors in hospitals or emergency rooms are among the career fields that churn out the most cases of PTSD (Fredericks, 2010). These individuals are subjected to the trauma of others on an almost daily basis, which has been known to play havoc on the stress hormones in their brains. While individuals in these fields are screened regularly before and during their time in their chosen field, a few of them still succumb to the trauma that they witness by developing post-traumatic stress disorder. Similarly, people who live in high crime or high traffic locations, where criminal acts or vehicular accidents are common and easily witnessed by bystanders, also risk developing PTSD. The symptoms that are associated with post-traumatic stress disorder are grouped into three categories: emotional arousal, intrusive memories, and avoidance. The symptoms of emotional arousal that a sufferer of PTSD might experience include feelings of guilt, difficulty in falling asleep, being easily frightened, self-destructive behavior, such as the consumption of drugs or alcohol, and seeing or hearing things that are not present. It is believed that many individuals experience these symptoms because they are hyperaware of their surroundings, emotionally preparing themselves for further trauma. As a result, they may experience situations that do not actually exist. The category of intrusive memories include flashbacks and nightmares about the trauma, causing the individual to constantly relive the event. Symptoms of avoidance include avoiding thoughts, locations, or even people that are associated with the traumatic event, problems with memory and concentration, and feelings of hopelessness about the future, which is believed to be the result of the individual believing that another traumatic event will occur and prevent them from having a future. Post-traumatic stress disorder shares many of its symptoms with other mood disorders, often make it difficult to properly diagnose someone. To ensure that a person is diagnosed accordingly so that they may get the necessary treatment, psychologists adhere to the criteria of the DSM-IV. The first criterion is that the individual must meet is that they have experienced an event that is considered psychologically traumatic. Then, in each of the symptom categories previously listed, the individual must experience at least one symptom from each group for a duration that exceeds a month. Finally, the symptoms that the individual is displaying must “cause significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (Roberts, 2011).” Once this criteria has been met, the individual can be properly diagnosed with PTSD. Unfortunately, there are no current cures for post-traumatic stress disorder, though decades of research has yielded a variety of treatment opportunities. When an individual has been successfully diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, they are placed on medications that deal with their individual symptoms, such as sleeping pills for difficulty in sleeping, antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to calm emotions, or prazosin, which has proven to reduce or suppress nightmares. After the medication has allowed the individual to become more emotionally balanced, therapy is introduced into their treatment plan. In therapy, an individual will learn to acknowledge and overcome the fear that they experienced, and their psychologist will help them to decide on more beneficial ways to handle their emotions. Though there are no cures, and treatment will only keep the symptoms at bay, sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder can learn to live their lives without fear for an unknown future. References Afgan, N. (2010). Neurobiology of post-traumatic stress disorder. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers. Fredericks, C. (2010). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Roberts, C. A. (2011). Coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (2nd ed.). Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. Winkle, C. V. (2010). Soft spots: A Marine's memoir of combat and post-traumatic stress disorder. New York: St. Martin's Press. Read More