Posttraumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example

Changes in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory and emotions, may have relations to flashbacks, memory problems, anxiety and fear. This may be experienced by people who have gone through betrayal by people or organizations trusted for protection, such as priests and caregivers (Ford 64). These risk factors all have several denominators, such as violation or physical injury, as well as witnessing someone’s death or one’s own death, which could cause a biological reaction for survival.

This reaction most likely becomes fixed, explaining how the experience can have a psychologically traumatic impact (Ford 64). Other common denominators include terror from torture or violation such as abuse or sexual assault that elicits horror in an individual as well as the uncontrollable, sudden and unpredictable nature of the traumatic event. Symptoms of PTSD The symptoms of PTSD include re-experiencing of the trauma, for instance, recurring thoughts, memories, distressing nightmares and flashbacks, usually caused by reminders of the traumatic event (Knott).

Sufferers may feel detached from others and find it difficult to have feelings of love. They may also exhibit signs of hyperarousal, including sleeping problems, irritability, anger outbursts and poor concentration. Treatment If a sufferer has symptoms that are severe 2 to 4 weeks after a traumatic incident, treatment will most likely be needed. Knott notes that treatment involves medicinal and non-medicinal treatments. A form of non-medicinal treatment is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), where the therapy helps the patient identify any unhelpful, harmful and false thoughts or ideas.

The aim is to help the patient avoid these thoughts and ideas and eventually change the way they think. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is also used, where the patient follows the therapist’s moving fingers with his eyes, while thinking about the traumatic event. This serves to desensitize the victim’s thoughts of the traumatic event. Other forms include anxiety management, group therapy and counseling. The sufferer may also join a self-help group involving other members with similar symptoms.

Getting information from books and other literature about the condition and ways