Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of Veteran - Literature review Example

Introduction For a long time trauma has been put down to psychological disability and symptoms. A lot of tags have been used for trauma relating to war. They include irritable heart during the United States civil war, shell shock for World War 1, battle fatigue during World War 2 and finally post traumatic stress during the Vietnam War. Ever since the Vietnam War the definition of post traumatic stress has been broadened to include natural disasters, workplace accidents and motor vehicle accidents. There are also other forms of post traumatic stress as those caused by physical and sexual abuse in during childhood since they affect the patient’s ability to form relationships and also have an effect on the development of their personality. Head injury has also been pointed out as a contributory factor. Literature review. As time proceeds there is continued re-evaluation of definition and also on techniques for treatment For one to be termed as suffering from post traumatic stress they are expected to have gone through or been witnesses events that involved threatened or actual death or grievous injury to oneself or others. Some manuals point in the victim’s response as including feelings of helplessness horror and intense fear. Concepts from articles At the moment PTSD and its concept still revolve around assumptions, this first crucial and well seen signs of traumatic stress is known as etiological criterion which is a concept linked to unique symptoms and reactions called phenomenological criteria, but still this does not explain the actual structure through PTSD concepts. The second concept is the post trauma morbidity, this is where the patients exposure to stressful conditions, that in return results to the pervasive distress. Here the individual must have seen or experienced serious happening induced intense fear. This leads to the pretrauma personality defects that graduates to psychotrauma. The third PTSD concept is known as a universal phenomenon, it is a bit diagnostic in nature and results in traumatic stress, this is due to complex traumatizing progression and the correlation of the wide aspect all together in reaction to psychotrauma and hostility linked to culture-bound reactions of individual history. The fourth PTSD concept is associated with pathogenesis or peritrau-mates together with a posttraumatic dissociative procedure which has distinct mechanisms of hyperarousal related with fear due to traumatic memories. Ethnocultural aspects of PTSD, as reflected in the current article offers a basic overview into ethnocultural aspects of the disorder, PTSD, with particular attention to the main issues based on concept, therapy practices and clinical considerations. The historical circumstances that lead to widespread acceptance of the disorder in the highly conventional professionals dealing with mental health and the criticism that followed from humanitarian workers, ethnocultural minorities and scholars all worked to provide the background to the present controversy surrounding the concept, especially when it comes to arguments in regard the ethnocultural aspects of PTSD. This is related to the cultural concept, it’s developmental process and definition are viewed as the foundation through which understanding of the multiple cultural influence have an experience treatment response and perception. A model is applied to identify the various factors shaping the outcome of trauma across and within cultures. This model is called “trauma event-person ecology”. Another well known concept is called Extinction Concepts to PTSD which happens when it comes the comparison of research findings on PTSD, especially relating to fear conditioning paradigms certain differences are to be found. Unlike their healthy subjects people suffering from PTSD seem to suffer from memory disturbances and a wide variety of symptoms. Subjects with a proper functioning hippocampus exhibit ease in recalling after a session of fear conditioning. The case is sometimes acutely different when the same is carried out on subjects with PTSD. Extensive research into the disorder has revealed quite a bit on the effects it has not only the veterans themselves but on their ability to cope with life after coming home. New light has also been shed onto how the families of these members deal with veterans suffering from the disorder, that is; just how does this disorder affect the families of these veterans? Another matter that has been put into consideration is the treatment of patients mainly the hindrances to effective treatment. Discussion It is worth it to note that post traumatic stress affects several military personnel both active and veterans. It often goes untreated since the victims rarely realize just how much the disorder affects them. Previous failure in treating the disorder is also another factor that causes the same to go untreated (Dercum, 1914). Even with the disorder continually becoming recognized as a disorder affecting multiple soldiers, it is easy to forget that the effects go further. The families of the veterans also do not escape these effects. Children and spouses of veterans with PTSD more often than not have symptoms of the same disorder this phenomenon is referred to as compassion fatigue or secondary traumatization (Everly, 1995). Several families of veterans with the disorder often come down with symptoms associated with it such as loneliness causing them to feel as though they also suffer from PTSD. PTSD has several symptoms which include: anxiety, depression, loss of control, low self-esteem, nightmares as well as feelings of tension. Families of veterans often share these symptoms. Some research has found the spouses as going through guilt, anxiety, recurring distressing dreams and depression even though they never actually went to war. These symptoms have been linked to continuous ambiguity experiences due to the loss of their partner as they used to know them. They often feel that the person who left isn’t the person who came back. According to Institute of Medicine (U.S.). & National Academies Press (U.S.), (2012), Children of veterans are also not spared the effects of parents suffering from the disorder. Certain veterans have been quoted as saying that some of these problems have been passed on to their children. They become easily scared by certain sounds associated with the war zones such as planes flying overhead. These children also wake up during as a result of frightful dreams involving war. Even though these family members haven’t been in any real danger the continually begin to have reactions to situations with the anxiety as do the veterans suffering from PTSD. It is thus clear that having these symptoms, causes these family members to undergo similar anxious state of mind that looks like an actual disorder victim. Together with having shared symptoms with the veterans they also subjected to stay together with individual who have come back from war fronts, but only physically (DSM-IV, 1993). People with PTSD will often live as though they are not really living. They will instinctively seclude themselves in their homes as much as they can. Patients with this disorder also tend to distance themselves from friends and family. In turn, their families feel that they have already lost a family member which is very frustrating and strenuous to family ties. It is this refusal and in some cases inability by veterans to participate in everyday activities of their families and the community that further alienates them from the very people that would ideally assist them in coming to terms with their problems. It is often unfortunate when their spouses do not understand or are unwilling to help leaving these veterans to deal with burdens all on their own, which may lead to devastating results similar depression which ultimately leads to suicide. While some people become introverted, others become suspicious of everything and everyone. Some have been described as always being jumpy and incapable of really being comfortable anywhere and thus tends to move around a lot. This tendency thus translates to them being unable to form any meaningful bonds of friendship which then means that they are stuck in a world of their own. Conclusion Notably, it is common knowledge that a lot of returning soldiers suffer from PTSD it is not always clear that this affects the families of these returning soldiers. This is an angle to the disorder that is often given a blind eye, yet the families suffer as much as the soldiers themselves. Therefore is of great need to monitor the conditions not only of the returning soldiers but also of the families. Where possible families should also be involved in their treatment, since it is evident that they need it as much as the veterans. References. Everly, G. S. (1995). Psychotraumatology: Key papers and core concepts in post-traumatic stress. New York [u.a.: Plenum Press. Dercum, F. X. (1914). Post-Litigation Results In Cases Of So-Called Traumatic Neurosis, Traumatic Neurasthenia, Traumatic Hysteria. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 41(12), 785- 790. Institute of Medicine (U.S.).,& National Academies Press (U.S.),. (2012). Treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder in military and veteran populations: Initial assessment.Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, DSM-IV. (1993). Read More