...out” (National Institute of Mental Health). This experience is much like many others that exemplify the characteristics of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome/Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is an emotional illness that develops as a result of a terribly frightening, life-threatening, or otherwise highly unsafe experience” (Edwards). Those who classify as PTSD patients live with flashbacks, realistic memories, and sometimes depression and become estranged from the world around them. The psychological disorder emerges from a life scarring event, comes with extreme symptoms, and comes with promising treatment. (National Institute of Mental Health, Edwards) Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome was officially declared a diagnosis in 1980 but is thought to have existed as long as humans have been involved in traumatizing events. This disorder was first discovered with war veterans, but is now known to cause symptoms in every day citizens who have experience any sort of traumatizing event. The syndrome affects about 5.5 million adults per year but is known to affect any person, any age. “Anyone who has gone through a life-threatening event can develop PTSD. These events can include: combat or military exposure, child sexual or physical abuse, terrorist attacks, sexual or physical assault, serious accidents, and natural disasters” (PTSD Information Center). However, this syndrome is more likely to occur to a person who does not have a well balance support system or a person who is unable to cope with...
Words: 743 - Pages: 3
...in any neighborhood can develop the disorder and have never stepped foot near an army, navy, or marine base in their life. There are many ways for a person to develop post-traumatic stress without going to war, which most people are probably unaware of when they start to read about it. Although every person suffers differently and the effects and symptoms of PTSD are frequently different with each person, they all suffer from the same disorder. Post-traumatic Stress or more commonly known as PTSD is a regular reaction to an uncharacteristic experience that is far outside normal human experience, causing substantial distress and damage to a person mentally, physically, and emotionally. When people have experienced a tragic life experience, many develop symptoms of PTSD because of the tragedy. Tragic experiences can range from going to war and seeing horrific scenes, a bad car accident that injured themselves and possibly others, and childhood situations such as molestation or loss of a parent or close family members. Many people associate PTSD with people that only were in the military, however anyone can suffer from PTSD from other sources as well. Post-traumatic stress can affect not only the person who endured the horrific incident, but also the people closest to them that witnessed the incident, the first responders to the accident, or situation, as well as close friends and family to the...
Words: 1520 - Pages: 7
...Stress Disorder also known as (PTSD) is a very common disorder. Normally when this diagnosis is being heard or said, many people relate it to a solder when coming home from fighting in a war. However this disorder is one of the most common diagnosed psychiatric disorders, and that it is estimated that about eight percent of the United States population suffers from PTSD. It can not be stressed enough that just because you are not from the army does not mean that you can not be diagnosed with this disorder, and that anybody whom as been through a traumatic event or even witnessed one can have a small part of PTSD Through psychological studies, knowledge has been provided of what PTSD symptoms are, and what methods there are to help those suffering from it. First it is important to understand what Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is. It is usually classified as “A type of anxiety disorder that stays with the victim even when danger no longer exists. “ (NIMH, n.d.) “PTSD can occur when someone suffers a severe mental or physical shock, leaving the person depressed, anxious, and angry.” (CVT News, 2012) The brain naturally has what is called the “Fight or Flight” instinct when dealing with fear. The problem is that when even when the danger is no longer around it can cause he victim to still feel threatened and scared. This disorder can last anywhere from a few weeks to even several years down the road. When most people hear that someone has PTSD they tend to think that the person...
Words: 1408 - Pages: 6
...Online Interviewing Online interviewing has been proven to be an effective means of counseling in areas such as obesity, generalized anxiety, and PTSD symptoms (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flannagan, 2014). There are several benefits to the use of online interviewing. Online interviewing allows for the extension of clinical resources beyond geographical or physical boundaries. Like our online courses, online interviewing also allows for flexibility in scheduling. Because interview sessions are conducted online, I also feel that online interviewing has the potential to reduce stigma that others may feel as a result of having to go to a counseling office. I personally have mixed emotions about the use of online interviewing. As mentioned above, I feel that the greatest benefit of online interviewing is the versatility of where and when it can be used. Essentially, anyone who has access to computer and internet has the possibility of engaging in counseling. However, I feel that there are a lot of risks to using online counseling. There are obvious concerns such as security, knowing who you are talking to, or what to do in an emergency situation. However, I feel that more subtle nuances found in face to face interviewing are lost as well. For example, I am the kind of person who overanalyzes what I write or say. I tend to erase and retype information often. In asynchronous online relationships, this would allow me the opportunity to edit the information that I shared based on...
Words: 425 - Pages: 2
...Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a complex mental health disorder with poor treatment outcome. While the majority of the population will be exposed to some form of trauma throughout their lifetime only a fraction will actually go on to develop the disorder (Kessler et. Al, 1995). This has lead many researchers to devote their time to the analysis of pre-trauma factors such as individual characteristics (e.g intelligence) as a means of identifying personal vulnerability for the development of PTSD. However, with the exception of female gender, pre-trauma variables are for the most part associated with an individual's risk of exposure and have been shown to have substantially less predictive power regarding who's actually at risk for developing PTSD following trauma (Bromet 1998). Therefore, peri-traumatic factors such as the nature of the trauma and dissociative symptoms currently remain the most successful predictors in relation to the onset and duration of PTSD at our disposal (Ozer et al. 2003). Continued research of trauma severity and dissociative symptoms as well as further investigation into how these two factors interact to predict PTSD is necessary to further our understanding of the disorder and improve treatment methods. It has been known for some time that the severity of a traumatic event is a robust predictor for PTSD (Birmes et. Al, 2003). While there is no universal measure of trauma severity, factors like perceived life threat, duration of the event...
Words: 1734 - Pages: 7
...Determining Causes and Effects- Draft Version Jacqueline C. Winfield Professor Leverett Butts English Composition- ENG 115 Friday, November 22, 2012 Young children are not always the first people we think of when it comes to the stress factor. We tend to believe that they are living in their best years, however with changes in economic situations such as parents not remaining married, being exposed to violence, and even feeling the need to belong a child can become overwhelmed. According to Wikipedia contributors, stress in young children can be beneficial to proper growth and development if it is not persistent (2013). Stress in young children should be monitored by caregivers, teachers, and others to prevent youth from damaging brain developments, which may alter the child’s psychological and social growth. The three different levels of stress in children are: Positive Stress, Tolerable Stress and Toxic Stress. Positive stress encourages competence. Tolerable stress is more problematic but is brief. This may occur when there is a death of a close loved one. Toxic stress are very extreme and may cause developmental damage (Wikipedia, 2013). With the proper support children should be able to overcome many of these circumstances. Changes in young children lives may cause stress. It is a major issue for adolescence that have problems with adjusting to new conditions. From birth a child comes into a world that the things surrounding him or her set the...
Words: 1174 - Pages: 5
...nonverbal gestures and this behavior was also present during her psychiatric evaluation. Even after being released from the emergency room she refuses to speak with physicians or anyone outside her home setting. She would avoid talking about the attack and where it occurred, and has anxiety outburst when left alone and also difficulty concentrating. Her case fulfilled the criteria for selective mutism and PTSD. Selective mutism is the voluntary decision not speaking certain situations; in situations where speech is expected. There are a lot of theories about why selective mutism occurs, especially in traumatic experiences. In children selective mutism is poorly understood and un-recognized. Since most physicians are unfamiliar with the disorder, it’s often misdiagnosed, and wrongly attributed to shyness. PSTD, post traumatic stress, is a highly prevalent condition among children that are exposed to a life threatening event. It causes emotional distress and psychological disorders, and in most cases in children psychological support was not provided. For both selective mutism and PTSD early detection and treatment is the key to managing the disorders. Your opinion of the article: This article was very informative; knowing about each of these disorders will be helpful for early detection and should not be under estimated. I would like...
Words: 315 - Pages: 2
...examined has to do with active duty soldiers and their PTSD that they encountered while on active duty. The issue being examined also has to do with treatment during or after active duty. This is significant due to the effects of PTSD on soldiers and in order to determine if PTSD can be slowed before it reaches its peak or if soldiers should wait until they are no longer serving to seek treatment. According to Winter (2009), “Hotopf assessed a large probability sample of initial invasion troops from the UK with diverse roles in OIF 1-2 years post deployment and compared their PTSD rates with non-deployed troops. Using the PCL, they found relatively low and comparable rates of probable PTSD (4%). Subsets that subsequently deployed during the OIF insurgency war did not have higher rates. By contrast, PCL-based probable PTSD rates were appreciably lower among the non-deployed service member”. The reason behind recording this information is because it is crucial in determining whether or not soldiers should receive treatment for PTSD during or after active duty. There have been many tests done finding results of PTSD in active/non active duty soldiers. Those results rank higher when it comes to PTSD being much more of an issue for active duty servicemen. Therefore, making PTSD a point of interest when it comes to treating it promptly and not waiting until the soldiers become inactive or non-deployed. Review of Literature PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is a disorder that occurs...
Words: 1403 - Pages: 6
...The meaning of Post- traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) is a type of a mental illness that comes from a experiencing in a major traumatize event in life that can cause a victim to cope leaving them at the mercy of their worst fears. Most of the times that who has PTSD are this person who has served in the military. This person has dealing with particularly horrendous war and combat situation. There is much other type of life experiences that are blame to offset the PTSD. When the PTSD can be unexpected and cannot be controlled, which they are a type of candidate for PTSD. This type of illness not only impact on the person that has PTSD, it also affords other people that are dealing with the person who has PTSD. Example of these people who are there medical personnel giving care of the patients, family members, or co-workers. Some of the event that triggers the PTSD could become violent assault, a major accident such as sexual abuse, natural disaster, and rape, car crash ("Types Of Traumatic Events", 2009).History of the Illness The post traumatic stress disorder is a legitimate and can functional diagnose but is not the only answer to a trauma event. This type of disorder is frequency in the ordinary population is between 1-8%. This type of disorder is a type of linked with excessive rates of harm in the social and job-related operation. This type of disorder can be distinguished from a further psychiatric condition as a chemical substance in a living organisms...
Words: 1524 - Pages: 7
...Stress and Health Psychology Andrew Arnold March 25, 2010 Ever wonder about how stress affects our bodies and our health? This word stress is thrown around by the media so much it’s losing its meaning but have you ever wondered how they define stress? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines stress as a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation. Our text book defines stress as the term used to describe the physical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to events that are appraised as threatening or challenging. Stress-causing events are called stressors, they can come from external sources or from within us and can scale from relatively mild to quite serious. There are things, events, and conflicts that cause people to “stress-out.” These are called stressors. Stressors can be anything from something small, like being stuck in traffic during rush hour or something big like an earthquake or hurricane. Stressors can also be imaginary, such as financial stress such as, where the next mortgage payment will come from. There are two kinds of stressors, one is distress which is the bad stress and eustress which is the good stress that motivates us as people to do well. There are certain environmental factors that can affect our stress levels and sometimes we cannot control the outcome of these events, these are basic ups and downs of life. An example of an external stressor is...
Words: 1556 - Pages: 7
...person was afraid of heights may believe that a building will tip over why he is towards the top Masked fears A person who is Agoura phobic is probably not even afraid of space she's afraid of something terrible happened to her while she is out in the world in other words people link their fears to previous experiences CBT for Phobias Primary method of overcoming phobias is Behavioural practice of exposure to extinction. Four instance a person was afraid of flying might first look at pictures of pains after that they would read a book about flying then they might watch a movie after that they would visualize and after that they would get in a real plane with a close friend or a therapist Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Flashbacks and Visions or even nightmares that occurs following a trauma. in other words its triggered by a terrifying event either experiencing it or witnessing it first hand for example, if someone was shot every time they hear a door slammed a flashback strikes. What are some causes of PSTD? The most common causes are: Natural disasters Spousal abuse Rape, Sexual assault Robbery/Shooting/mugging Child abuse war experience car or plane accident Eating disorders According to author Jean Antonelle When one is highly stressed the normal hunger signals becomes blocked maybe the person forgets to eat for long period of time or eats incessantly trying to numb out the...
Words: 264 - Pages: 2
...Introduction This book “The War at Home” by Shawn J. Gourley is a great book to read because it reveals the hardship of one family’s fight against PTSD. Over the years, soldiers have struggled with PTSD that not only affects them, but their families, friends, and the surrounding communities. This book sheds light for everyone to actually read and know the signs and symptoms of PTSD. Furthermore, you will actually feel how one’s family had the strength and determination to find their path to recovery. To know that anyone can overcome the devastating obstacles they had to encounter. This family’s struggle learned to find peace with the effects of PTSD and cope with these symptoms throughout their lives. This story was mainly about Shawn and Justin going through the struggles of PTSD and dealing with these hardships throughout the years. Although they had met prior to Justin joining the military in 2000, their life was as normal as any other couple would experience. It wasn’t until Justin joined the service and had re-classed into being an Operation’s Specialist where he was trained to react and secure the dead no matter the cost. His rigorous training had so much impact that when he was in the service, he endured many obstacles to include seeing dead bodies, securing them, keeping everyone calm as stress levels were high, and reacting with hostile intent where his sense of death and danger were heightened. This was not Justin’s primary job as his...
Words: 1426 - Pages: 6
...The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Name Professor Course Date The Post Traumatic Stress Disorder The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) refers to the psychiatric disorders that occurs after the victim experiences or witnesses a life-threatening event including the military combat, serious accidents or the sexual assault (Kawakami, 2014). Some survivors of the trauma return to their normal state after some time. However, some victims may exhibit some stress reactions that they cannot solve on their own, which may worsen with time. Such individuals may develop the Posttraumatic disorder. In many instances, the victims of the PTSD relieve their experience through nightmares and flashbacks, making them have sleepless nights and feel estranged. The increased severity of the PTSD symptoms impairs the victim’s daily life and experiences. Social stigma refers to the situation where the members of the society disapprove some people or a group based on some social characteristics held by the victims. The socially disconnected person suffers from the stigma because of such disapprovals. In today’s world, veterans suffer from social stigma when people scapegoat them for executing orders for the decisions they did not make. The society unjustly blames the veterans for executing some atrocities whereas they have the obligation to obey such order without questions (Lee, 2013). Upon their return, the society treats them as social pariahs and attributes them to the deaths inflicted...
Words: 672 - Pages: 3
...stages of coping with stress and natural disasters. After such disasters children can show signs of distress and emotional disturbance, so acquiring parents, guardians, and teachers provide emotional support is essential for aiding in reducing posttraumatic stress disorder. In me cases children need professional help, therefore educating parents and loved ones to facilitate adaptive coping strategies and interventions is the first step with posttraumatic stress disorder. One must understand the signs after such a traumatic event like a natural disaster in which case executing the proper proven interventions that incorporate play with aid in developing coping skills for children who have PTSD. Many different therapies like Cognitive Behavior Therapy Family Play Therapy are usually the best fit for PTSD. Smith (2011), “After a traumatic experience, it’s normal to feel frightened, sad, anxious, and disconnected” (para. 1-3). With such overwhelming emotions a child may feel as if he or she cannot enjoy life or be happy again. He or she will be in constant fear and danger because of those horrific events that will not fade out of their memories. At first the signs or symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder seem just...
Words: 818 - Pages: 4
...Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.library.gcu.edu:2048/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=2010999034&site=ehost-live&scope=site Abstract: XXX The purpose of this study was to examine how violence from patients and visitors is related to emergency department (ED) nurses' work productivity and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). XXX Researchers have found ED nurses experience a high prevalence of physical assaults from patients and visitors. Yet, there is little research which examines the effect violent events have on nurses' productivity, particularly their ability to provide safe and compassionate patient care. XXX A cross-sectional design was used to gather data from ED nurses who are members of the Emergency Nurses Association in the United States. Participants were asked to complete the Impact of Events Scale-Revised and Healthcare Productivity Survey in relation to a stressful violent event. XXX Ninety-four percent of nurses experienced at least one posttraumatic stress disorder symptom after a violent event, with 17% having scores high enough to be considered probable for PTSD. In addition, there were significant indirect relationships between stress symptoms and work productivity. XXX Workplace violence is a significant stressor for ED nurses. Results also indicate violence has an impact on the care ED nurses provide. Interventions are needed to prevent the violence and to provide care to the ED nurse after an event....
Words: 649 - Pages: 3
