Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that can happen in individuals who have witnessed or experienced a disturbing occurrence. The traumatic events may include a fatal accident, a natural disaster, warfare, rape, childhood physical abuse and additional vicious individual attack. Symptoms of PTSD can be labelled in terms of cognitive symptoms, emotional symptoms, somatic symptoms, behavioral symptoms, and damage in social and work-related operation. Causes of PTSD can be biological, psychological or social. Biological causes may include genetics, brain formation and role, neurotransmitters, evolution/natural selection and hormones. Mental causes of PTSD can comprise reminiscence, perception, character, learning, shock/anxiety and emotion/temper. Social and cultural causes of PTSD can comprise gender characters, socio-economic position, settings (urban or rural), ethnic principles, school/education and deficiency. Treatment of PTSD may comprise medicines, behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, collection treatment and client centered treatment.

Introduction

Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

PTSD signs can be labelled in terms of cognitive, emotional, somatic, behavioral and lastly damage in social and work-related aspects. PTSD symptoms are normally clustered into 4 categories: Avoidance, invasive memories, Adverse variations in thought and temper and lastly variations in bodily and emotive responses (Wake & Kitchiner, 2013). Signs of avoidance can comprise striving to evade thinking or speaking concerning the shocking occurrence and evading places or individuals that remind an individual of the disturbing occurrence (Bisson et al, 2015). Signs of invasive memories can comprise serious emotional suffering or bodily responses to things that remind the individual of the traumatic occurrence, distressing dreams or hallucinations about the traumatic occurrence, flashbacks and lastly, recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of the distressing occurrence.

Signs of adverse variations in thought and temper may comprise an individual with PTSD having bad opinions regarding him/herself, others and the earth. Reminiscence hitches, including failure to recall significant features of the disturbing occurrence. Hopelessness about the future. Trouble upholding important relationships. Feeling disconnected from friends and family (Gray, 2015). Absence of concentration in ventures the individual once loved. Trouble feeling helpful feelings and lastly being emotionally desensitized. Signs of variations in bodily and emotional responses also known as arousal signs may comprise: An individual being effortlessly alarmed and terrified. An individual continuously being in watch for peril. (Hong &Efferth, 201). Self-ruining conduct like taking alcohol excessively or over speeding. Insomnia and difficulty in concentrating. Short temper, angry eruptions or hostile behavior and lastly immense regret or shame.

Causes of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD may be caused via biological, psychological and social means. Biologically PTSD can be caused as a result of brain formation and role, genetics, hormones, evolution and natural selection, and neurotransmitters. The brain structure that is perceived to play a significant role in PTSD is the hippocampus (Bisson et al, 2015). The faulty hippocampus may stop recurrences and nightmares being appropriately handled hence the nervousness they generate fails to reduce overtime. Studies have hinted that genetics play a role in PTSD. Studies indicate there is equal genetic constituent to PTSD danger as severe depression and other psychological ailments (Pittman et al, 2012). Studies also show that PTSD is extremely heritable, which means it is connected with thousands of genetic variations all over the genome, each creating a minor donation to the illness. 6 genomic areas called loci harbor variants are highly connected to PTSD.

Research has indicated that individuals with PTSD possess unusual amounts of stress hormones. Usually when in risk, the body generates stress hormones like adrenaline to activate a response in the body. The response known as the fight or flight response assists to numb the

senses and lessen pain. Individuals with PTSD generate inflated quantities of flight hormones even in the absence of risk (Pittman et al, 2012). This may be accountable for the deadening emotions and excessive arousal encountered by some individuals with PTSD. Studies indicate that evolution/ natural selection causes PSTD. The studies claim that PTSD is the price of assuming an evolutionary ancient procedure that regards survival more vital than the value of someone’s life. Evolutionary acclimatization which entails expenses like hyperalert and the evasion of damage related signals, that offer the profit of heightening the likelihood of survival causes PTSD (Muldoon & Lowe, 2012). Irregular control of catecholamine, amino acid, serotonin, peptide and opioid neurotransmitters that are based in brain loops that control or assimilate anxiety and fear reactions cause PTSD.

Psychological explanations such as memory, learning, character, cognition, shock/stress, and emotion/ temper can cause PTSD. In PTSD, learning is obtained in the course of the shocking experience and is conveyed as both trained fear to incentives connected with the occurrence and more extensive excessive-reactivity or nonsuccess to acclimatize to strong, original or fright-related incentives (Pittman et al, 2012). Memory loss because of hippocampus injury heightens nervousness, separated discernments of the old times and flashbacks which cause PTSD. The hippocampus is accountable for controlling emotion, keeping everlasting memory and categorizing ancient and novel memories. Personality traits such as neuroticism, novelty-seeking, negative emotionality, harm avoidance, self-transcendence, anxiety and hostility cause PTSD (Bisson et al, 2015). On the other hand, positive traits don’t cause PTSD. Alterations to cognitive processes such as attention, memory, problem solving and planning

cause PTSD. Emotional effects of psychological trauma are the ones that cause the alterations to cognitive processes.

PTSD can begin after a very worrying, distressing or frightening occurrence. It may also begin after a lengthy disturbing encounter. Actions that may result to PTSD include bodily or sexual attack, serious accidents, mishandling, including infancy or domestic mishandling, subjection to disturbing actions at the workplace, including distant exposure. Severe health complications like being hospitalized in the critical care facility, delivery experience, like losing a baby. Warfare and battle and lastly, torment (Bisson et al, 2015). PTSD grows in about one in three individuals who undergo serious disturbance. Extremely worrying incidences that break an individual’s feeling of safety cause emotional trauma. The disturbance may leave an individual fighting with distressing feelings and nervousness that do not leave. These in turn cause PTSD. Disturbing experiences which frequently include danger to life or security overwhelms emotions and further causes PTSD (Hong & Efferth, 2016). Emotional distress may be instigated by occurrences like accidents, violent attacks and injuries particularly if it was not expected or occurred in childhood. Continuing persistent tension like residing in a crime-infested area and childhood neglect. Lastly, it is caused by frequently ignored sources such as surgery, the breakup of an important relationship, the abrupt demise of somebody close or a humiliating or intensely disheartening incident, particularly if somebody was deliberately inhuman.

Sociocultural explanations such as gender characters, socio-economic position, locality (urban or rural), school/education, cultural principles and deficiency can cause PTSD. Studies show that females have excessive rates of PTSD than males in spite of a lesser rate of shock experience. Females’ exceedingly subjection to sexual coercion, sexual damage and spouse brutality make them more vulnerable to PTSD (Muldoon & Lowe, 2012). Males, on the other hand, develop PTSD since every community has its regulations on what is regarded as suitable behavior from males and females. Males have been customarily required to be self-sufficient, non-emotional, strong and confident. Some regulations oppose fundamental and usual human reactions to tension hence the men who firmly obey these regulations can be at a danger of developing PTSD. Socioeconomic status can cause PTSD. Subjection to distress is straightly linked to socio-economic position such that a lesser salary is linked with higher distressing pressure which further results to PTSD (Muldoon & Lowe, 2012). Lower socioeconomic status is linked with a higher danger of numerous layers of interpersonal ferocity comprising childhood mistreatment and observing or undergoing physical and sexual attacks. Additionally, deficiency is linked to an excessive danger of residing in topographical regions for example flood vulnerable areas that make people more inclined to be displayed to and agonize the effect of natural tragedies which result to PTSD.

Locations can cause PTSD in that individuals living in countryside regions can encounter greater exposure to a variety of possibly disturbing events at both individual and communal level. Countryside inhabitants are more probable to encounter fatal accidents, more suicide rates and severity of accident-related injuries. The combining effect of numerous ordeal subjection at both individual and communal levels, along with lesser accessibility of facilities and rural perspectives of self-sufficiency increase the probability of poor health results in the occurrence of difficulty such as PTSD (Muldoon & Lowe, 2012). School violence cause PTSD. Although contemplated to be safe shelters, schools have a disastrous side, they are regions where scholars

are harassed. Students are harassed by numerous methods of wrongdoing stretching from property-related offences for example robbery and demolition to vicious conduct such as attack and killing. The most prevalent form of victimization in schools is bullying. School victimization causes trauma in students which may further lead to PTSD ( Bisson et al, 2015). Cultural values such as parenting practices, ceremonial practices and religious persecution cause trauma to individuals of different cultures and can further result in PTSD.

Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

PTSD can be treated through the use of medicine, behavioral therapy, cognitive therapy, group treatment and client-centered treatment. Medicine that assist PTSD patients comprise serotonergic antidepressants like fluoxetine, sertraline and paroxetine and medicine that assist lower the bodily signs linked with ailments like prazosin, clonidine, guanfacine and propranolol. Cognitive treatment issues patients with details on PTSD and assists them to challenge hostile remembrances and opinions linked with an ordeal (Gray, 2015). There are 4 major divisions of the cognitive treatment: An individual learns about their specific PSTD signs and the profits of therapy. In the second division, he/she learns to be additionally conscious of what he/she thinks and feels about his/her ordeal and how he/she might be trapped in opinions that are ruining him/her. The third division involves the individual mastering how to query and contest his/her ideas and emotions and investigate on how he/she would wish to contemplate the ordeal (Hong & Efferth, 2016). Lastly, the individual learns about how it is usual for an individual’s opinions and views about the earth to alter post-trauma, and he/she discovers how to stabilize the way he/she viewed the earth prior and how they see it currently. The therapy consists of 12 sixty-minute meetings once or two times a week.

The behavioral therapy concentrates on altering actions to tackle PTSD hitches that an individual might be facing. The main goals of behavioral therapy are to heighten the levels of activity, stop behaviors of avoidance and assist the sufferer to participate in helpful and worthwhile actions that can better mood. The therapist and patient make a list of ventures that the sufferer cherishes and finds worthwhile like exercising and meeting up with friends. Weekly, the patient is directed to set objectives for the number of pursuits he or she plans to finish outside of the meeting (Wake & Kitchiner, 2013). All through the week, the sufferer then trails his/her advancement in achieving these objectives. Group therapy can be used to administer both cognitive and behavioral therapy. It is quite effective because there is implied incorporation of social support, social interaction and accessibility of social learning via modelling Hong & Efferth, 2016). Client-centered therapy is used for cognitive and behavioral therapy and involves one client at a time. This therapy is quite effective too.

References

Bisson, J., Cosgrove, S., Lewis, C., & Robert, N. (2015). Post-traumatic stress disorder. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 351. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/26523549

Gray, H. (2015). The Trauma Risk Management approach to post-traumatic stress disorder in the British military: Masculinity, biopolitics and depoliticisation. Feminist Review, (111), 109-123. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/24572219

Hong, C., & Efferth, T. (2016). Systematic Review on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Survivors of the Wenchuan Earthquake. Trauma, Violence & Abuse, 17(5), 542-561. doi:10.2307/26638150

Muldoon, O., & Lowe, R. (2012). Social Identity, Groups, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Political Psychology, 33(2), 259-273. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/23260334

Pittman, J., Goldsmith, A., Lemmer, J., Kilmer, M., & Baker, D. (2012). Post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and health-related quality of life in OEF/OIF veterans. Quality of Life Research, 21(1), 99-103. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/41411315

Wake, S., & Kitchiner, D. (2013). A PATIENT’S JOURNEY: Post-traumatic stress disorder after intensive care. BMJ: British Medical Journal, 347(7915), 33-35. Retrieved June 6, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/23495251

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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