A Will to Live

One of the first times I ever went to a hospital was when I had to have a medical examination done to support sexual assault allegations. I was 12, and I elected not to have my mother with me for fear that she could not emotionally handle what was about to happen. Although I was lucky to have compassionate physicians, I still remember the loneliness that I felt and that I would continue to feel after that appointment. I was fortunate enough to be able to receive free therapy throughout my high school years, and that is something that has never been lost on me. Because of this, I have a personal passion for supporting sexual assault victims in whatever way I can. Throughout my high school years, I spoke at various engagement to fundraise for

If there is one day I dread most upon its arrival, it would be 9/11. Sure there was an immense amount of strength as a nation represented, following the terrorists attacks, but it also brought a great amount of grief and sorrow. I remember watching videos of innocent people jumping from windows in the twin towers hoping to escape the terror. These people believed there was no one to help and no one to help them. They lost hope. In “Remembering a Hero, 15 Years After 9/11” written by Peggy Noonan, published in The Wall Street Journal on September 11th 2016, Alison Crowther—Welles Crowther’s mom—recalls the courageous actions to save the lives of others, made by her son on this horrific day. Noonan utilizes pathos, ethos, asyndeton, and

Penny Ann Beernsten, a thirty-six year old small business co-owner and physical fitness instructor, went through a traumatic experience on the afternoon of July 29, 1985. She jogged at a stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline in Wisconsin. She was planning on meeting with her father at the beach at 4:00 PM and she started the jog at 3:50 PM, but was grabbed and taken to the woods where she was raped and deprived her of oxygen by suffocation until she passed out. When she woke up, she walked out of the woods, where couples comforted her until she found her husband and finally the police. (Possley).

This includes teaching staff to manage their work capacities, withhold from meeting all traumatised clients in the same day (distribute them over the week), regular breaks from work; and moreover, disassociating work from your own private life (Berger, & Quiros, 2014). It is pertinent to educate staff on vicarious trauma well before them working, which in turn will make staff more open to support if vicarious trauma arises (Berger, & Quiros,

Today, hundreds of thousands of service men and women and recent military veterans have seen combat. Many have been shot at, seen their buddies killed, or witnessed death up close. These are types of events that can lead to Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder ("Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD: A Growing Epidemic. “) Anyone that has gone through a traumatic event can be diagnosed with PTSD but research shows, military men and women are more susceptible to having PTSD (PTSD: A Growing Epidemic.) And, with little help from the US, many Veterans do not get the help they need or get treated for PTSD. Military men and women begin to

The victim states, “And that distorted me, damaged me, almost broke me. It is the saddest type of confusion to be told I was assaulted and nearly raped, blatantly out in the open, but we don’t know if it counts as assault yet (Baker).” The article demonstrates the emotional distress of the victim while also questioning the morality of the aggressor and the democratic system in defending offenses such as this. The reader grows sympathetic to the agony that the assault and the aggressor has caused and continues to cause throughout the case. The victim's letter encourages victims to speak out and find strength to overcome and help others and condemns the assault of anyone, especially of someone who is unable to consent to the sexual activity. The use of ethos encourages victims to speak out and find strength to overcome and help others and condemns the assault of anyone, especially of one who is unable to consent to the sexual

At some point in their life, every person has been told to “walk in somebody else’s shoes” because they need to be aware of the struggles that other people face, but it is often tough for people to understand things outside of the scope of their own practical knowledge. In her memoir, Lucky, Alice Sebold suffers from this same problem. Throughout the course of her narrative, Sebold thinks of her experience as something that is accessible to be understood by outsiders; in addition to this, Sebold paints her reactions and experiences as a model that she can apply to other victims of sexual assault. Even though Sebold’s story is one of strength in the face of horrible occurrences, her lack of acknowledgement in regards the ways in which other people’s consciousness and coping mechanisms differ from her own makes it far more difficult to sympathize with her than it should be considering the content of her memoir. Evidence of her closed world understanding can be seen from the beginning of the memoir, when she reports her sexual assault to the police (Sebold, 3), later in the narrative, when other people react to her experiences and related feelings (Sebold 146), and finally, and perhaps most significantly, when her close friend Lila undergoes a sexual assault (Sebold 220).

In Jennifer Cisney’s lecture on “Impact Dynamics of Crisis and Trauma,” she outlined four major goals of Psychological First Aid. Above all the material in Module One, I found this specific material most helpful in my practice because it gives me focal points to ensure I am putting the correct focus on Psychological First Aid that I should. We have been learning the critical important of this First Aid to trauma survivors and how if they can be “triaged” correctly by these First Aid components it greatly impacts the person’s recovery.

Tonier Cain, a nationally- known public speaker and traumatic event educator has inspired many women across the nation, she tells her story to audiences filled with men and women who specialize in substance abuse programs, mental health agencies, corrections facilities as well as trauma survivors and many more. Tonier, also known as Neen was introduced to the jail system at an early age and has a criminal record of 83 arrest followed by 66 convictions. Cain’s story is empowering, inspirational and unforgettable. As of today, her efforts to uplift women who have experienced trauma has given her a position as the team leader for the newly funded National Center for Trauma.

The video I chose to watch was “The Wounded Platoon”. The population related to this video that faces difficulties in terms of access to health care are United States veterans. This video specifically mentions veterans of the Third Platoon, who were deployed to fight during the Iraq War. One overarching difficulty this population has in terms of access to health care is a lack of wanting to come forward. One soldier stated that those who came forward with symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) feared ridicule. PTSD is very stigmatized, especially in the military, where it is stated that coming forward with symptoms of PTSD could be considered “a sign of weakness”. Many veterans claimed they did not need help and reported no mental duress. However, it was shown that many of these veterans were self-medicating. It was stated that there was an over three thousand percent increase in Fort Carson soldiers failing drug tests after the Iraq War.

The victim speaks about how much her life has changed since the incident. She speaks about "sleeping with the lights on", showing the fact that she is still scared a year and a half later. The "long and invasive" rape exams effected the victim not only mentally but also physically. The psychological damage inflicted on rape victims is long lasting. The victim uses words like

Jess Walter creates a post 9/11 world that balances precariously between real and surreal. It is real enough that the reader is able to comprehend how awful the attack truly was; but surreal enough that the reader feels the same way most Americans did at Ground Zero—confused, frightened, and grief stricken. Remy, the unwilling hero in all of this is exposed to many different forms of grief both public and personal. Using irony and satire, Walter critiques the way public forms of grief were presented as the only viable ways of grieving after 9/11. Reporters wanted to broadcast each and every loss. The government wanted to exploit the grief of the American people so that they could continue what they were doing in

About two years ago I moved from Italy to Bethesda, Maryland, with my husband. Since my husband was a patient at “Walter Reed National Military Medical Center”, I have been able to walk around the hospital and talking to patients and their relatives. I was astonished when I found out that a lot of patients were suffering from PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder). I didn’t know a lot about this disorder, so I did some researches and I discovered that, according to Veterans statistics: PTSD, Depression, TBI, Suicide “at least 20% of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have PTSD and/or depression. Vietnam veterans also report high lifetime rates of PTSD ranging from 10% to 31%.” But the most alarming data is that “50% of those with PTSD do not seek treatment, while the half that seek treatment, only half of them get minimally adequate”(Veteran Statistic). Therefore, PTSD is a common disorder in USA, especially among veterans, so I believe that it should be more publicized in the public information, and I think that the Government should provide more help for people who are affected by this disorder. In “the Red Convertible” written by Louise Erdrich, we can find a good example of PTSD and the effect it has on Veterans and their families.

In September 11, 2001, the United States recalled this day as a day of tragedy, sadness, terrorism, and trauma. The 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center not only took the lives of people, but it also gave the individuals who survived and experienced the event post traumatic stress disorder after the event. This topic has been studied and interviews have been conducted with those individuals who had Unmet Mental Health Care Need 10 - 11 years after the tragic event collecting the results from 2011 - 2012 World Trade Center Health Registry. Unmet Mental Health Care Need 10 - 11 years after the 9/11 terrorist

In Judith Herman’s book, Trauma and Recovery, she discusses her research and work with trauma survivors. In her book, she writes that, “traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life” (Herman 24). She explores the idea that trauma is as individual as it is common, with reactions and the journey to the post-traumatic self similar despite differences in events. In the case of Barbara Gordon, while the event may vary, her physical and mental trauma can be compared to America’s fear of its forfeiture of power to terror and the loss of the towers after September 11, 2001. Trauma is about more than just the physical ramifications; when the physical aspect is fixed, Barbara’s legs and the building of the 1 World Trade Center, the mental and emotional trauma still remain.