Harley Arps
Mrs. Bentley
Argumentative Essay
1 December 2014
Word Count: 755
PTSD Does Effect the Brain Posttraumatic Stress Disorder does effect the brain. PTSD is an injury, and scientist and doctors are starting to find brain evidence of these injuries. It does not mean that those who are diagnosed with it are brain damaged nor does it mean that they will not be able to recover from it, it means that there are parts of the brain that can be visualized on MRI's, PET Scans, and on an MEG (Magnetoencephalogram) and they are showing remarkable changes from PTSD. People need to understand what PTSD is, how doctors know it is there, and that it is a disorder that one can recover from. First off, what is PTSD? PTSD, short for Posttraumatic
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There are many mental health professionals that can help assist those who suffer from PTSD. Isolation often occurs to patients with PTSD, the feeling that other people do not quite understand. Along with the isolation is a feeling that others have not experience it and do not know what it is about. There are pharmaceutical treatments that may be necessary in the earlier stages to help with anxiety, if a person laps into shock too long then sometimes medication is indicated. Psychotherapy is the most common recovery tool. An experienced and understanding therapist can provide being a witness, being with the patient as their reliving their trauma in the safety of a therapists office. Peoples bodies and brains are often very sensitive to being damaged. To repair the trauma patients need to relive the traumatic experience. Patients need to relive it with someone who can hear it and that will be there for them on an emotional level. The purpose of going to therapy is to keep telling the traumatic story over and over again until one day that story does not have the power that the victimizer had in creating the fear
PTSD is not easily treated. Sometimes people can not only suffer mentally but have physical impairments from the event as well. This can make it hard for them to obtain the treatment they need. A combination of medications and psychotherapy is usually recommended and is the most effect form of treatment for PTSD. The earlier a person seeks treatment for this disorder the better the outcome will be. The medications are used to help people cope with their emotions while the psychotherapy will help
The first method of treatment is trauma-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy. In this method, a patient is gradually but carefully exposed to feelings, thoughts, and situations that trigger memories of the trauma. By identifying the thoughts that make the patient remember the traumatic event, thoughts that had been irrational or distorted are replaced with a balanced picture. Another productive method is family therapy since the family of the patient is also affected by PTSD. Family therapy is aimed at helping those close to the patient understand what he/she is going through. This understanding will help in the establishment of appropriate communication and ways of curbing problems resulting from the symptoms (Smith & Segal, 2011).
According to an article published in the International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine, PTSD is an anxiety disorder that is triggered by a traumatic event that has endangered one’s physical integrity of one’s self, witnessing an event where death, injury, or threat of someone else’s physical integrity has occurred, as well as learning about traumatic events that has happened to someone close to the PTSD victim, much like it was described as in the book (Mendes, Mello, Ventura, Passarela, Mari, 2008). According to an article written by Naomi Breslau (2009), the term Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is actually a fairly new diagnosis as it was only adopted into the third edition of the DSM, published in 1980. PTSD was once considered a fairly rare condition, according to Keane, Marshall, and Taft, (2006), but as the years have passed more and more research has come out and it turns out that PTSD is in fact fairy common, especially among sexual abuse victims and combat warriors, however anyone can experience this disorder if they experience a trauma for themselves. PTSD is ultimately a product of extreme fear, according to C. Lin, Tung, P. Lin, Huang, and Liu (2016), in a recent article, as the memories of the traumatic event intrude on the areas of the brain that are associated with fear such as the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and the amygdala. Since memories of fear generally become extinct fairly easily, it takes an extreme case of fear to engrain itself into your brain and stay with you as it does with
Posttraumatic stress disorder can occur after someone experiences a traumatic event. Once the mind hits the coping threshold, it is imperative to seek professional help. The VA offers evidence-based treatments, individual, group treatments, and medications. Coping mechanisms range from individual to individual, hence the need for a diverse PTSD program. Under the evidence-based treatment there are two sections: prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy. Prolonged exposure therapy is when someone continues to talk about their fears/trauma to gain control of feelings associated with those fears. The cognitive processing therapy is to understand the feelings associated with trauma and finding a way to replace negative feelings with positive
Those diagnosed with PTSD have shown a reduction in the volume of the hippocampus. The hippocampus helps humans remember new memories and then be able to recall them later, and also helps identify between past and present memories. The amygdala is another section of the brain affected by PTSD, and the amygdala is responsible for processing emotions and fear. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is shown to have a decreased size in cases. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex regulates negative emotions like stress, anxiety, and fear. The strange behaviours of the patients diagnosed with PTSD can be explained by the damage to the brain. “Researchers believe that the brain changes caused by PTSD increase the tendency of a person developing other psychotic and mood disorders” (brainblogger.com). The brain is like a machine made up of small parts, and if one of these parts break, the machine does not function
The aftermath of war not only has long term effects on the men and women who served or currently serve in the military, but their families and social institutions as well. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a very serious illness, and if left undiagnosed and untreated can result in serious life-threatening effects to include death.
“Treatment for PTSD is usually based on a combination of therapy and medication to manage symptoms”(SocialChoice). Some veterans may be embarrassed to get help. Group therapy is a good option for these people. During “group therapy members of the service talk about the trauma they have been through. They also learn skills to cope or manage their symptoms of PTSD”(military.com). Family and couples therapy is also an
This is where support groups and coaching comes into play and are very useful for recovery. PTSD survivors need to be heard and be able to talk about their feelings without and judgment or comparisons and to feel that they have a voice in what their pain is.
The way you can treat PTSD is maybe talking to a doctor but it really depends on what doctor you are going to talk to. The doctor you really need to talk to for this situation is a Psychiatrist. You can talk to them about your problems and for this case it is a good idea to talk to them. People with PTSD need to know that it can be treated and it doesn't have to be with a Psychiatrist it can be with family or friends. This may not be the answer to curing your disease sometimes it is up to yourself to do these things you may want to cure it with your own space your own time but you will want to have space to others at times because a side effect of this is anger or hatred. There is about four therapies that can help PTSD and other
A victim should seek help as soon as they can. Dealing with PTSD symptoms immediately could help the person from potentially getting worse. Finding out more about what treatments work, where to look for help, and what kind of questions to ask can make it easier to get help and lead to better outcomes. There are many different styles of treatment, one of them being trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy. This treatment involves carefully and gradually exposing the person to thoughts or situations that remind them of the trauma. This treatment can help the victim because it can teach them that it is okay to think about the events that happened. Another treatment style is family therapy. Because PTSD affects the family also, this type of therapy can be more effective. Family therapy helps the loved ones understand what the person is going through and communicate better. An uncommon type of treatment is EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). An article on HelpGuide.org explained how EMDR works:
Some of the theories that can cause PTSD are when a person goes through, sees or learns about an event that causes intense fear, helplessness, or horror. There are some researchers that think that a person is more likely to develop PTSD than others when their risk of anxiety and depression increases, a person’s life experiences, a person’s temperament and/or the way the brain regulates the chemicals and hormones their body releases in response to stress. There are several risk factors associated with PTSD. Some of them being female, experiencing intense or long lasting trauma, having experienced other trauma earlier in life, having other mental health problems, and/or lacking a good support system. PTSD can disrupt a person’s everyday life-from their jobs to their enjoyment of everyday activities. There are three groups of medications that may help someone with PTSD-antipsychotics, antidepressants and antianxiety. There is one medication that has been shown to decrease the nightmares of PTSD victims.-prazosin. There are two other types of therapy that have been shown to help in the treatment of PTSD-exposure therapy-especially virtual exposure therapy-where a person is virtually exposed to the situation that initially caused their PTSD-and eye movement
Learning more about PTSD, reaching out for support from family members or friends, relaxation exercises, and especially talking to a doctor or therapist are very healthy and helpful ways of coping with stress. Many people don’t believe therapy will be beneficial to them, or feel uncomfortable talking about something so personal with a complete stranger, but they are truly there to listen and help you work through your problems. “Both therapists and client work to build a ‘collaborative relationship’ based on persuasion rather than coercion, ideas rather than force, and mutuality rather than
For example, you may hear a car backfire and relive combat experiences. Or you may see a report on the news about a sexual assault and feel overcome by memories of your own assault. But to those who PTSD should not feel like there is no way out with plenty of treatment those with the disorder can/will live healthy normal lives. The first treatment is Cognitive Therapy this type of talk therapy helps you recognize the ways of thinking that are keeping you trapped. for example, negative or inaccurate ways of perceiving normal situations, For PTSD, cognitive therapy is sometimes used with exposure therapy. Exposure Therapy is a behavioral therapy that helps you safely face what you find scary so that you can learn to deal with it effectively. One approach to exposure therapy is virtual reality which allow you to re-enter the setting in which you experienced trauma. And the last form of treatment is a combination of both exposure therapy and a series of guided eye movement that helps process traumatic memories and change how you react to traumatic memories and this is called Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. But to those who don 't like therapy-style treatment there are different types of anti-depressants that can help with some of the symptoms. Like for depression or anxiety a person would take Paxil or Zoloft. And if you don 't have depression but a severe case of anxiety you would look more in taking
Post -traumatic stress can affect learning due to difficulties with their memory and concentration. According to J. Douglas Bremner, “Recent studies have shown that victims of childhood abuse and combat veterans actually experience physical changes to the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory, as well as in the handling of stress. The hippocampus also works closely with the medial prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that regulates our emotional response to fear and stress. PTSD sufferers often have impairments in one or both of these brain regions. Studies of children have found that these impairments can lead to problems with learning and academic achievement” (Bremner, n.d.).
The etiology of how PTSD has been uncover, the following will be various treatments for people who have developed the disorder. There are two types are treatments that can be used on patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The first types of treatment that can be used are biological treatments, which involve medication such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants. The purpose of the SSRI antidepressants is to alter serotonin levels which can aid in reducing activity in the amygdala. The problem with medication is that it only works for 20-30% of patients who take this