Half Head Man Analysis

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder is “a mental condition that can affect a person who has had a very shocking or difficult experience and that is usually characterized by depression, anxiety, etc.” (Merriam-Webster’s, n.d.) Post-traumatic stress disorder can occur after seeing a dangerous event such as war, hurricanes, car accidents, death of a loved one, and violent crimes. It can affect a victim mind, body, and the people around them. While some mental disorders are genetic, this disorder come from the things that people encounter in life. This paper will discuss the risk factor involved with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as treatments that will help overcome it and future research and approaches to treat this psychiatric illness.

The article, Unbroken: what makes some people more resilient than others, uses the example of Louis Zamperini as shown in the movie, Unbroken, to examine the role of resilience in the ability to recover after a traumatic event. Written by David Cox for The Guardian, the article discusses current research on resilience, and explains how it can be used to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Many people experience a severe trauma in their lives, but only a few go on to develop PTSD. For a long time, the focus has been on what makes people more susceptible to developing PTSD. A newer approach to studying stress disorders, as the article establishes, is the study of resilience. Using the example of Louis Zamperini, the article describes an interdisciplinary approach to studying resilience including biological, social, and lifestyle factors.

After the long and physically demanding battles of World War Two, many soldiers returned to the United States of America battling injuries many physicians did not know how to acknowledge at the time. But, as many soldiers were able to return to their families, even with a brain injury, many soldiers lost their lives to brain injuries. Two researchers who conducted one of the largest studies on base camps about the extent of brain injuries and how it affected soldiers was Sekulovic and Ceramilac, these researchers were able to “summaries autopsies of 499 deaths occurring within 30 days of traumatic brain injury.”1 Sekulovic and Ceramilac were able to find “that 78% of the deaths were due to injury to brain stem, brain edema or brain compression.”1 While Sekulovic and Ceramilac were able to determine the percentage of which were affected by brain injuries during World War Two, many researchers were hoping to acknowledge the dynamic longer term possibilities. According to Dr. Ian J. Baguley, “patients who had been released from the hospital into rehabilitation facilities”1 were considered long term for brain injuries. Where as Dr. Robert M. Shavelle found that patients coming from war can be classified as long term as long as the effects lasted “one year or longer post injury.”1 Many studies by various researchers were also able to discover that “even in long-term, death rates from many different causes are elevated for persons with [traumatic brain injury] by comparison with

There are unfortunate events that may take place in someone’s life, which can lead to stress. Sometimes a crisis or a traumatic event can come without any warnings. A crisis can be a problem that is too great for someone to handle, but it is not always bad (Wright, 2011). Trauma is the response to any event that shatters a person’s safe world, so that it is no longer a place they can feel safe

Describing a psychological or mental health response following exposure to a traumatic event has become an unachievable goal since there is no response to it. It is apparent that there are individual differences in resilience and risk factors that play a crucial role in response to potentially traumatic event and prevent a description of a response to an event that would affect people uniformly. During the course of a normal life span, most people at different times in their lives are confronted with the adverse events such as the death of a close friend or relative (Kessler, Sonnega, Bromet, Hughes, & Nelson, 1995).

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.

In the general population, 6 in 10 men and 5 in 10 women will experience a traumatic event which will lead into unstable habits, resulting in restricted physical activity. These restrictions in physical activities are linked with fear. In the recent years, researchers such as Campbell et al. (2008), Follette et al. (1996), Hoge et al. (2007) and Wagner et al. (2000) have concluded that there are physical health impacts a person can present from traumatic events (namely, combat exposure, sexual assault or natural disaster). The Australian Defence Force states that in 2010, approximately 90% of the ADF and 73% of Australian citizens have been affected by at least one traumatic event (Australian Government, unknown).Brewin, Andrews and Valentine (2000) informs that multiple traumatic events induce stronger neural signals on the brain. Campbell et al. (2008) and Hoge et al. (2007) highlight that somatic disorder is interrelated from these strong neural signals on the brain in emerging data in traumatic events and physical health.

After James Peacock had his right arm amputated last December, he expected some difficulties. With those difficulties came pain so unbearable it could not be controlled with all the medicine in his cabinet. Derek Steen, otherwise known as "The one-armed pool player," lost a limb in a motorcycle accident at the

Van der Kolk (1987) notes that human responses to trauma are relatively constant across various types of traumatic stimuli, where individuals have poor tolerance to arousal stimuli and may experience social and emotional withdrawal. These changes in the body’s arousal and perception prevent the continuance of “normal” life, and require help.

Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger.”(Bailey, Eileen) While this is often the case, certain tragedies are simply too overwhelming for the body and mind to recover from. Instead of making one stronger, some things leave the human body weakened both emotionally and physically. When faced with gargantuan amounts of stress, some people have mental or emotional breakdowns resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Trauma is an individual’s visceral reaction to a horrible event, events such as early childhood traumas, accidents, sexual abuse, or community violence (apa.org, 2016). An individual may react with shock and denial in the aftermath. As time continues some reactions may comprise of mood swings, intrusive memories, difficulties maintaining relationships and can manifest into physical symptoms to include headache or upset stomach. There are individuals who experience difficulties functioning in their daily lives; these observable responses are a normal response to the trauma (apa.org, 2016).

Percentages of favorable recovery outcomes in the “other incidents” group ranged from 26% for gunshot wounds to 100% for shaken baby syndrome (Madjan et al. 804). This wide range of scores indicates that the “other incidents” category was likely too generalized to produce significant results.

At least 50% of all adults and children are exposed to a psychologically traumatic event (such as a life-threatening assault or accident, humanmade or natural disaster, or war). As many as 67% of trauma survivors experience lasting psychosocial impairment, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); panic, phobic, or generalized anxiety disorders; depression; or substance abuse.(Van der Kolk, et al, 1994) Symptoms of PTSD include persistent involuntary re-experiencing of traumatic distress, emotional numbing and detachment from other people, and hyperarousal (irritability, insomnia, fearfulness, nervous agitation). PTSD is linked to structural neurochemical changes in the central nervous system which may have a direct

traumatic reaction that occurs due to witnessing the suffering of others (Hinderer et al., 2014).

Judith Herman’s Trauma and Recovery was an amazing read because it tackles the question of “What does it actually mean to be traumatized?” Every single person, no matter how old, has experienced some level of fear— especially those of us who live in NYC! Whether it’s a yellow cab running a red light as you cross 56th Street, the aggressive homeless man on the 6 train who can’t accept the fact that you don’t have any spare change to give, or that time you decided to have street meat for dinner and were stuck on the toilet for the remainder of your night, we can all identify the ways in which our body responds to moments of distress. You may break out into a sprint, your heart beats against your chest as you sweat profusely, and you might even shed tears. In those moments, your entire existence becomes focused around the perceived life or death situation.