How Cognitive Behavior Therapy ( Cbt ) Is Effective Approach For Clients With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd Essay

PTSD is one mental health issue that can result from a great deal of distress that a person may experience after a devastating event involving any type of physical trauma or threat of physical harm (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A child who develops PTSD either “directly experienced the traumatic event(s), witnessed, in person, the event(s) as it occurred to others, learned that the traumatic event(s) occurred to a close family member or friend or experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(s)” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Traumatic events are normally unavoidable and uncontrollable. It may overwhelm a child and affect his or her sense of control and safety. Single, brief, and unanticipated events are classified as

Frequently, as humans, we are faced with traumatic memories and experiences that prove to

A person has been exposed to a traumatic event. For Charlie, there were two childhood instances that could count as “trauma.” First, he was sexually abused by his Aunt Helen as a child, a person he considered really close and important to him, “She was my favourite person in the world.” Second, she was killed around Christmas while driving to buy his present. As he loved her, the death had a toll on him. Another source of trauma is the death of his junior high friend by suicide. He describes

This treatment approach is based on cognitive and learning theories, tackling-misleading beliefs related to the traumatic events of acknowledgments related to the abuse and provides a supportive environment of which individuals are encouraged to talk about their traumatic experience. A numerous amount of research has been carried out to investigate into how effective CBT really can be for PTSD. (Resick et al, 2002) carried out an investigation comparing CBT with strong cognitive restructuring focus and CBT with a strong exposure focus and to a waiting-list control of rape survivors. Prior to this experiment approximately 80% of patients who completed either form of CBT no longer met the criteria for PTSD. Once this investigation was complete a follow up treatment took place of which it was noted 2% of the waiting list group had lost the PTSD diagnoses. Only a year after this investigation Bryant, Moulds, Guthrie, Dang & Nixon, (2003) restructured the experiment comparing exposure alone, exposure plus cognitive restructuring, and supportive counselling in civilians with PTSD resulting from various traumatic events. At this particular follow up 65-80% of participants who either completed either form of CBT were now clear of PTSD diagnosis, compared to less than 40% of those who completed supportive counselling.

The medical definition of PTSD is that the person has been exposed to a traumatic event in which both the following were present: The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others, The person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror

This can happen in one of four ways. The first way is direct exposure, or being the person responsible for another's death. The second is witnessing it in person. The third is indirect, as in learning a family member was exposed to this trauma. The fourth way is repeated or extreme indirect exposure to traumatic events, such as first responders to an accident. Criteria B is known as the intrusion symptoms, where the event is relived in one of the following five ways. The first is recurrent memories, most of them involuntary. Next is traumatic nightmares about the event, and its details. The third way is through dissociative reactions, also known as flashbacks to the event, and can occur in brief flashback episodes to full loss of awareness to their surroundings. Number four is prolonged stress due to the event, and the last way is physiological reactivity after the exposure of a traumatic event. Criteria C is called avoidance, where you exhibit one of the two following symptoms. You will either have thoughts or feelings related to the trauma or physical reminders of the traumatic event, such as people, places, or things. Criteria D is negative changes in moods or comprehension, that have worsened after the event, and has seven symptoms. The first one is the inability to recall key details of the event or the day of the event, this is sometimes referred to as dissociative amnesia. Second is

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder begins with some sort of terrible emotional or physical event, but the effects remain with the individual. You can experience the event by direct contact, sight, or learning of the trauma, usually involving death, catastrophic injury, or sexual assault. PTSD is a mental health condition that is tied closely with flashbacks, night terrors, rumination on the event and anxiety. Not all people who experience a terrifying event have PTSD, as with time and resiliency techniques, the residuals will go away. Some even using those techniques will develop PTSD. PTSD usually begins within the first three months after an event, but sometimes it will take years to develop. PTSD has

The new DSM 5 identifies “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence” via firsthand experience, observing or seeing others go through the traumatic experience, hearing about a traumatic incident that significantly affected a family or a friend, and direct repetitive exposure or re-experiencing of the traumatic event or details of it (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Anyone of these situations can trigger the onset of PTSD and the symptoms can be very debilitating even life-threatening not just to the individuals with the disorder but to those around them.

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).

Some personally experienced traumatic events are physical or sexual assault, natural or manmade disasters, physical or mental torture, or being diagnosed with a life threatening disease. With children it involves physical or sexual abuse. In addition, some traumatic events personally viewed are the serious physical injury or violent death of another person, whether caused by war, disaster, accident, or physical assault; or the unexpected sight of a body part or a deceased person. Further, some of the traumatic events a person hears or reads about are a sudden or violent death, a severe injury, or the physical attack of a relative or someone close (APA, 2000, pp.463-464).

What do you do when you experience a life threatening, traumatic event, and months later you are still experiencing the same frightening responses? Individuals who experience trauma are often forced to face their problems long after the event has happened. The first step to dealing with this issue would be to seek professional help as soon as possible so that they may be properly diagnosed and receive accurate treatment to overcome the intrusive symptoms. An individual who is suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have experienced, witnessed, or was affected by a life

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that can occur after a traumatic event, such as a threat to life, serious injury, or sexual violence. Some people who experience these types of events may develop PTSD. Sometimes, PTSD can occur in people who hear about trauma that occurs to a close family member or friend. PTSD can happen to anyone at any age.

Approximately twenty-five to thirty percent of those who have experienced a traumatic event will proceed to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (Fry, 2016). Those who have experienced a traumatic event and developed PTSD continue reliving it to an extent in which it interferes with their lives. The symptoms of the disorder affect the person’s life by interfering with daily activities and personal relationships with friends and family. There is

The experience of trauma can be identified as either acute (e.g., natural disaster, serious accident) or chronic (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse), which