Personality Traits And Secondary Traumatic Stress Essay

A traumatic event affects many people in various ways. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a globally recognized disorder that is common among persons who have experienced traumatic events, but is also known as a normal response by normal persons in abnormal situations. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder can be caused by a multitude of reasons, not just from traumatic events. People with various personality traits can be associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. People who suffer from poor health can also be associated with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. People who suffer various life occurrences such as rape, natural disasters,

Several different factors can contribute to how a person responds to a traumatic stressor and scientist and theoreticians have found other factors can determine individuals who are more likely to develop PTSD when exposed to a catastrophic event. These factors can include their past exposure to trauma, their mental health history, their families’ history of psychological problem, age, gender, biological makeup, social network, as well accessibility to mental health treatment facilities.

With the recent release of the popular movie and book American Sniper, much attention has been drawn to the effects of the disease of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on its victims. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a mental illness from going through a traumatic experience, is more prevalent in veterans and men currently serving in the military, and it is important that effective treatment be sought.

The New England Journal of Medicine States: “The defining characteristic of a traumatic event is its capacity to provoke fear, helplessness, or death. People who are exposed to such events are at increased risk for PTSD as well as for major depression, panic disorder, including generalized anxiety disorder.”

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).

Traumatic events also produce profound and lasting changes in physiological arousal, emotion, cognition, and memory. Moreover, traumatic events may result in the severance of these normally integrated functions from one another. Traumatized individuals may also suffer from the memories of the tragic or horrifying experiences they have undergone. Frequently, as a result of these many symptoms, it becomes inevitable for the individual to develop certain complications associated with trauma-related disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder.

This paper will define The Effects of Trauma and Crisis on Clients and Mental Health Counselors and give a brief overview on how these Natural and man-made disasters, crises, and other trauma-causing events have become a focus of the clinical mental health counseling profession. Due to the extreme trauma that children, adolescents and adult experience after a traumatic event it, is noted that most individuals that are exposed to traumatic experience usually develop major depression, generalized anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) later in

These men and women risked their lives to try to save the thousands of men, women, and children trapped inside the Murrah building. In assumption people would think this traumatic experience of trying to recover lives after the explosion would not only be very heartbreaking, but very traumatic also. Surprisingly, from all the rescue workers only 13% (24/181) were diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (North). A test was approved and ran by the Washington University School of Medicine Institutional Review Board (North). This test involved the first group of firefighters who were involved with the bombing victims (North). These firefighters are the ones who helped recover bodies and body parts from the rubble of the bombing (North). “Two-thirds (68%) reported feeling somewhat or very upset by either or both of these activities, although many (36%) described removing the bodies as providing a sense of relief and closure to their evacuation work. Firefighters acknowledged feeling somewhat or very upset by contact with body parts (54%) and body fluids (36%), but encounters with children’s remains (72% of total sample) had the highest rating of associated upset”

Furthermore, the nature of their jobs also induces to low social and family interactions, poor diet choices, higher alcohol consumption, and even substance abuse. Consequently, the physiological disadvantage from all these factors, played a significant role when paired with the traumatic events of 9/11. Consistent with these factors, a cohort study reported an estimate of 17% of rescue workers had increased in alcohol consumption, higher psychological comorbidities, a direct relation with functional impairment, and interfered with their daily activities (Stellman et al., 2008). The prevalence of PTSD was consistent with delay in identifying the condition due to pre-existing characteristics prevalent among rescue workers. Contrary to natural disasters which are limited in time and space, terrorism happens unexpectedly with regard to time and place (Neria et al.,

It is natural for a person to experience worry after a disturbing event. According to Junger it is nearly impossible to not react to a traumatic event. “Almost everybody exposed to trauma reacts by having some sort of short-term reaction to it--acute PTSD” (Junger 80). Most people are able to recover at a rate much faster than war veterans, even though many rape instances may have been significantly more traumatizing than the aspects of the war. This is related to the fact that rape victims do not wish to retain any of their memories, while war victims have many positive aspects of the war. “Treating combat veterans is different from treating rape veterans don’t have this idea that some aspects of their experience are worth retaining” (Junger 81). Comparatively, the war veterans do have a lot of negative experiences, but they also have many great experiences of camaraderie with fellow soldiers. Many soldiers were able to form lasting relationships preceding and during the war, but after the war had trouble forming new relationships. This resulted in the implementation of service dogs to help transition soldiers back to society again. “In this regard, reporters' media accounts of the experiences of veterans with PTSD and the general public's social media response comments were subjected to a triangulated

Several studies have been done on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and how many people in the United States are affected by it. In a scholarly journal published in 1999, researchers found “individual posttraumatic symptoms, including dissociative symptoms, appear to be common during or following a highly stressful event” (Andrews). This shows that after experiencing an event deemed highly stressful or traumatic by the one who

The symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder are extensive. There are numerous specific warning signs that should alert an emergency first responder, and their family members, coworkers and friends, to the fact that they are falling victim of

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can be the direct result of physical or sexual abuse, or a singular event, such as rape. People commonly think that PTSD is most common among soldiers, however it is also very common among individuals that have experienced a natural disaster, a car accident, or any other traumatic event. Case in point, would be the effects on the family members during the aftermath of the world trade centers on 9/11. Furthermore the first responders that were exposed to these highly stressful events on 9/11 in the course of their routine duties. For instance the prolonged, failed rescue and having a partner or a peer killed or seriously injured. These are specific situations that increased their vulnerability to that traumatic

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a widespread disorder that affects certain individuals psychologically, behaviorally, and emotionally following the experience of a traumatic event (Lee et al., 2005, p. 135). However, because of inconsistencies regarding the percentage of individuals who experience PTSD and the percentage of individuals who subsequently develop PTSD, researchers hypothesize that both biological and environmental factors contribute to the development of PTSD (Wolf et al. 2010, p. 328). In order gain a better understanding of this disorder and to discover contributing and predicative factors which contribute to the development of PTSD, this paper analyses the historical context and prevalence of PTSD, the

The Possible Effects of Post Traumatic Stress Post traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder associated with serious traumatic events and characterized by such symptoms as survivor guilt, reliving the trauma in dreams, numbness and lack of involvement with reality, or recurrent thoughts and images. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can develop at any age, including in childhood. Symptoms typically begin within 3 months of a traumatic event, although occasionally they do not begin until years later. Once PTSD occurs, the severity and duration of the illness varies. Some people recover within 6 months, while others suffer much longer.