Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

This paper explores post-traumatic stress and how it is seen as a disorder. Post-traumatic stress can manifest into post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Sareen (2014), Post-traumatic stress disorder is defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5 as having 4 core features that are as follows. First, the person must witness or experience a stressful event. Secondly, the person or persons would re-experience symptoms of the event that include nightmares and/or flashbacks. The person or persons would also have hyper arousal symptoms, such as concentrations problems, irritability, and sleep disturbance. The final core feature dictates

“My mind is on fire as I fear that any second, another enemy round will rip into my body and finish me off” (Johnson 2). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) effects the lives of many soldiers after returning home from war. PTSD is a psychiatric condition described in the DSM-IV as, a condition that requires a specific event to have occurred as a criterion for the diagnosis. The criteria for this disorder, according to the book Combat Trauma, can include flashbacks, times where you feel as if you are reliving the traumatic event, shame or guilt, upsetting dreams about the traumatic event, trying to avoid thinking or talking about the traumatic event, feeling emotionally numb or not feeling at all, anger or irritability, poor or destructive relationships, self-destructive behavior, trouble sleeping, memory problems, hallucinations, not enjoying activities you one enjoyed and feeling as if you no longer know who is living your day-to-day life.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric sequel to a stressful event or situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic nature. It develops after a person is involved in a horrifying ordeal that involved physical maltreatment or the threat of physical harm. These events can include combat or military experience, abuse during childhood or adulthood (physical or sexual), terrorist attacks, serious accidents or natural disasters. This person may have been the one that was harmed, witnessed a harmful event or had a loved one who was harmed. It is normal for the body’s fight or flight mechanism to engage in times of danger. With a person who has PTSD, that mechanism is damaged and the person feels this even when they are not in danger. Symptoms can be categorized into four different areas – re-experiencing symptoms (flashbacks, bad dreams, frightening thoughts) , avoiding situations that remind the person of the event, negative changes in beliefs and feelings (may be fear, guilt, shame or losing interest in those activities that once were enjoyable) and hypervigilence (always feeling keyed up, trouble concentrating or sleeping). There are also feelings of hopelessness, despair, depression or anxiety, alcohol or substance abuse, physical symptoms or chronic pain and problems with employment and relationships.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder? When most people think of the term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) they think of war and returning soldiers. Even though this is true, post-traumatic stress disorder does not only develop in soldier’s returning from war. When you look at the definition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you will see that it is a mental health condition that is triggered by either experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. This means that post-traumatic stress disorder can be developed after any traumatic event or experience that one has gone through.

Although posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is sometimes considered to be a relatively new diagnosis, as the name first appeared in 1980, the concept of the disorder has a very long history. That history has often been linked to the history of war, but the disorder has also been frequently described in civilian settings involving natural disasters, mass catastrophes, and serious accidental injuries. The diagnosis first appeared in the official nomenclature when Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-I was published in 1952 under the name gross stress reaction. It was omitted, however, in the next edition in 1968, after a long

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is a mental health condition that is generally classified as an anxiety disorder. It is often caused by a traumatic events or emotional trauma in one’s life that leads to terrifying flashbacks, nightmares and extreme anxiety. The main cause of this disorder is the conscious and subconscious fear-memories that have developed. In essence the ‘fight or flight” response that we all have is severely damaged, even when not in a stressful or dangerous situation those suffering from PTSD may feel stressed and in danger.

It is common in war veterans because they deal with the common symptom of flashbacks. A person suffering from this may be able to mentally be sent back to the time and location of the original traumatic experience. This can be triggered by something small such as a noise, smell, or any specific thing. A person who is serving their country put himself or herself at risk of PTSD just by being in the war. They do not necessarily have to return fire or have a lot of exposure to the combat to suffer. Research by McLay et al. (2014) supports this theory with self-reported symptoms of PTSD and depression that were examined among service members who reported being shot at or attacked by an IED. It included that they may become higher in risk for PTSD because the helplessness of being unable to return fire against the enemy had shown relations to PTSD and injuries sustained in war make them more vulnerable to it as well. McLay et al. (2014) results also showed that those who been attacked but not shot at the enemy had less severe symptoms than those who had exchanged fire.

Working in the field of Emergency Response I have seen and felt first hand the effects of posttraumatic stress disorder. It is not possible to respond to emergency after emergency and not be subject to some of PTSD’s effects. When I saw this topic in the list I felt compelled to use this opportunity to learn more. My hope is by increasing my knowledge, of a disorder so prevalent in my career field; I can recognize the symptoms in others and myself before there effect becomes devastating.

Post-Traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD, is on a rise in our country and expected to rise more in the coming years (Iribarren, Prolo, Neagos, & Chiappelli, 2005). PTSD is a psychiatric disorder than can result from the experience or witnessing of traumatic or life-threatening events (Iribarren, Prolo, Neagos, & Chiappelli, 2005). According to the Evidence based article examples of PTSD are terrorist attack, violent crime and abuse, military combat, natural disasters, serious accidents or violent personal assaults (Iribarren, Prolo, Neagos, & Chiappelli, 2005). PTSD has also been liked to possible exposure to environmental toxins such as Agent Orange or electromagnetic radiation (Iribarren, Prolo, Neagos, & Chiappelli, 2005).

Today, 44.7 million veterans are struggling with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD Stats). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental disorder common found in veterans who came back from war. We can express our appreciation to our veterans by creating more support programs, help them go back to what they enjoy the most, and let them know we view them as a human not a disgrace.

African Americans living in urban, low-income, impoverished environments are at high risk for exposure to traumatic events, and have a potential prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) due to previous and repeated trauma exposure.

“Part of the torture is that the burden of guilt feels unending because you cannot undo the past” (Matsakis 119). In the book, Survivors Guilt by Aphrodite Matsakis, Ph. D, where Matsakis depicts what and why living with PTSD is unbearable. Matsakis explains that guilt is the root of PTSD. There is a never ending list of things to be guilty about after leaving a war, mainly; wishing you could get the health back of the injured, get back the lives that were taken and closure with soldiers you thought could have been saved. If the thoughts of these things could have closure and be let go, the survivor’s guilt would be surrendered. The quote, “Guilt demands punishment” (119), explains in such simple terms of why the root of PTSD is guilt. If the guilt is released, then the negative thoughts, feelings of hatred, anger and “what ifs” would all disappear.

For many war veterans Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or what is better known as PTSD is common. Finding a treatment that is right for someone with this condition can be challenging but not impossible. Despite the circumstances, people who suffer from PTSD should be able to receive the care that is most effective for them to overcome their condition.

What is PTSD? According to Goldenson, he defines Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as “an anxiety disorder produced by an extremely stressful event(s) (e.g., assault, rape, military combat, death camp) and characterized by a number of adverse reactions: (a)re-experiencing the trauma in painful recollection or recurrent dreams; (b) diminished responsiveness (numbing), which disinterest in significant activities and with feeling of detachment and estrangement from others; and (c) symptoms such as exaggerating startle response, disturbed sleep, difficulty in concentrating or remembering, guilt about surviving when others did not, and avoidance of activates that call the traumatic event to mind” (as cited in Barnett, Miller-Perrin, & Perrin, 2011). Throughout the eras of war, we are seeing more reports of PTSD within the military. In

Within the human experience, there has always been a risk of exposure to both physical and psychological trauma. The threat of violence, personal tragedies, and economic and social catastrophes are all possible triggers for an onset of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). What was once reserved as a diagnosis for veterans has been found to affect both young and old. The development of various assessment tools have been used in diagnosing PTSD and one of the most commonly used tests is the Post-Traumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale. It is an assessment that was developed and validated by Edna Foa to provide a brief but reliable self-report measure of PTSD for use in both clinical and research settings (Zalta, Gillihan, Fisher, Mintz, McLean, Yehuda, & Foa, 2014). The Post-Traumatic Diagnostic Scale is an assessment instrument deigned to be taken by adults with at least an eighth grade reading level. This review of will evaluate the hits, misses, false positive errors, and false negative errors of this instrument and how to each area is applied in interpreting the construct measurement of this assessment tool. Although the Post Traumatic diagnostic Scale has consistently ranked high with clinicians and researchers, in self-reporting the definition of trauma can potentially become subjective and compromise the reliability of the assessment tool.