Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd )

Post-traumatic stress disorder is a common anxiety disorder characterized by chronic physical arousal, recurrent unwanted thoughts and images of the traumatic event, and avoidance of things that can call the traumatic event into mind (Schacter, Gilbert, Wegner, & Nock, 2014). About 7 percent of Americans suffer from PTSD. Family members of victims can also develop PTSD and it can occur in people of any age. The diagnosis for PTSD requires one or more symptoms to be present and crucially interfere with living a normal life ("Post-traumatic Stress," 2014). Women usually experience PTSD more commonly than men after being exposed to trauma. Examples of PTSD could be veterans from war experiencing traumatic

PTSD, or Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of a life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. Most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. However, some people will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time. These individuals may develop PTSD. People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person’s daily life.

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.

Anyone can suffer from PTSD, but more veterans go through events leading to PTSD in comparison to the general population, due to what they have to endure during a deployment. Patients often relive the traumatic event through flashbacks and nightmares. They often have trouble sleeping and separating there self from the traumatic event or events that has taking place in their life (Iribarren, Prolo, Neagos, & Chiappelli, 2005). There are stages as to how PTSD develops. After the person has experienced the traumatic event the often will become estranged and detach themselves from others. They can then suffer from depression, problems with memory and cognition and may turn to substance

PTSD changes the way the victims react to normal everyday situation. This includes how a veteran may speak to his or her family. The effects of PTSD have caused a severe impact on even the most loving families and it makes it very complicated to live

As this paper will reflect, PTSD has both short and long term consequences and reaches far beyond those who have the disorder. Emotionally and financially, PTSD affects all of our lives in some form, whether from being exposed to the symptoms of a friend or loved one to the financial burden the disorder places on our society to treat those with the disorder.

PTSD can affect people in different ways due to the circumstance they went through, for example, “a young woman gets mugged and hit over the head with a pipe. Years later, she is still afraid to go out at night by herself. She has trouble making friends and she is slow to trust people. She has gotten several warnings at work for missing days; sometimes she just can’t seem to get out of bed. A former soldier, when he finally sleeps, finds himself back on the dusty roads of Afghanistan. He awakes in a panic and struggles futilely to return to sleep. Days are hardly better. The rumble of garbage trucks shatters his nerves. Flashbacks come unexpectedly, at the whiff of certain cleaning chemicals. He is imprisoned in his own mind” (Brainline,

How does PTSD have such a negative effect? It may be because those suffering with PTSD have a hard time feeling emotions. They may feel detached from others. This can cause problems in personal relationships, and may even lead to behavior problems in their children. The numbing and avoidance that occurs with PTSD is linked with lower satisfaction in parenting” (U.S. Department of Vetern Affairs). This is most likely linked to the person with PTSD feeling disconnected from the people around him/her that have not suffered the same experience.

For more than twenty years, Patricia Dietz, a wife of a Vietnam veteran, has suffered along with her husband the effects of post traumatic stress disorder. She has stated that, "It has changed everything; it has affected the rest of his and her life." Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is when a person is haunted by his memories so badly that it affects not only the rest of his life, but others close to him as well.

“ It terrorises me at night. If you have a nightmare where your friends are being blown up, you relive these things over and over and over again.” These are the words from Pte Leroy Risi who was stationed in Afghanistan and is now struggling post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is an anxiety disorder characterized by haunting memories, nightmares, social withdrawal, jump anxiety, or insomnia that lingers for four weeks or more after a traumatic experience. Another war vet Vaughan Cook who also has PTSD states, “ I had very high levels of aggression, anxiety, paranoia. Then I got heavy on the drinking, two liters of whisky a day. I’ve done some bad things. I’ve self-harmed.” PTSD is a serious anxiety disorder that needs to be acknowledged, and PTSD does not only affect war vets, but millions of Americans across the country. PTSD appears to victims of accidents, disasters, and violent and sexual assaults. The biological process behind PTSD is that the limbic system increases susceptibility, by immersing the body with stress hormones repeatedly and repeatedly as images of the traumatic experience emerge into consciousness ( David G. Myers 639). PTSD patients often feel alone and vulnerable, and that no one can help them. Withdrawing from society and suicide are sadly the common outcomes if PTSD are not helped and treated.

While the night terrors or flashbacks can be limited to just the individual, some of the symptoms may be projected onto the families. For example, imagine being around a happy person all day long and how that makes you feel, you will generally feel happy. If you are around a negative person or someone who complains a lot, your feelings and attitude will fall in line with theirs. This is the same thing that happens with family members of people with PTSD. The person with PTSD usually feels like a different person and they often have negative feelings. Additionally they may avoid places, such as large crowds, or loud noises that could cause them to flashback or have memories of their traumatic ordeal. In these cases, the normal member in the relationship will start imitating these traits as well. They will soon find themselves avoiding these situations, or feeling negative about things as well. The normal one will show signs of sympathy, anger or guilt, because they think it is their fault they cannot make their spouse happy. On top of these negative traits of PTSD, those individuals with some sort of mental health disorder also have some sort of chronic health disorder.

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.

PTSD is just one of the possible effects of trauma. People experience a range of reactions following a traumatic event. Many people who have PTSD also suffer from many issues regarding the

The definition of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) according to The United States Department of Veteran Affairs (USDVA) is: “a condition that someone can develop after having gone through a life-threatening event.” PTSD is a horrible disease, there are many symptoms of it, and it can have a negative effect on the family of the person with the disease. In The New York Times article by Max Cleland “The Forever War of the Mind”, The United States Department of Veteran Affairs article “Post-traumatic Stress Disorder”, and the article “Daddy’s Home” by Heather Hummert, the idea of PTSD is discussed and explained in great detail from many different points of view.

People suffering from PTSD, have trouble functioning in their daily lives as a result of their trauma, they may experience; flashbacks or re-experiencing the event, anger, intense fear and feelings of hopelessness – which could lead to suicidal ideation, numbness or detachment from the experience, and a number of other symptoms, in various combinations. Also, family members of those suffering from PTSD may have their own bout with this condition as well, such as children and spouses of deployed service men and women.