Psychological Analysis : Mental Disorder Essay

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a relatively new diagnosis that was associated with survivors of war when it was first introduced. Its diagnosis was met largely with skepticism and dismissal by the public of the validity of the illness. PTSD was only widely accepted when it was included as a diagnosis in 1980 in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) of the American Psychiatric Association. PTSD is a complex mental disorder that develops in response to exposure to a severe traumatic event that stems a cluster of symptoms. Being afflicted with the disorder is debilitating, disrupting an individual’s ability to function and perform the most basic tasks.

Psychological Analysis. When an individual is diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), multiple criteria must be addressed which I will elaborate in the document. When Mr. Wertz was deployed to Iraq in the infantry division, he witnessed the death of a comrade and in his second deployment he had many mortar attacks fulfilling criterion A of PTSD. Conclusively, there was a presence of a trauma while in the army when Mr. Wertz witnessed the death of soldiers in his division. Mr. Wertz recounts having nightmares about his combat. The nightmares are described as reoccurring for the duration of two months. The dream described is Mr. Wertz and his unit being barricaded in a house and being fired at directly;

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.

I believe that Mr. Wertz has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In order to be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must have had to have be exposed to an actual or life threatening event. Mr. Wertz, during his first tour witnessed the death of a fellow soldier, who was killed by an enemy soldier. Following that, he killed the enemy soldier. During his second tour, his unit was under daily bombing attacks. Both events were traumatic and stressful, and either one would qualify him as being exposed or almost expose to life threatening event. A person with PTSD will also avoid stimuli associated with the trauma. Mr. Wertz no longer goes to the shooting range, which was an activity that he used to enjoy. Other symptoms of PTSD include hyper arousal symptom and intrusive symptom. To be diagnosed with PTSD a person must have symptom for more than a month. Mr. Wertz has hyper arousal symptoms. He jumped went the fryer made a loud cracking sound and took cover, believing it was enemy gunfire, and he always feels on edge. He has intrusive symptoms. He has been having recurring nightmare about his time on tour two to 3 time a month, with one recurring nightmare involving him and his unit taking on enemy gun fire. Lastly, his dreams have been occurring for 2 months. It is state that his dreams have been occurring over the last to month, however it does not say how long loud noise have been affecting him or how long he has been avoiding negative stimuli like the shooting range. This makes me

psychologically changed (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012; Satel, 2011). Peterson et al. (2011) reported that combat-related trauma is the second leading cause of PTSD in men. In this section, diagnostic criteria, assessment, and interview protocols related to PTSD are discussed. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – Fourth Edition – Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Association, 2000) outlined criteria for the PTSD diagnosis and defined it according to its symptoms, duration, and the nature of the trauma. According to the DSM-IV-TR (2000) Criterion A must be met in order for a PTSD diagnosis: “the person experienced, witnessed or was confronted with an event or events that involved actual or

The conceptualization of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) was formally recognized as a psychiatric disorder in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) and first included in the 10th edition of the International Classification of Disease (Bisson, 2007). The description of stressor Criteria (A) in the DSM-III-R “are described as rare and if Criterion A events did occur it is suggested that initial distress should develop in the majority of exposed individuals as a response” (Resnick, Kilpatrick, Dansky, Saunders, & Best, 1993, p. 984). However, accounts of PTSD have existed for centuries under different names and ideologies e. g. shell shock, battle fatigue, Da Costa’s Syndrome. In the time of Freud, it’s causes were attributed to an individual’s character deficit. During World War II is was understood to be a normal reaction to persistent combat.

This article is from the perspective of a daughter with a mother who had an uncontrolled, unspecified, mental disorder throughout the daughter’s childhood. She recounts how her mother would treat her and her siblings when she was in a manic phase and when she was in the depressed phase. She also allows the reader to see how she was mistreated and constantly told that she was not good enough. Her mother told her she was not good enough until she began hearing it in her mind. She started to believe that she was not good enough and was just squeaking by in college and ended up quitting college. Her marriage was failing and she was consulting a therapist. It did not occur to her that she might need additional help until she seriously contemplated

In The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the definition of PTSD is rather unusual in that it lists the etiology of the disorder. The DSM-III states: “the essential feature [of PTSD] is the development of characteristic symptoms following a psychologically traumatic event that is generally outside the range of usual human experience.” PTSD affects up to 20% of people who experience trauma. However, among people who are victims of a severe traumatic experience, 60 – 80% will develop PTSD. According to the Israel Trauma Center for Victims of Terror and War, “Every person has certain limits and it is almost certain that any person would develop PTSD if exposed to a sufficiently severe trauma.” There are three types of symptoms that must be present to diagnose PTSD. According to the DSM, “The first group requires that the veteran has intrusive thoughts about the event…nightmares or flashbacks in which the veteran feels like he…is reliving the event.” “The second group requires that the veteran avoids reminders of the trauma by either deliberately trying not to think about it, or avoids places and people that serve as reminders of it.” “The third group requires that the veteran experiences chronic physiological arousal as evidenced by difficulties sleeping, [or] outbursts.”

PTSD is one of the most debilitating psychological conditions affecting service members and veterans. PTSD is the most prevalent mental disorder arising from combat, but it can also strike military men and women deployed in peacekeeping missions, humanitarian missions, responding to acts of terrorism, caught up in training accidents, or victimized by sexual trauma. The burden of PTSD may be transient or long-lasting. The response to psychological trauma is probably as old as human nature, but the diagnosis of a traumatic stress disorder is among the newest in current diagnostic classification systems.

by the brain to other parts of the body are not normal in people with

The patient is a middle-aged white male. He appears to be well kempt, dressed neatly but casually and somewhat dully in jeans and a button-down shirt. He is slightly overweight. He responds to the interviewer in a friendly and cooperative manner, and they seem to have adequate rapport. He mostly maintains good eye contact, although not staring, and he tends to look briefly away when relating incidents that could make him emotional. He tends to respond positively when answering followup questions, for example agreeing that even when not having an anxiety attack, he does worry about when the next might strike, and curtails his activities as a result. His facial expression

Marla: “I never really stayed in touch with anyone and at work well I am always really busy. I had a dog but he ran away. Other than my laptop I guess there really isn’t anyone.”

The third edition of American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders was the first publication that officially defined PTSD as the severe trauma exposure manifestation. The fifth edition of DSM, however, defined trauma as extreme threatening and distressing events involving actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. Undeniably, the concept and origin of PTSD were more distinctly shown during the First World War, but actually there are evidences present that the concept and origin of PTSD has occurred prior to the First World War.

Many of these combatants began to experience nightmares, flashbacks, and feelings of detachment. These symptoms led physicians to form a new mental diagnosis in the 1980s, called Post Traumatic Stress disorder or PTSD (Miller, 2006:908). Research into the links of PTSD show us that intense combat experiences, constant threat of ambush, difficulties with distinguishing friends from foe, and high casualties in both soldiers and civilians are direct causes for this mental affliction (Miller, 2006:908). These traumatic experiences create intense fear of injury or death, along with helplessness and horror from such situations (Benyamini and Solomon, 2005:1267-1268). Experiences during periods of warfare can alter how a person interacts with others. Often times people will re-experience their traumas becoming hyperaroused. Some will even begin avoiding people and the world around them, in an effort to manage what they are experiencing (Benyamini and Solomon, 2005:1268; Hoge, et al., 2006:1023; Miller,

Intelligence, Creativity, Imagination, Play- This is the most important part to a child’s development of growing up. They needs to discover creativity within themselves and learn through play. Children also learn mostly from their parents and caregivers since they are around them the most. This means parents have to watch what they say and do because children pick up on it very easily.