Psychological Trauma Essay

There are several different assessments that can be used for victims of trauma to determine the level of stress and if a victim is suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. The best results will occur if the clinical work is directed at the symptoms expressed by the resulting trauma. When assessing the treatment plan, “the psychic injury caused by the event and its impact on the survivor’s normal life patterns and his or her worldview must be accounted for” (Everstine & Everstine, 2006, p.161). A person

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

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.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can do a range of things to the brain. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder makes the victim continuously remember the event. It was originally known as “shell shock” where vets were struggling going through daily life. Finally after the Vietnam War Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder was “identified and given its name.” When these discoveries were made, proper treatment was then given to the victims. Research shows that

Post-traumatic disorder (PTSD) is one of the leading mental issues in the world right now. It includes introduction to injury including passing or the danger of death, genuine damage, or sexual brutality. Something is traumatic when it is exceptionally startling, overpowering and causes a considerable measure of pain. Injury is regularly sudden, and numerous individuals say that they felt feeble to stop or change the occasion. Traumatic occasions might incorporate wrongdoings, common fiascos, mishaps, war or strife, or different dangers to life. It could be an occasion or circumstance that one encounters or something that transpires, including friends and family. The post-traumatic stress is not subject to any definite experience a priori,

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

Trauma is an individual’s visceral reaction to a horrible event, events such as early childhood traumas, accidents, sexual abuse, or community violence (apa.org, 2016). An individual may react with shock and denial in the aftermath. As time continues some reactions may comprise of mood swings, intrusive memories, difficulties maintaining relationships and can manifest into physical symptoms to include headache or upset stomach. There are individuals who experience difficulties functioning in their daily lives; these observable responses are a normal response to the trauma (apa.org, 2016).

At least 50% of all adults and children are exposed to a psychologically traumatic event (such as a life-threatening assault or accident, humanmade or natural disaster, or war). As many as 67% of trauma survivors experience lasting psychosocial impairment, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); panic, phobic, or generalized anxiety disorders; depression; or substance abuse.(Van der Kolk, et al, 1994) Symptoms of PTSD include persistent involuntary re-experiencing of traumatic distress, emotional numbing and detachment from other people, and hyperarousal (irritability, insomnia, fearfulness, nervous agitation). PTSD is linked to structural neurochemical changes in the central nervous system which may have a direct

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

Trauma occurs when a child has experienced an event that threatens or causes harm to her emotional and physical well-being. Events can include war, terrorism, natural disasters, but the most common and harmful to a child’s psychosocial well-being are those such as domestic violence, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, maltreatment, and witnessing a traumatic event. While some children may experience a traumatic event and go on to develop normally, many children have long lasting implications into adulthood.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) added post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to their third edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual In 1980. PSTD was popularized as an adversity but since then the psychiatric theory and practice gap has been filled. PTSD was considered a traumatic etiological (individual) occurrence as oppose to a hereditary occurrence (Friedman, 2015). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a health psychology topic that needs to be discussed more than it is. PTSD stems from an event that has taken place in a person’s life such as an act of violence, car accident, or a natural disaster. Experiencing such events as these can have a deep impact on a person’s life. These events can be identified as an isolated

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has several aspects that distinguish it from other anxiety disorders. As much as some of the symptoms may occur in cases of other anxiety disorders, the major symptoms of PTSD are known to persist for a period exceeding one month. Another distinctive characteristic of PTSD from other anxiety disorders is that it leads to intense clinically significant depression. The distress caused by PTSD is distinguishable in that it impairs the patient’s general way of life like social life, work output, as well as other major constituents of a normal life.

The general problem in the assessment of PTSD is that "Traditional psychotherapy addresses the cognitive and emotional elements of trauma, but lacks techniques that work directly with the physiological elements, despite the fact that trauma profoundly affects the body and many symptoms of traumatized individuals are somatically based" (2). Popular belief is that traumatic events affect an individual at the level of the I-function - that is, in the part of the brain responsible for cognition, emotion, and feeling. It is indeed true that the symptoms of PTSD can affect mood and the nature of interpersonal interaction. However, there is strong evidence that responses to trauma are rooted in neurobiological processes independent of the I-function, and have a somatic basis. As the above excerpt states, most treatment modalities focus on the non-somatic elements of PTSD, neglecting to recognize the important physiological effects that the disorder entails.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects 7.7 million American adults and can also occur during childhood. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that stems from a recent emotional threat such as a natural, disaster, war, and car accidents. PTSD usually occurs from an injury or coming close death. A person who has experienced a past traumatic event has a heightened chance of being diagnosed with PTSD after a current trauma. PTSD can also be determined by looking at one’s genes, different emotions, and current or past family setting. Normally, when a person without PTSD goes through a traumatic event the body releases stress hormones, which in time returns back to normal; However, a person with PTSD releases stress hormones that do not return

The last cluster is hyperarousal. “This category refers to persistent symptoms of increased physiological arousal that were not present prior to exposure of the traumatic event” (Souza & Spates, 2008).