Symptoms And Treatment Of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD is an emotional condition that can develop following a traumatic or terrifying event. PTSD has only been recognized as a diagnosis since 1980. This emotional disorder was brought to public attention after soldiers would return home and often referred to as “shell shock or combat fatigue”.

James D. Johnson elaborately explains the everyday battles of living with PTSD in the book, Combat Trauma: A Personal Look at Long-term Consequences. Johnson describes living with PTSD as a, “lifetime sentence”. There are many ways that PTSD is being treated in the United States, including psychotherapies and pharmacological drugs. The Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) works with veterans that struggle with PTSD to help them overcome their traumas and try to get the veterans back to living their normal everyday lives.

The article relates to the wide range of situations that can cause PTSD and to how people need to direct their attention toward familiarizing themselves with the disorder's symptoms and seriousness before attempting to deal with it.

The first method of treatment is trauma-focused cognitive-behavioural therapy. In this method, a patient is gradually but carefully exposed to feelings, thoughts, and situations that trigger memories of the trauma. By identifying the thoughts that make the patient remember the traumatic event, thoughts that had been irrational or distorted are replaced with a balanced picture. Another productive method is family therapy since the family of the patient is also affected by PTSD. Family therapy is aimed at helping those close to the patient understand what he/she is going through. This understanding will help in the establishment of appropriate communication and ways of curbing problems resulting from the symptoms (Smith & Segal, 2011).

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.

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.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in psychological trauma. This event may involve the threat of death to oneself or to someone else, or to one's own or someone else's physical, sexual, or psychological integrity, overwhelming the individual's ability to cope. As an effect of psychological trauma, PTSD is less frequent and more enduring than the more commonly seen acute stress response. Diagnostic

PTSD is defined as an "anxiety disorder that can occur after you have been through a traumatic event. A traumatic event is something horrible and scary that you see or happens to you” (United States). In these types of events one can feel that they are not in control of what is going on around them and may feel helpless or in great danger. The Department of Veterans Affairs has listed various life threatening events that can evolve into PTSD. These events include but are not limited to "Combat or Military exposure, child sexual or physical abuse, terrorist attacks, sexual or physical assault, serious accidents, such as a car wreck, natural disasters, such as a fire, tornado, hurricane, flood, or earthquake” (United States).

The studies that have been completed on the treatment effectiveness of combat related PTSD were done on already discharged veterans and the effect sizes have been significant lower than those of civilian studies. There are many different reasons as to why there are differences between the studies on civilians and combat veterans. The first is that combat trauma is unique and more difficult to treat compared to civilian trauma. The second reason that could potentially explain the difference is that in the studies currently the treatment was for veterans who were exposed to the combat trauma decades before that. The third reason is that there are often significant comorbid conditions among veterans (Peterson et al.,

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 is defined as mental health disorder triggered by a terrifying event (Mayoclinic). This ordeal could be the result of some sort of physical harm or threat to the individual, family members, friends or even strangers. (NIMH) While PTSD is typically associated with someone who has served in the military, it can affect more than just that genre of individuals. It could affect rape victims, victims in a terrorist or natural disaster incident, nurses,

According to PTSD United, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder used to be considered a psychological condition of combat veterans who were “shocked” by and unable to face their experiences from battle. Soldiers with symptoms of PTSD often faced rejection by their military peers and were feared by society in general. Those who showed signs of PTSD were often removed from combat zones and even discharged from military services, being left labeled as weak (“Post Traumatic Stress”). These implications have been debunked by modern day medical professionals who have given a new definition to the illness to help diagnose those who have it. “PTSD is recognized as a psychological mental disorder that can affect survivors not only of combat experience,

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health condition caused by experiencing or seeing a terrifying event. It has been known to affect mostly war veterans but has also affected people who are not veterans. Rape victims and people who have suffered severe abuse have also been diagnosed with PTSD. In most cases, veterans have a higher percentage than others.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder that can occur after a traumatic event, such as a threat to life, serious injury, or sexual violence. Some people who experience these types of events may develop PTSD. Sometimes, PTSD can occur in people who hear about trauma that occurs to a close family member or friend. PTSD can happen to anyone at any age.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger this anxiety include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat.