Symptoms Of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Approximately 70 percent of adults in the U.S. have encountered a traumatic occurrence at some point in their existence while 20 percent of that population proceed to develop PTSD. Furthermore, an estimated 1 in 13 people of the U.S. (about 8 percent) will develop PTSD. For those who have served or “spent time in war zones,” 30 percent experience PTSD (“What”). Of course the rates of this mental illness varies from war to war, however, “current estimates of PTSD in military personnel who served in Iraq range from 12 percent to 20 percent” and “in Afghanistan between 6 percent and 11 percent” (“What”).

However, Diaz and Motta focused their study on adolescent participants and on PTSD. For this study, participants were between the ages of 14 and 17 and were all female from a residential treatment facility that met the criteria for PTSD (Diaz & Motta, 2008). The researchers used the following self-report inventories to measure the level of PTSD: (a) Child PTSD Symptom Scale [CPSS] (Foa, Johnson, Feeny, & Treadwell, 2001), (b) Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children [TSCC] (Briere, 1996), (c) Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children [MASC] (March, 1997), (d) Children’s Depression Inventory [CDI] (Kovacs, 1992) (Diaz & Motta, 2008).

It is normal, following a traumatic experience, for a person to feel disconnected, anxious, sad and frightened. However, if the distress does not fade and the individual feels stuck with a continuous sense of danger as well as hurting memories, then that person might in fact be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PSTD could develop after a traumatic incident which threatens one’s safety or makes one to feel helpless (Dalgleish, 2010). Coping with traumatic events could be very difficult, but confronting one’s feelings and seeking professional assistance is usually the only way to properly treat PSTD. Many kids and adolescents worldwide experience events that are traumatizing. If exposure to trauma is not treated, it could lead to various mental health problems. Researchers have reported a connection between traumatization and increases in mood and anxiety disorders, but the most frequently reported symptoms of psychological distress are post-traumatic stress symptoms (Cohen, Mannarino & Iyengar, 2011).

those who suffered the worst cases of PTSD had sustained stressful and traumatic childhood abuse. In the study, two groups of

Childhood and adolescence is a crucial time for humans- a time full of physical, emotional, and cognitive development. Upon observing the significant impact that trauma induced stress can have on adults following time in combat or an injury, when adults have fully matured in all areas, it raises the question of what influence post-traumatic stressors can have on development in children. This issue was so significant that in the DSM-5, the psychologists introduced a new, and separate, section of criteria for PTSD that specifically relates to the preschool subtype, or those individuals six years and younger. The first age specific sub-type for this disorder is important due to the rising number of studies and cases of PTSD in children.

Also, like adults, they can recover just as easily with therapy sessions and techniques. This is just a preview of what kind of research is being done in order to combat this issue with adolescents that have PTSD. The next step into the paper is to show if children are more resilient than adults or how does PTSD affect the development of children’s mental and physical

When someone hears about Post Traumatic Stress disorder, they assume it only affects those in active duty or military veterans. However, it can affects those who have seen natural disasters, severe child abuse and horrible events. The national comorbidity survey replications did a survey on how many people in the US have PTSD they say, “(NCS-R), conducted between February 2001 and April 2003, comprised interviews of a nationally representative sample of 9,282 Americans aged 18 years and older. PTSD was assessed among 5,692 participants, using DSM-IV criteria. The NCS-R estimated the lifetime prevalence of PTSD among adult Americans to be 6.8% (1). Current past year PTSD prevalence was estimated at 3.5% (2).The lifetime prevalence of PTSD among men was 3.6% and among women was 9.7%.

In examining PTSD in children and its relation to violence, researchers use various methods to extract data about specific stages of life.

Research has been dedicated to studying impact of the Holocaust on the survivors and their children. What was predominately found was that the children of the survivors have an overwhelmingly high amount of post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomology. (Jacobs, 2011)

The harmful effects of being exposed to combat is one of the reasons why Veterans start to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and are unable to get back to their everyday lives. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), is known to be very usual amongst veterans in combat. Aggressive or violent behavior in individuals with PTSD is the beginning of many marital problems and the effects of PTSD on relationship functioning include emotional detachment, decreased expressiveness, increased aggressive behavior, or violence. Further research is needed to detect features that set apart violent veterans with PTSD against violent veterans that do not have PTSD so that we can better grasp the possible distinctive approaches and signs for

Trauma is something that can affect anyone at any time depending on the circumstance, no matther whether young or old (Briere, 1997). Trauma has been called “irritable heart” and “shell schock” but after a large amount of soldiers coming home from wars were all experiencing similar symptoms, the American Psychological Association started to identify it as a specific disorder many could potentially have; Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There were many causes that were said to have caused PTSD, some that were identified in Psychological Assessment of Adult Posttraumatic States were: disasters, war, rape, sexual assault,large-scale, transportation accidents, emergency worker exposure to trauma, spouse or partner battery, torture, child abuse (1997). Like stated above, PTSD is not only for war victimes, it turns out that it started having different levels that was associated to children as well. This then caused for a creation of various assessments that could be administered depending on the age as well as the form of trauma.

After a traumatic experience, it is typical to feel startled, restless, and disengaged. It can seem as if a person/patient can never get over what happened or feel typical again. However, by looking for treatment, connecting for help, and growing new adapting abilities, the patient can overcome PTSD and proceed onward with life. PTSD does not just come from combat experiences, this disorder can come from many things such as, serious motor vehicle crashes, natural disasters, robberies, hostage situations, and also rape, to name a few. “In the United States, physical assault is the most common stressor causing PTDS in women, while military combat is the most common PTSD stressor in men. People directly affected by the events of 9/11 or by hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi in September 2005 might develop PTSD, though fortunately most people do not” (Group, 2006). While PTSD falls greatly amongst the adult and older adult age groups, PTSD in children may trigger the onset of learning disabilities, self-mutilation or other destructive behaviors, sleep terrors, and a variety of conduct disorders. Children may also develop abnormally close attachments to their primary caretakers or other dependency behaviors in their attempts to cope with the traumatic experience (Jacqueline N. Martin, 2013). The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on and

Post-traumatic stress disorder has a major effect on school-age children. Not only it can impact their academic performance but also their well-being. A post-traumatic stress disorder can happen after experiencing or witnessing an event that threaten one’s life or make one question his or her safety. Such event includes an accident, death, war, a serious illness, a sexual abuse, a physical assault, a domestic violence or a natural disaster. As a result to experiencing or witnessing such trauma, a post-traumatic stress disorder may develop but it all depend on how severe is the trauma, how people around the individual (such as parents) react to the trauma, and how far or close the person is to the trauma.

Many people experiencing P.T.S.D. experience it as a result of seeing a loved one injured or killed (Regehr 676). By seeing his brother Allie die of Leukemia at the age of 11, Holden experiences trauma. According to studies, the degrees of symptoms depend on the proximity of trauma exposure and the number of which one is exposed to (676). Holden’s trauma was very severe because it was his brother, who he was very close to, that passed away. In addition to experiencing his brother’s death, Holden also encounters a boy, James Castle, who jumps to his death while wearing Holden’s sweater (Salinger 170). Holden has been faced with two traumatic events in his life, one involving a person very close to him, therefore, this significantly increases his risk of P.T.S.D.

In general, children who experience a single-occurring trauma display symptoms of PTSD within a year. In some cases this can be delayed and re-emerge in later life. The diagnosis of PTSD originated in the 1980s’s when war veterans displayed symptoms. PTSD was consequently only conceptualised for traumatised adults in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (APA, 2013).However, recent studies proposed that children and adolescents between 1-18 years old show distinct symptoms that contribute to the development of PTSD. As a result, the DSM -5 issued a new sub-type criterion for Preschool children under the age of six. These core symptoms are divided into four clusters: re-experiencing, emotional numbing, avoidance and hyper-arousal (APA,2013). Individuals must display at least one symptom from each cluster for one month or longer and it must cause significant distress to the child’s development.