Traumatic Stress Disorder ( Ptsd )

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.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder? When most people think of the term post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) they think of war and returning soldiers. Even though this is true, post-traumatic stress disorder does not only develop in soldier’s returning from war. When you look at the definition of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), you will see that it is a mental health condition that is triggered by either experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. This means that post-traumatic stress disorder can be developed after any traumatic event or experience that one has gone through.

In 2014, suicide was the tenth leading cause of death overall in the United States. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH, 2015), there were twice as many suicides than there were homicides. Suicidal ideation (SI), defined as an individual thinking about, considering, or planning their suicide, is established before the act of committing suicide. Research suggests that adverse childhood experiences (CDC, 2015) will put an individual at risk for developing a mental illness that could result in SI and suicide attempt (SA). It is important for the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner (PMHNP) to recognize the signs of SI and SA while assessing their client.

“Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; One of the Leading Causes of High Unemployment Rates among U.S. Veterans”

Over twenty veterans commit suicide every single day in the United States (Freking). Twenty lives taken off the face of this earth due to mental or physical hardships these veterans face each and every day. One of the largest contributors to this huge amount of unnecessary deaths is the silent killer that is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a mental disorder that develops when someone experiences traumatic events or other moments in which their life is in jeopardy. The effects of PTSD can leave one feeling alone, anxious, hopeless, and turn them into a lesser version of themselves. Roughly fifteen percent of veterans return from deployments in which they experienced combat with PTSD, thus amassing to over 400,000 soldiers from the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq alone (How Common Is PTSD?). Even though PTSD effects so many veterans there is not a lot of public knowledge or support for the fight to combat it. Due to the devastating effects that post-traumatic stress disorder has on our veteran population both the government and the public should provide the funding, support, and recognition that is needed to combat the disease.

More women are serving in combat in the United States armed forces than ever before, despite this, there is little research on combat PTSD in women and comparisons of PTSD among men and women as well as how PTSD presents in differing ways in women than to their male counterparts. Post-traumatic stress disorder – more commonly known as PTSD – is most commonly associated with veterans of war and was originally termed shell-shock which was seen as a side effect of war during World War II. Now, scientists understand much more about post-traumatic stress disorder and it has become a treatable psychological disorder. However, as with many other psychological disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, PTSD varies minutely between men and women. (Gilbert, Nock, Schacter, & Wegner, 2015, p. 599-600)

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, is a serious and sometimes terrifying condition that affects a small amount of people, but in a significantly large way. Those living with PTSD struggle daily to find peace within themselves to be able to heal properly and live a life as normal as possible. Holden Caulfield, from the novel Catcher in the Rye, is an instance of a teenager suffering with PTSD, trying to find his way out of the dark and into happiness. PTSD is a serious condition caused by severe trauma that affects people in similar ways, which requires treatment, much like Holden experiences in Catcher in the Rye.

18 veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress disorder commit suicide each day. 126 each week. 6,552 each year. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder goes by many names, the most common one being PTSD. PTSD has been around since human emotion, fear is simply a part of what we are, and PTSD is a product of fear; a negative adaptation of how humans react to our worst nightmares. It is believed to have been first documented in 490 B.C. by a greek historian named Herodotus,in the manuscript of the battle of Marathon. He provides the account of

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) is an anxiety disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to one or more traumatic events, such as major stress, sexual assault, warfare, or other threats on a person’s life. There are many factors surrounding posttraumatic stress disorder suicide that we will attempt to further summarize. We will clarify the epidemiology of posttraumatic stress disorder and that the classical conditioning theory best explains posttraumatic stress disorder’s formation.

PTSD can be traced back to antiquity. It was called "soldier 's heart" during the American Civil War and morphed into "shell shock" in the First World War and "battle fatigue" during the Second. It became "operational exhaustion" in Korea and PTSD only after Vietnam, when the American Psychiatric Association added the term to its list of recognized mental disorders (Thompson, 2015, pg. 41). PTSD was originally observed in the military context, but more recently it has been recognized in the context of serious medical illness (Palesh, 2013, pg. 252). By including civilians and acknowledging PTSD as a mental illness that can affect anyone, studies have since shown that women are more vulnerable to

People who have been in combat overseas are usually involved in some sort of traumatic or life threatening event. Therefore, the majority come home with some type of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD. For the most part soldiers find a way of going around the question and tell doctors they do not have PTSD, they are in good health. Consequently, for those in the military there will always be the stigma of appearing weak for trying to get help. Soldiers will always be concerned with the stigma of PTSD following them and tarnishing the rest of their career. They truly need to be familiar with what is happening to their brain and the hazards of not seeking help. Furthermore, scientific research will show Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is caused by physiological changes in the brain directly correlated with a traumatic event. It does not mean something is wrong with them. However, they should seek medical help from a doctor to see all the option they have to get help though this tough transition.

Even though suicide is a personal situation, sometimes the reasons for suicide is more personal that what most can see such as domestic violence, this includes physical and verbal abuse. Children and teens who are abused domestically tend to experience emotional, mental, physical and social damage that could affect their entire lives. The psychological effects of domestic violence could be long or short term and many children experience Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which is similar to what a combat veteran would experience after war. Even if the abuse is not directed to the child, he/she could still be affected by witnessing abuse around them. According to the Child Domestic Violence Association those who grow up in a with domestic

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a persistent and a lot of times crippling condition which is caused by a psychologically overwhelming experience. It develops when a individual has been exposed to traumatic event. It can continue for years and even last for your whole life. Its symptoms affect every life domain – physiological, psychological, occupational, and social

To quickly define PTSD, negative thoughts from a shocking or traumatic incident. PTSD first discovered thousands of years ago in the military, soldiers at this time had a great deal of horrific situations that have affected these soldiers. From that time to the present day medical and behavioral professionals have researched/ studied symptoms/ signs of PTSD, as well as, a way to provide treatment- which is proven to be highly successful. Professionals can create a plan for the patient that best suits their needs to cure the disorder. The act of suicide has been committed for an extremely long time;

According to Harned, Jackson, Comtois, and Linehan (2010), individuals that have been diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are at an increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behavior and non-suicidal self-inflicted injury. The U.S. National Comorbidity Survey found that individuals with PTSD were six times more likely to attempt suicide and five times more likely to report thoughts of suicide than those without PTSD (Kessler, 2000).