Unlucky Survivor Research Papers

Boasting more than thirty seasons and fifteen years of broadcasting, Survivor continues to reign supreme over the reality television genre. Even skeptics of this genre can admit that Survivor is a massive standout in a heap of inadequate television shows. In this current era of oversaturation in the television world, it is Survivor’s complex premise, controversial drama and competitive nature that elevate it above the rest.

Cancer is a deadly disease that has some very serious effects on a person both physically and mentally. Cancer can result in a simple surgery that may take only a couple days, or a life-long struggle that leaves someone so fatigued and tired that it makes them want to give up. It will put fear in anyone's eyes and will devastate even the strongest of people, but cancer can bring out the courageousness in a person to fight this disease and not give up. It can be a fatal disease but it can also bring out the strength in someone which is an amazing thing. Cancer has many serious effects on a person's body and their mental health and others, but can also inspire a person to dig deep and fight this disease

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that may develop after an exposure to a terrifying event in which physical harm occurred or was threatened. Usually, the anxiety may be brought on by an “exposure to an actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence “(American Psychiatric Association, 2013, pg. 271). Only recently have children and youth been deemed to have experienced PTSD and usually undergo therapy, medication and various treatment options to minimize the impact PTSD has on one’s life. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing the development of the disorder, how PTSD symptoms differ in children, treatment options, and a clinical case example.

There are many effects PTSD have on children. Children who are affected can experience changes in “academic performance, anger issues, worrying, hiding emotions, disrespect to parents and anyone in an authoritative role as well as a sense of loss, sadness and depression” (NCCP | Trauma Faced by Children of Military Families. (n.d.). There are three different categories identifying children who are exposed to PTSD and the way in which they respond are different. The three categories are: the over identified child, rescuer child and emotionally uninvolved child. “The over-identified child, may feel disconnected from their parents, so they may begin to act just like their parent(s) in order to connect. The rescuer child tries to fill adult shoes and take on those roles for their parent(s). The emotionally uninvolved child doesn’t get a lot of help on an emotional level which in turns causes problems in school, anxiety, depression and lead to relationship problems later in life” (PTSD: National Center for PTSD)..”

“The most basic definition of Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric sequel to a stressful event or situation of an exceptionally threatening or catastrophic in nature.” (Kassam-Adams, & Winston, 2004, p.409). In the event that a client suffers from PTSD an evidenced based therapeutic concept should be used, this concept is generally called Trauma-Focused Cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). TF-CBT has been used in the management of PTSD in both children and adolescents for many years as it has been proven over and over again to be the most effective in treating clients with PTSD with an emphasis on children. (Cohen, Mannarino, & Deblinger, 2012, p.3). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can and usually is an extremely

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.

Vutto et al. (2014) suggest that the discrepancies in the reports of PTSD may be due to ambiguity around the definitions and assessments. Kazak et al. (2004) reported higher rates of PTSD manifesting in young adulthood, years after the actual cancer event. As with the Bruce (2006), Kazak et al. (2004) and Rourke et al.’s (1999) findings, Vutto et al. (2014) suggest that the trauma disrupted developmental milestones. At a time when adolescents are typically in a state of transition from dependence to independence, forming personal identity and immersed in beliefs of invincibility childhood cancer patients are faced with a life or death situation that would be difficult for adults to process. Those in the cancer survivor population may have unresolved conflicts around delayed achievement, identity and life meaning which can “manifest in the form of persistent psychological distress and traumatic stress response (Vutto et al.,

A 6-year-old girl was diagnosed with stage IV anaplastic Wilms’ tumor and had to undergo experimental chemotherapy, with less than a 5 percent chance of curing the deadly disease. Sadly, the personal account of this young child is highlighted in “Tell the Children” in the Journal of Clinical Oncology—written by Joanne Hilden, Jan Watterson, and Jody Chrastek, all from a hospital’s department of Hematology/Oncology. Not only does this young girl have to fight a relentless cancer, but she has to also go through this battle without understanding what she is dealing with. Hilden, Watterson, and Chrastek states that the parents were offered help in explaining to their daughter and her sister what may possibly happen: hospice (3193). Unfortunately, the parents’ response was, “We do not want the children told about this. Children should not have to deal with death. They should be free from that for as long as possible. We will answer what they ask, but we will not tell them what is happening or that our daughter is dying, and we do not want you to tell them, either” (3193). As a result of non-existent communication between the parent and the child, the young patient experienced a great deal of suffering and confusion. The parents declared that their child was comfortable; although, as time went on the child actually admitted to staff that she was, indeed, in pain (3193).

The symptoms of Post-traumatic stress can vary from patient from patient. Most common symptoms are flashbacks, hyper arousal and avoidance. The first article is “Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in Adolescent Survivors of Childhood Cancer and Their Families: A Randomized Clinical Trial.” In this article the researchers put together a random wait list control trial. They would have an intervention with the family of a cancer survivor that had post-traumatic stress symptoms from the family and child. The most common psychological consequences of childhood cancer survivors and their mother and fathers are posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). When patients have re-experiencing symptoms they usually have flashbacks. They relive the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like their heart racing, sweating and even horrible dreams. Hyper arousal symptoms is when the patient is easily startled. Then lastly avoidance symptoms is when people diagnosed with Post Traumatic stress disorder stay away from places or objects that remind them of their trauma. In conclusion none of these symptoms seem good at all so the research in this field needs to continue to grow to put a stop to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Survivor is a game show about becoming a true survivor. In the show competitors are divided up into two or three tribes using each other to try to stay in the game. Every three days there is a immunity challenge when the tribes have to do challenges trying to win so that they don't get eliminated and exiled off of the island. Occasionally there are reward challenges that gives the survivors benefits in the game. Eventually they merge into one tribe and compete individually against each other.

As established in the National Cancer Institute, “Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide for children and adolescents in America, accounting for more than 91,250 children that lose their lives to this disease” (National Cancer Institute). Cancer is not considered a terminal illness, but more of a chronic illness because of the intense treatment that the individual has to endure. As a result of this treatment the chances of survival for children suffering from pediatric cancer has increased around 80 percent. The increment in the survival rate has made it possible for many parents to not have to go through the acceptance that they are about to lose their child to a terminal illness, but have coping strategies that will make them adapt to the fear of the reoccurrence of that illness. This illness has a great impact on the patient as well as the family because not only do they have to adapt to this illness physically, but also mentally. Research has shown that there are both short term and long term effects that come into effect when the child is both in treatment and also years after the treatment. The type of cancers that these adolescents have to endure range from leukemia, brain tumors and other cancerous tumors that have appeared in recent medical studies. These tumors can either be benignant, an acute case that is non-cancerous or malignant, a cancerous case that will need intense treatment over an extended period of time.While many would say there is more of a

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

PTSD symptoms usually appear within 3 months of a traumatic event, last longer than a month, and severely affect daily life. In some cases, symptoms do not appear for years after the traumatic event. Psychological disturbances prior to cancer diagnosis, elevated psychological distress subsequent to the diagnosis, younger age, female gender, lower socioeconomic status, education level, poor social functioning and support, emotionally reactive temperament, avoidant coping style, and reduced physical functioning have been associated with PTSB in cancer patients [23–25]. Due to its nature, cancer is an inevitable trauma for patients. The trauma starts with learning the diagnosis and continues with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy and even in the every single outpatient clinic

One of the many of the world's problems is sickness, but some diseases have no cure which can result in death. Cancer is a code we just can’t seem to crack and it has taken hundreds of thousands of lives. Everyone knows of someone who has died of or had cancer in their life. It’s a hard sickness to beat but many strong people do beat it, some being children. I have personally seen my family members go through this and of course, some didn’t make it out alive. If you have seen anyone who has cancer, you’ll see how it can take over your body, how that person doesn’t even look like themselves anymore.

Many psychologists feel that psychological treatment is also a good way to teach patients how to endure their physical treatments. Many of these treatments present physical problems, but the treatments are almost more taxing on the mind. “Research clearly shows that unrelieved pain can slow recovery, create burdens for patients and their families and increase costs to the health care system.” (Rabasca, 1999). In overcoming anything whether it is a task for work, school or anything that can be physically and mentally draining like cancer, it is important to keep a strong mind and a positive outlook no matter how rough it is. Most patients of cancer are so far