Post Traumatic
stress disorder affects about 5.2 million adult Americans.
Post Traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) is a condition that forms because of a terrifying event. Individuals with
this disorder have recurring traumatic events through everyday life and in
nightmares. PTSD was first discovered through veteran of war. PTSD can also
happen to anyone that has had a traumatic event such as being raped, mugged,
kidnapped, or a serious transportation accident. A natural disaster can cause
PTSD as well.
PTSD
changes people and their ways of live which they once had. After a person has
been through a traumatic experience they have trouble sleeping at night, they
are easily startled and have a feeling of being detached. They become heavily
depressed and lose interest in things that once was a big part of their
lives.
Post
traumatic stress disorder is treated through medication and psychiatric
therapy. Treatment begins with the help of a doctor proscribing a patient the
medication. Psychiatric therapy can begin when taking the medication. Through
many sessions of therapy and trying different medications the doctor and the
patient can find the approach that works the best for them.
Medication
can be prescribed by psychiatrist and physicians for anxiety disorders. Through
the help of these doctors, counselors, and social workers the patient may live
a more up lifting life. When the medication prescribed to a patient is an
antidepressant he or she will need to take the drug several weeks before it
begins to work. New medication has come out for antidepressants called
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). SSRI sends messages to the
brain to control the systems. The only drawback that has been reported is
nauseated and the jitters.
Benzodiazepine
is an anti-anxiety medication. This medication has been known to both help
individuals and make their problems whose.
Benzodiazepine has the potential to cause withdrawal symptoms when the
patient stops taking the drug. Because of this reason doctors are shying away
from prescribing this particular drug.
The ANS or
Autonomic Nervous System according to the APA is basically the main source to
how traumatic occurrences flow from one part to the body. The main parts it
flows through are the, “heart and circulatory system, kidneys, lungs,
intestines, bladder, bowel, pupils. It is here where people with trauma go into
a state of helplessness or dissociation with themselves and others. The big
traumatic issues often fall into the flight, fight, or freeze categories and
this where the victims fall the worst
Hurricane
Katrina and PTSD will go hand and hand with many people. There will be hundreds
if not thousands who will suffer some amount of traumatic issues. Some will
need more help than others to the severity or what they might have seen. It’s
already been broadcasted that people have seen loved ones, family members,
pets, neighbors, and other locals have been swept under and killed. Others have
had everything they own and/or everything they’ve worked for gone in a matter
of seconds. This natural disaster will go down in history and into many school
textbooks and even into the medical field because there will be several people
who will suffer traumatically from this disaster.
More and more individuals seem to be affected by PTSD, which has thankfully caused an increased amount of research into new treatment options. There are several new therapy/treatment options that are being explored now. One of them is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and it works to help focus on the target memories that are most problematic to the individual. Other methods are trying using drugs, such as beta blockers, to help reduce PTSD. While more research needs to be done, due to a growing number of individual affected, at least there is more recognition of the disease and more treatment options than there once was.
ReplyDeletePTSD especially today because of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, is a huge recurring issue. I personally have seen my dad suffer from PTSD as he was in the Vietnam War. While he has been getting ongoing treatment, he displayed all of the symptoms of PTSD such as startling easily, night terrors, short fuse, etc. My mom even said he would talk in Vietnamese in his sleep which is especially weird because he knows about two Vietnamese words in real life..
ReplyDeleteI can only image how this affects police officers and other professionals in the criminal justice system. Police are faced with horrendous events every day, some of them know how to cope and some don't. I definitely agree that more research needs to be done on this subject.