Post traumatic stress disorder to most people is a soldier that has just come back from war, but there are other ways a person can get PTSD. PTSD is a combination of anxiety disorder and depression that occurs when a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event that is outside the range of usual human experiences. In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, the main character, Charlie goes through the death of the person dearest to his heart his Aunt Helen. Charlie loses his Aunt Helen on his seventh birthday, but what he does not know is that his aunt molested him when he was little. Charlie does not realize this till his freshman year in high school. Childhood trauma can have lasting consequences; if the person goes untreated then their, PTSD can manifest as anxiety and depression, much like Charlie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Not a lot is known about what happens with individuals that have PTSD, but what we do know is that it is caused by a change in the nervous system, where large levels of stress hormones appear. The parts of the brain that are changed following the traumatic event are the amygdala and the hippocampus. Those parts of the brain link fear and memory together. With those parts unable to work at a normal function are what creates the flashbacks that the individual has. PTSD is made up of depression and anxiety, which is why it is easy for one to think that it is only anxiety and depression. The difference is that PTSD patients have flashbacks. Since Anxiety and depression are a part of PTSD, it makes people that have PTSD have troubles making friends and/or keeping those friends. “Teenagers usually keep up at least some friend... ... middle of paper ... ...lot of teens feel about going to therapy. They also may not go because it costs too much. So the people that don’t go top therapy or talk to anyone, might self medicate. Mrs.Tyra a counselor at LOHS said “…self medicating would be like getting into parents medications, drugs, alcohol, and pot” (English Project). The individuals do this because it makes them feel better and even it might not last forever it feels good in that moment. Many teens think that it is not cool to go to therapy. There are lots of reasons not to go to therapy, but there are none that good enough because without it the individual will have the slimmest chance of getting better. They just get worse over time. The main reason for people not going to therapy is because they think that they are going to be judged, but once they get over that then they will make so much progress.
Examples of PTSD can be found as early as in ancient Greek and Roman history, for example the Greek historian Herodotus mentions “an Athenian warrior who went permanently blind when the soldier standing next to him was killed, although the blinded soldier was wounded in no part of his body” when he wrote about the battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. He “also writes of the Spartan commander Leonidas, who, at the battle of Thermopylae Pass in 480 B.C., dismissed his men from joining the combat because he clearly recognized they were psychologically spent from previous battles.-They had no heart for ...
When the body senses fear or danger the sympathetic nervous system stimulates the adrenal medulla to produce epinephrine and norepinephrine. This is known as the fight-or-fight response. The amygdala is also involved in forming memories and learning and can also detect stimuli that is threatening. If the stress response is prolonged the fight-or-fight response can become prolonged. Most people who are going through a stressful event, will get over it eventually but sometimes traumatic events can create long lasting, vivid memories that are known as flashbulb memories. When traumatic memories are intense and prolonged some people might develop PTSD, just like the patients in the articles. In people who have PTSD, they have anxiety, sleep disturbances, irritability, and have recurring memories of the traumatic events. Life is filled with many potential stressors, any situation can cause stress if a person doesn’t have the sources or the coping ability to get through the situation. Stress impacts the brain, research has shown that people who are under chronic stress have shorter telomeres. Stress also adds fat to the abdomen, and unravels chromosomes, reducing immune system functioning, and increases rick of
Military Pathway (2013) concluded “Military life, especially the stress of deployments or mobilizations, can present challenges to service members and their families that are both unique and difficult”. Hence, it is not surprising that soldiers returning from a stressful war environment often suffer from a psychological condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. This paper provides a historical perspective of PTSD affecting soldiers, and how this illness has often been ignored. In addition, the this paper examines the cause and diagnosis of the illness, the changes of functional strengths and limitations, the overall effects this disease may have on soldiers and their families, with a conclusion of possible preventative measures and treatment options. All of these findings are backed by extensive research through media, web, and journal references.
PTSD, also known as post-traumatic stress disorder, is an anxiety disorder. It affects people that have experienced, witnessed, or were confronted with a life threatening event. It can cause flashbacks, depression, nightmares, and change of mood. Other common symptoms of PTSD are difficulty sleeping, anger outbursts, decreased interest in activities, avoidance of people and places that can trigger a memory, and inability to recall part of the trauma. Symptoms can occur right after the incident but also much later in life. Other common occurrences with PTSD are depression, suicide, and alcohol or drug abuse (FAQs about PTSD).
Hundreds of thousands of United States veterans are not able to leave the horrors of war on the battlefield (“Forever at War: Veterans Everyday Battles with PTSD” 1). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the reason why these courageous military service members cannot live a normal life when they are discharged. One out of every five military service members on combat tours—about 300,000 so far—return home with symptoms of PTSD or major depression. According to the Rand Study, almost half of these cases go untreated because of the disgrace that the military and civil society attach to mental disorders (McGirk 1). The general population of the world has to admit that they have had a nightmare before. Imagine not being able to sleep one wink because every time you close your eyes you are forced to relive memories from the past that you are trying to bury deep. This is what happens to the unfortunate men and women who are struggling with PTSD. Veterans that are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder deserve the help they need.
An estimated 8% of Americans, 24.4 million people, have PTSD at any given time. That is equal to the total population of Texas, according to PTSD United. This mental condition affects people who have gone through a traumatic situation before, and are holding onto the memory. PTSD became widespread and documented around the time of World War I, and has been rising since. There has never been true a cure. Many people do not pay much attention to people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. However, with a few awareness programs, one person could make all the difference in a victim’s life.
PTSD is when a person experiences something traumatic but continues to feel threatened and fearful after the event has passed. Anyone who has experienced a traumatic event can suffer from PTSD. However, everyone reacts to the events differently. Therefore, some people that have
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop after a traumatic event (Riley). A more in depth definition of the disorder is given by Doctor’s Nancy Piotrowski and Lillian Range, “A maladaptive condition resulting from exposure to events beyond the realm of normal human experience and characterized by persistent difficulties involving emotional numbing, intense fear, helplessness, horror, re-experiencing of trauma, avoidance, and arousal.” People who suffer from this disease have been a part of or seen an upsetting event that haunts them after the event, and sometimes the rest of their lives. There are nicknames for this disorder such as “shell shock”, “combat neurosis”, and “battle fatigue” (Piotrowski and Range). “Battle fatigue” and “combat neurosis” refer to soldiers who have been overseas and seen disturbing scenes that cause them anxiety they will continue to have when they remember their time spent in war. It is common for a lot of soldiers to be diagnosed with PTSD when returning from battle. Throughout the history of wars American soldiers have been involved in, each war had a different nickname for what is now PTSD (Pitman et al. 769). At first, PTSD was recognized and diagnosed as a personality disorder until after the Vietnam Veterans brought more attention to the disorder, and in 1980 it became a recognized anxiety disorder (Piotrowski and Range). There is not one lone cause of PTSD, and symptoms can vary from hallucinations to detachment of friends and family, making a diagnosis more difficult than normal. To treat and in hopes to prevent those who have this disorder, the doctor may suggest different types of therapy and also prescribe medication to help subside the sympt...
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm. The person who develops PTSD may have been the one who was harmed or the person may have witnessed a harmful event that happened to loved ones or strangers.
Experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event can have life long affects on an individual. These experiences can range from working in the military, a natural disaster, near death experiences, accidents and abuse; everyone has a different reaction post events. “PTSD is characterized by a constellation of symptoms that reflect a prolonged adverse response to an extremely distressing event” (Orr, Metzger, Pitman, 2002, p. 272). Symptoms usually begin shortly after a traumatic event is experienced, but it is also possible for symptoms to develop over time or not at all. Additionally, symptoms will arise and subside with certain events in an individuals’ life, these events acting as triggers, which activate symptoms. According to the US Department
With people who are suffering from PTSD their brain is still in overdrive long after the trauma has happened. They may experience things like flashbacks, nightmares, hallucinations, panic attacks, and deep depression. They tend to avoid things that remind them of their trauma and are constantly on high alert waiting for the next possible traumatic event to take place; in events such...
causing the image to be permantly ingraved into thier mindset. PTSD symptoms are not always
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that develops after exposure to an event that is perceived to be life threatening or pose serious bodily injury to self or others (Sherin & Nemeroff, 2011). According
It is common to have experienced a trauma at some point in our lives. These traumas can affect our mental health and a series of problems can arise if left untreated. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is most likely to occur after the traumatic event. Some of the common symptoms with PTSD can be nightmares, trouble sleeping, panic attacks, flashbacks, depression, poor concertation, emotional numbness, or alcohol and drug dependencies. Depression can also set in and this brings on different feelings of hopelessness and
... event and tend to be emotionally numb” (Anxiety Disorders). PTSD leads to flashbacks and behavioral changes to try to avoid anything that might remind the affected individual of the traumatic experience.