Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

1075 Words3 Pages

Earth is consisted of billions of humans who differentiate emotionally, physically, culturally, and mentally. Humans are characterized by their experiences and not everyone has the same experience. Where we are born, how we are raised, and how we interpret life varies. However, once in every few generations, a stressful and disturbing event happens in a child’s life that could have a great impact on him and his future. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that results from experiencing or witnessing an extremely traumatic or tragic event that extends beyond one’s coping capacity. People with PTSD usually have frightening thoughts or vivid memories or dreams of that event. How a child reacts to a tragic event emotionally and mentally completely depends on the child’s mentality. Some people can look past a traumatic event and live life; others can lead to more problems and may lead a criminal life. Posttraumatic Stress disorder affects mainly children causing a possibility of having a violent life in the future.
Children are seen as innocent and pure to the world’s toxic society. When a child is stripped of his purity by witnessing a tragic event, can have long lasting effects on the child. War, natural disasters, car or plane crashes, death of a loved one, rape, kidnapping, and child neglect are all examples of traumatic events that can lead to PTSD. It is a feeling of helplessness. It is normal for one to experience PTSD symptoms after a tragic event. After a death of a loved one or a natural disaster, most will usually feel numb or disconnected. PTSD is characterized by seventeen common symptoms. These symptoms are then categorized into four main groups. These main groups are re-experiencing, avoidance, dysp...

... middle of paper ...

...ry, Research, Practice, And Policy, doi:10.1037/a0034463
Margolin, G., & Vickerman, K. A. (2011). Posttraumatic stress in children and adolescents exposed to family violence: I. Overview and issues. Couple And Family Psychology: Research And Practice, 1(S), 63-73. doi:10.1037/2160-4096.1.S.63
McCart, M. R., Smith, D. W., Saunders, B. E., Kilpatrick, D. G., Resnick, H., & Ruggiero, K. J.
(2007). Do urban adolescents become desensitized to community violence? Data from a national survey. American Journal Of Orthopsychiatry, 77(3), 434-442. doi:10.1037/0002-9432.77.3.434 Michele, R. (2014). Ptsd statistics. Retrieved from http://healmyptsd.com/education/post traumatic-stress-disorder-statistics Smith, M., & Segal, J. (2014, March). Post-traumatic stress disorder (ptsd). Retrieved from
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/post_traumatic_stress_disorder_symptoms_treatment.htm

Open Document