The Struggle: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

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The afternoon of April 2, 2014 a soldier named Antonio Lopez opened fire at Fort Hood killing 3 and injuring 16 before taking his own life. It turned out to be the second shooting in five years that a soldier has opened fire at the military base of Fort hood. He was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and other psychiatric disorders. The shooter was also in the process of being evaluated for possible PTSD but not diagnosed with the disorder. Many believe that this tragedy could have been prevented if the military acted faster and provided him with treatment. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs states that in America about 60% of men and 50% of women experience at least one traumatic event. Of those who do, about 8% of men and 20% of women will develop PTSD. For some events, like combat and sexual assault, more people develop PTSD. Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a type of anxiety disorder. It occurs after a person has witnessed or experienced a traumatic event that is life threatening or has caused death. It can occur after an assault, car accidents, domestic abuse, natural disasters, terrorism, and war. While the traumatic event is happening a person may feel afraid or have no control over what is happening around them. People can show signs of PTSD days, months, and even years after a traumatic event. It is still unclear why traumatic events cause PTSD in some people but not in others. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs there are four types of symptoms of PTSD. The first type is reliving the event. They will have flashbacks like having bad memories or nightmares as if they were reliving it all over again. The second type is when a person avoids a situation or place that remind... ... middle of paper ... ... several months it was embedded in their memory. He then played that sound but instead of the shock they were injected with a chemical that contained protein synthesis. The results were shocking, the fear memory was gone and the rats forgot everything. Even after the medication wore off there was no evidence of the memory when the sound went off again and again. The experimental drug is still new and needs to go through more tests before it can be tested on humans because the risks are still unknown. It is still unknown if it causes negative side effects on humans because it is still in early stages of testing and has not been tested on humans. Works Cited http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/assessment/index.asp http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/basics/treatment/con-20022540 http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/emdr-what-is-it

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