Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, often occurs when anxiety results from experiencing an uncontrollable and unpredictable danger or a natural disaster. Also referred to as acute stress disorder, it consists of symptoms that are common in people who have suffered traumatic experiences such as war, rape, other assaults and natural disasters such as hurricanes, fire or earthquake. The reaction might occur immediately or it might be delayed for months. In contrast acute stress disorder typically occurs after the traumatic event and subsides within several months. In both disorders, typical symptoms include reliving the trauma in recurrent, intrusive thoughts or dreams; “psychic numbing,” a sense of detachment from others and an inability to feel happy or loving; and increased physiological arousal, reflected in difficulty concentrating, insomnia and irritability. As mentioned earlier, PTSD is common in war veterans and often results in an inner conflict of sorts that can lead to split personality and various other disorders that can impair a person for life. Thus the following essay will attempt to discuss the ways in which PTSD can be prevented in war veterans. PTSD results in a distortion of one’s perceptions while undergoing a traumatic event and often the defense mechanisms are activated in a bid to prevent feelings of extreme anxiety and pain that can result in great stress. Thus the person is able to cope with the situation by separating the trauma, which affects a person later on. A chemical known as glutamate is released during this period within the body i.e. in conditions of extreme stress the levels of this chemical rise and but then go back to normal whereas in PTSD these levels remain elevated. PTSD ca... ... middle of paper ... ...es and often their own feelings about war are sidelined simply because the situation at hand demands their immediate and undivided attention. Thus attempts should be made to take extra care of such people so that complications in life can be avoided later on. References Beers MH, Berkow R, Eds. (1999). The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy. Whitehouse Station, NJ: Merck Research Laboratories. Allen SN. (1999). Psychological assessment of post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychometrics, current trends, and future directions. Psychiatr Clin North Am. Blank AS Jr. (1994). Clinical detection, diagnosis, and differential diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatr Clin North Am. Choy T, de Bosset F. (1992). Post-traumatic stress disorder: an overview. Can J Psychiatry. Mason S, Rowlands A.(1997). Post-traumatic stress disorder. J Accid Emerg Med.

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