Evaluation of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (Essay Sample)

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POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD)
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur to people who have undergone or witnessed traumatic experiences in their lives. The condition does not discriminate against gender or nationality but it is mostly recorded in people who mostly engage in violent activities such as soldiers or firefighters (Di Crosta et al. 2329). Normal civilians who may experience or witness accidents or traumatic scenes such as a rape incident have reordered several cases that relate to PTSD. The disorder is also more likely to affect women who go through a traumatic event that men who experience similar problems. This may be supported by the fact that women are considered to be more emotionally inclined than men. In the US alone, it has been recorded that PTSD affects at least 3.5 percent of adult Americans in one year (Di Crosta et al. 2329).
Symptoms of PTSD
* Intrusion thoughts such as repeated involuntary memories, disturbing dreams, and flashbacks of traumatic events.
* The patient experiences distress when reliving the traumatic event.
* High sense of fear and general tension when reliving then the event or even when faced with an uncomfortable experience.
* Patients are extra sensitive to their surroundings.
* Loss of some memory that relates to the traumatic event.
* Behaving recklessly or in a self-destructive manner.
* Heaving problems concentrating or sleeping.
* Distorted thoughts about the cause of the traumatic event; self-blame to some extent.
Diagnosis of PTSD
PSTD is only diagnosed with patients who have gone through a stressful event in their lifetime. The timeframe of the occurrence of the traumatic event is not limited to a specific period, meaning that patients can be diagnosed with the condition even ten years after experiencing the shock (Di Crosta et al. 2329). A good example of a traumatic event may include car accidents, murder or abuse, experiencing a shootout, rape incident, and fire accidents. PTSD condition may also be a result of non-physical events that cause a mental breakdown, a good example being continued personal and systematic attack by word of mouth (Foa et al. 354-364). This kind of attack may happen to victims who are kidnapped or held without their consent. The patient must have reacted with fear and helplessness and has constant haunting memories of the event. When the patient is exposed to something related to the trauma, they respond with fear or horror.
After trauma, the patients may become hostile towards their environment and exhibit different mood swings. This may occur immediately after the trauma, or it may continue to persist with time. The symptoms of PTSD may not show in most people immediately after experiencing a traumatic event. In a good number of cases, biological and psychosocial factors contribute to revealing the symptoms of the disorder (Foa et al. 354-364). People who have an underlying mental condition or ill-health have higher chances of showing signs of PTSD.
PTSD is divided into three types;
* Acute PTSD
* Chronic PTSD
* Delayed onset PTSD.
Acute PTSD occurs within three months after a victim has been exposed to trauma. The effects of acute PTSD do not have to rely on biological or psychological factors to trigger the symptoms of the condition (Foa et al. 354-364). Chronic PSTD occurs after three months of experiencing a traumatic event. Delayed onset PTDS is when the symptoms of the disorder occur after six months from the occurrence of a traumatic event. Delayed onset PTSD can extend to an unlimited period, provided that it has occurred after the six months window frame.
Extreme effects of PTSD
* Anxiety attacks
An anxiety attack is when a patient is anxious and worried about future events. The patient exhibits a general behavior of discomfort, both physically and mentally. Anxiety attacks may also lead to other extreme