Running Head: (PTSD) POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Jimmy Butler
Trident University
Professor W. Aslami

1

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

2
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

“The victims of PTSD often feel morally tainted by their experiences, unable to recover
confidence in their own goodness, trapped in a sort of spiritual solitary confinement, looking
back at the rest of the world from beyond the barrier of what happened. They find themselves
unable to communicate their condition to those who remained at home, resenting civilians for
their blind innocence” (Brooks, 2015). PTSD is a mental health condition that’s triggered by a
terrifying event, either experiencing it or witnessing it. According to anxiety and depression
association of America the highest victims of PTSD are battered women and abused children,
and in this research paper we are going to answer the questions. What do we know about PTSD,
what psychological symptoms are associated with it, and what effective treatments exist today (if
any) to manage those symptoms? By researching these questions and understanding PTSD more
clearly we will become more mindful of this disorder.
What do we know about PTSD?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a psychiatric disorder that can occur after a life altering
experience or witnessing of a life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters,
terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or physical or sexual assault in adult or childhood. Many
people return to normal lives however, some people will have stress reactions that do not go
away on their own, or may even get worse over time. Traumatic experiences are mainly the
causes of PTSD, things that have happen in childhood or a life changing experience as an adult.
There are different treatments that are available that will aid people in relieving them from the
stress or the problems. Often some people suffer from taking too many drugs in order to reduce
the stress that they may be experiencing, which can lead to substance abuse. When there is a
traumatic experience that someone is trying to get rid of they often try to drug themselves so that

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

3

they will not have the thought of that situation. This leads to high risk of using the substance to
destroy one problem but on the other hand creates another problem. Studied have shown that
PTSD occurs more in women and veterans, many women have been abused and taken advantage
of even at an early age and the events have caused this disorder. Young girls up to older women
have faced some dramatic things that have altered their lives and their memory to the extent that
they have problems trying to live in this world with the disturbance of their occurrence. Also
veterans are prong to have PTSD because of war situation and having to kill enemies in war or
by them being prisoners of war. Many young men enter the military not knowing the importance
of what they have been called to do, and when they are sent to war only to experience
slaughtering another life can produces a traumatic thought in their mind. This thought created in
their mind lives with them and tortures their memory isolating them in a world that they do not
seem to have a way of escape.
What psychological symptoms are associated with it?
Those with PTSD often deal with symptoms that effect their way of life and their thought
patterns. Having PTSD puts pressure on the brain and its function, because with the traumatic
experience the brain retains the experience and the person must live with it. Sometimes the
person has avoidance behaviors; they begin to avoid everyone mainly by not wanting to open
themselves to communicate. They try to stay away from anyone that reminds them of the
horrifying experience; by avoiding other people they feel more safe and secure. Another
symptom that may occur is changes in mood and thinking, sometimes the person will become
very moody. By being moody the thought process of the person is altered and that person begins
to say and do things that is totally outside of their character. Along with that intrusion is a
problem that frequently occurs in the life of someone with PTSD. Meaning they continue to

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

4

relive the traumatic experience that they went through, making it very difficult to resume their
lives. This leads to emotional detachment, most of the victims become sad, miserable, lonely,
depressed, and afraid. Being emotionally detached is not good for any person because it
separates an individual from the world and themselves; this puts a person in an isolated place
leaving them alone and confused.
What effective treatments exist today to manage those symptoms?
Having PTSD can become very overwhelming for anyone especially if there is no
treatment. In order to get rid of the traumatic experience that one may have experienced, there
must be some kind of treatment. One of the ways that you can treat PTSTF is by therapy; therapy
allows the person to revisit the traumatic experience so that they can communicate the problem
in order to become free from it. One type of therapy is cognitive therapy, which according to
“Mayo clinic staff, 2014” is the type of talk therapy helps you identify the ways of thinking
through patterns in areas that are keeping you stuck in your mind. Another type of therapy is
exposure therapy helps you carefully face what you find terrifying so that you can understand to
effectively deal with it. Along with that EMDR combines exposure therapy with a sequence of
guided eye movements that help you course traumatic memories and change how you respond to
traumatic recollections. (Mayo clinic, 2014) Also there are drugs that you can take called
antidepressants that helps depression, anxiety, helps improve sleep, and concentration are just a
few things that the antidepressant helps to regulate. The objective for antidepressants is to make
sure that the person that has PTSD can find ways to get rid of the experiences that have been
trapped in their memory bank. By using different drugs and therapy people can eliminate the
false illusions in their minds and help them to create new more positive memories for their lives.
Regular treatment and much communication aid in disintegration of the memory, help regulate

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

5

anxiety, stops depression, and settle their emotions that they may live common lives.
Conclusion
In conclusion we have discovered the interesting facts about PTSD and the symptoms
that help us to be more aware of people that we may or may not know that have this disorder
functioning within them. Also we have learned about the effective treatments that we could use
in order to help people with PTSD obtain a treatment to help them begin to live normal lives.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

6

Reference
Anxiety BC. (2007-2015). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Retrieved from:
http://www.anxietybc.com/parenting/post-traumatic-stress-disorder
Glover, Lacie. (May 19, 2014). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Statistics for Veterans.
Mental Health. Retrieved from:
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/2014/05/19/ptsd-post-traumatic-stress-disorderstatistics-veterans/
Mayo Clinic. (April 15, 2014). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PSTD). Retrieved from:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stressdisorder/basics/definition/con-20022540
Mooney, Brenda L. (December, 2014). Study offers New Statistics on how many OEF/IOF
Veterans have PSTD. Conditions Not Just Related to Deployment. Retrieved from:
http://www.usmedicine.com/current-issue/study-offers-new-statistics-on-how-manyoefoif-veterans-have-ptsd/
National Center for PTSD. (November 25, 2015). Facts about PTSD. Retrieved from:
http://psychcentral.com/lib/facts-about-ptsd/
National institute of Mental Health. (2015). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Retrieved
from: http://www.brainline.org/landing_pages/categories/ptsd.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAmCyBRDx65nBhcmVtbIBEiQA7zm8lWNeqG5g64NS4pZa3ORNvEGm69WPBXH518rN4Bn31UaArZ08P8HAQ

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

7

PTSD treatment help. (2015). PTSD statistics. Retrieved from: http://ptsdtreatmenthelp.com
WebMD. (2005-2015). Posttraumatic stress disorder. Retrieved from:
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder