Gestalt Princples and Perceptual Processing - Essay Example

Symptoms and treatment of PTSD Introduction Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an illness ified under anxiety ailments and is as a result of a past scary, life threatening, or a very dangerous experience on the victim. The most common cause of this disorder is rape which makes the victim fear persons of the perpetrator’s sex. Before 1980, there were people who exhibited its symptoms but medical experts available then had different interpretations as to what caused it. They believed it was stress resulting from the numerous battles being fought in the early to mid 20th Century.

However, not all PTSD cases are as a result of past life threatening events, recent studies have shown that other emotionally devastating events for instance, divorce or loss of a job can also cause this disorder. SymptomsThose suffering from this disorder experience frequent attacks through bad dreams and flashbacks; this is the reason they tend to avoid densely crowded areas, some personalities or social events. They also avoid areas resembling the place where the unfortunate event occurred.

For instance, if a man is attacked by thugs in a particular street; due to the emotional effect the experience had on him, he will avoid walking down the same street lest he suffer PTSD attacks. These patients also suffer from acute stress and depression; they cannot show their emotions and lose interest in the activities that formed part of their hobbies in the past. Statistics on the disorderThis disorder is caused by a traumatic event; according to statistics, about 60% and 50% of men and women respectively experience at least one trauma in a lifetime.

However, not all who go through trauma experience PTSD as there are only about 5 million grown-ups who experience it in a year; this is far much less than the actual dangerous events experienced within the same timeframe. The nature of trauma also varies according to sex; women are highly vulnerable to sexual assaults while men to other physical assaults and disasters. In general terms, about 7.5% of the total population are to experience PTSD in their lifetime, with the United States alone registering almost half of its patients in the outpatient scheme as victims of PTSD (Williams & Poijula, 2002).

This disorder is caused by bio-psychosocial factors including thoughts, emotions and attitudes that make patients behave in a particular manner. In handling a PTSD patient, a combination of all these social, plus other biological factors, are used to provide a total healing that makes the patient break away from the past. For instance, in handling a PTSD patient who has had a repeated rape trauma within the family setting, it is not enough to only restore her to the former biological state. Counseling is conducted to restore her to normal thought processes, and this is only done after releasing her from that bondage.

This counselling is to restore the patient to the normal thought process and make her recognize the event as an isolated case which has a slim chance of recurring (Myers, 2011).There are other catalysts to this disorder majorly as a result of other social factors; it is more prominent in persons with other previous mental issues and those who consume a lot of alcohol. This is because such people have a sense of rejection, and this loneliness makes them think more about their lurid past. Those with low levels of education, with minimal family and communal support, are also vulnerable to these attacks.

This is the reason African American, Hispanics and other minority groups in America experience more PTSD attacks compared to their Caucasian counterparts Cognitive behavioural therapy Treating PTSD helps the patient reduce symptom intensity by getting rid of the traumatic event in their thought patterns. It starts by recollection where the patient is taken through flashback to recount what happened in the past; they then release the emotions and bad sensations felt during the traumatic event.

The benefit of this process is that it makes the patient gain control of their emotions.Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a systematic process used by health experts to treat PTSD patients. It is a process that handles ailments which are psychological in nature with no particular diagnosis as PTSD is caused by traumatic events with different intensities. CBT analyses patient’s emotional reactions and behavioral patterns after the doctor gets the correct diagnosis; he then uses a phased therapeutic process to rid the patient of the past (Mueser, Rosenberg & Rosenberg, 2009).

ReferencesMueser, K. T., Rosenberg, S. D., & Rosenberg, H. J. (2009). Treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder in special populations: a cognitive restructuring program. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Williams, M. B., & Poijula, S. (2002). The PTSD workbook: simple, effective techniques for overcoming traumatic stress symptoms. Oakland, Calif.: New Harbinger Publications.Myers, D. G. (2011). Exploring psychology: eighth edition in modules (8th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.