Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - Essay Example

Introduction In normal cases the word post traumatic disorder has been associated with the word trouble. It has been found that Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) will be developing after a stressful event or a situation that can be threatening and catastrophic nature. This type of situation may be causing pervasive distress in anyone and the PSTD has not been found occurring those situations which can be termed as upsetting rather than traumatic. That involves stress related situations like divorce, loss of job, failing an exam and so on. There are many people who have developed PSTD from a traumatic event. The symptoms of PSTD The symptoms of PSTD can be said as re-experiencing symptoms and that means the traumatic event will be experienced once again in a very vivid and distressful manner. The normal ways in which the events will be thought of will include flashbacks and that can create a situation in which the event will be recurring or the person will be acting. There will be additional symptoms of nightmares that can cause problems in sleeping and there are repetitive, distressing images that can occur from the event that has occurred. The traumatic event will make sure that there will be arousal of distress that can be intense and that can also lead to psychological reactions. The reactions that will be caused will be in different persons and that can mean children will have frightening dreams that can have a not recognizable content. The children will have repetitive play and the avoiding of reminders of the trauma can be said as the core symptom of PTSD. That can include people, situations, circumstances that can resemble with the event and people suffering from PTSD will be trying to push memories of the event out of the mind and that can mean worst moments. There are many questions that will be coming with terms with the event. PTSD symptoms will also lead to avoiding of general social contacts and there are cases of depression being coming along with PTSD. When the assessing of PTSD will take place, the members of the primary care team will be asking in a sensitive manner whether the patients that have been showing PTSD would have suffered the symptoms before. That can also lead to traumatic events like assaults, rape road traffic accidents, child sexual abuse and traumatic childbirth. The assessment of PTSD The assessment will be requiring more personnel and time and that can mean a single assessment may not be enough to find and cure the disease. The current condition of the patient with PTSD will have to be looked after and that can involving psycho therapist treatment with the patients. Acute and severely disturbed patients may not be the best treatment patients and they should be first subject to emotional stability methods. Hidalgo RB, Davidson JR, has stated that once the emotion is stabilized and that can include stress management, psycho education about PTSD, trauma focus and after care and another important goal that has to be taken in the case of assessment is that prioritizing targets for changes like experiencing of trauma and numerous problems in living.(Hidalgo RB , 2000, pp.5-13) The comprehensive treatment of PTSD will be using multiple techniques and that can target specific cluster of symptoms and experiencing symptoms can be treated with exposure therapy. The emotional processing of traumatic exposure will include the various types of traumatic exposure and this has been considered as central to the treatment of posttraumatic pathology. Exposure treatment will be requiring more effort from the side of the therapist and patients. There are several conditions before the therapist can push forward with exposure treatment and that can include patient’s ability to form the boundary conditions of the technique and the ability to form images about traumatic events.Candidates that has been asked for exposure therapy should be reporting experiencing symptoms and that can include some level of anxious arousal in response to the reminder of the trauma and that patients ability to tolerate the intense level of arousal associated with the treatment and that can increase PTSD symptoms that can happen at the beginning of the treatment. The therapy should have the ability to make sure that there is not any therapy dropout. The patient should have the ability to cope with the intense level of arousal that has been generated during exposure therapies. The patients should have relatively good health and moderate to severe health conditions are ruled out. Breslau N, Peterson EL, Kessler RC, Schultz LR has stated that the patients should be having a stable living environment and that can include consistent social contacts.( Breslau N, 1999, pp.908-911) The patient should not be using any abusing drugs and alcohol. A debate about using diagnosis and assessment There has been always a debate about using diagnosis and assessment in the case of PTSD.Diagnosis of PTSD cannot lead to direct treatment of the disease and the condition of PTSD can be termed as complex and that will be having a delirious impact on the multiple areas of psychosocial formatting. The information that can be diagnosed will not be covering areas like patients personal lives and how it can adversely affect the condition. The diagnosis of PTSD cannot stand alone and that can mean a comprehensive assessment and the diagnosis of disorder can be said as process of clinical evaluation. The patient characteristics like the difference in age and individual response to traumatic events should be also understood in detail. An emphatic stance form the side of therapist will help the patient to associate mentally with the therapist and that can help by taking forward to painfully listen to the experience and that can be also listening patiently to painful events. The therapist should have the ability to assess regularly their own reactions to traumatic material or situation that has been reported by the patients and there has to be seeking of consultation with the colleagues who may be experienced with dealing with traumatized individuals. Clinical evaluators of the PTSD should be aware of the situation in which cycle of violence and victimization and significant association of trauma and self destructive behavior at the end. Blank AS Jr has stated that the clinician should have the ability to assess the patient’s safety at the onset of the therapy. (Blank AS Jr , 1994, pp.351-383) The patient can be asked about direct and specific questions about current historical tendency about self destructive behaviour.The entire history of traumitization will have to be understood in detail and that is the most important part of psychosocial factor. The patients should be given the opportunity to report briefly about the post traumatic environment. Trauma can be associated with the developmental life phase. The questions that the therapists ask will be in chronological order and strength and weakness of the patient history will be assessed. The discussion of the school and including academic performance and interpersonal relationship with peers has to be understood in detail. There has to be assessment of extracurricular activities. The problematic childhood along with drug and alcohol abuse has to be understood in detail. The assessment can be taken forward to psychpathology.Traumatic events recall may be causing a situation inpatient of less sleeping and that can cause more problems and that has to be said in detail. The ability to tolerate the recall of the events and the stress that arise comes out of it has to be understood in detail. The clinical relationship should be in such a way that the patient should be given the freedom to decide what to divulge and what not to divulge and at the pace at which they should be given to. There should be a procedure of taking in clinical information from various sources and that means trauma focused clinical interview has to be taken care of. Yule W has stated that the information about the general interview has to be gathered and additional methods have to be bear the evaluation of specific aspect of PSTD. (Yule W, 2001, pp.23-28) Structured diagnostic interviews and various psychometric instruments should be used to understand the comprehensive evaluation of PTSD. The events that can be covered under the interview of traumatized individuals The events that can be covered under the interview of traumatized individuals will include the pre trauma and post trauma stage.Pre trauma will include the Developmental life course context, life context at the time of traumatic event, events that has occurred to beyond trauma and patients state of mind. The trauma will be covering various aspects like what happened like sights, sounds, thoughts, feelings, actions and meanings. What has happened afterwards has to be understood by other responses. It has to be understood in detail about forgotten details about memories and feelings about recounting trauma during interview. The post trauma has been understood like PTSD symptoms, situational cues that will be triggering reactions, changes in the psychosocial setting, changes in the belief system about self and the world, changes in the usage of drug, and that can include current traumatic environment. Friedman MJ, Schnurr PP, McDonagh-Coyle A, has stated that certain types of personality disorder like borderline disorder can be seen in patients with PTSD. (Friedman MJ, 1994,pp.265-277) There are usually five identifiable post traumatic disorders and that can mean normal stress response, acute catastrophic stress reaction, uncomplicated PTSD, post traumatic personality disorder and PTSD with disorders. The normal stress response will be occurring when healthy adults has been identified with adulthood experience. The health care professionals should not be ignoring of the role of family members. They should have a central role in supporting the people with PTSD.Depending on the nature of the trauma and its consequences, families will be needing support for themselves. Healthcare professionals should understand the impact of PTSD on the whole family. The family members should be given the whole impact of PTSD and that can mean saying openly about the traumatized events that has been causing the disease. The treatment from the side of the health care professionals should be coordinated and that should not be ignored. There has to be not any ignorance on the side of the social front sector on the part of health care professionals. Hembree EA, Foa EB has stated that there has to be treatment that has to be meted out based on the language and the culture that has been represented and that means if the patient is bilingual with little knowledge about English, the patient should be given the opportunity for translator. (Hembree EA, 2000, pp.33-39) The background of the culture of the patient should be understood in detail by the healthcare professionals and that include understanding the religious beliefs and that can mean seeking the help of bicultural therapists and that can reduce the problem in greater detail. The identification of individual’s cultural background has to be understood in detail as the patient and family may not be willing to accept of trauma and that can psychological consequences of trauma. Davidson JR, Connor KM has stated that health care professionals should not ignore the fact that PTSD patients may not be interested in seeking the treatment due to fear factor and that can mean PTSD patients will not be meeting the schedule appointments. (Davidson JR, 1999, pp.33-41)The technical language should be kept to minimum by health acre professionals and that means health care professionals should be easy to understand. Treatment can be taken under the efficient supervision and that can remove the fears of the patient. Stein MB, McQuaid JR, Pedrelli P, Lenox R, McCahill,ME has stated that If the patient has been reporting depression along with the lines of PTSD, then the treatment can be done first for PTSD and depression can make or change way and if the patient who has been suffering from signs of suicide or giving harm to others, then the treatments should start with removing that tendency and then only PTSD treatment should begin. (Stein MB, 2000, pp.261-269) The initial psychological treatment of PTSD has been very difficult and that has been evidenced of extreme lack of energy and concentration and inactivity. Healthcare professions should be treating the problems of alcohol and drug first before proceeding with PTSD. Conclusion There should be no avoiding of discussion of grief and that has to be meant for treating diseases like PTSD and healthcare professionals and that can include early interventions and watchful waiting. Trauma focused behavioral therapy should be taken forward by health care professionals. Reference Stein MB, McQuaid JR, Pedrelli P, Lenox R, McCahill,ME,2000, Posttraumatic stress disorder in the primary caremedical setting. Gen Hosp Psychiatry, Vol.22,pp.261-9. Blank AS Jr,1994,Clinical detection, diagnosis, and differential diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder,Psychiatr Clin North Am,Vol.17,pp.351-83. Breslau N, Peterson EL, Kessler RC, Schultz LR,1999,Short screening scale for DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder. Am J Psychiatry ,Vol.156,pp.908-11. Hidalgo RB, Davidson JR,2000, Posttraumatic stress disorder: epidemiology and health-related considerations,J Clin Psychiatry, vol.61 ,pp.5-13. Friedman MJ, Schnurr PP, McDonagh-Coyle A,1994,Post-traumatic stress disorder in the military veteran,Psychiatr Clin ,Vol.17,pp.265-77. Davidson JR, Connor KM,1999, Management of posttraumatic stress disorder: diagnostic and therapeutic issues, J Clin Psychiatry ,Vol.60,pp.33-41. Hembree EA, Foa EB,2000,Posttraumatic stress disorder: psychological factors and psychosocial interventions, JClin Psychiatry ,61 ,pp.33-39. Yule W.,2001,Posttraumatic stress disorder in the general population and in children, J Clin Psyhciatry ,Vol.62 ,pp.23-28. Read More

Hidalgo RB, Davidson JR, has stated that once the emotion is stabilized and that can include stress management, psycho education about PTSD, trauma focus and after care and another important goal that has to be taken in the case of assessment is that prioritizing targets for changes like experiencing of trauma and numerous problems in living.(Hidalgo RB , 2000, pp.5-13) The comprehensive treatment of PTSD will be using multiple techniques and that can target specific cluster of symptoms and experiencing symptoms can be treated with exposure therapy.

The emotional processing of traumatic exposure will include the various types of traumatic exposure and this has been considered as central to the treatment of posttraumatic pathology. Exposure treatment will be requiring more effort from the side of the therapist and patients. There are several conditions before the therapist can push forward with exposure treatment and that can include patient’s ability to form the boundary conditions of the technique and the ability to form images about traumatic events.

Candidates that has been asked for exposure therapy should be reporting experiencing symptoms and that can include some level of anxious arousal in response to the reminder of the trauma and that patients ability to tolerate the intense level of arousal associated with the treatment and that can increase PTSD symptoms that can happen at the beginning of the treatment. The therapy should have the ability to make sure that there is not any therapy dropout. The patient should have the ability to cope with the intense level of arousal that has been generated during exposure therapies.

The patients should have relatively good health and moderate to severe health conditions are ruled out. Breslau N, Peterson EL, Kessler RC, Schultz LR has stated that the patients should be having a stable living environment and that can include consistent social contacts.( Breslau N, 1999, pp.908-911) The patient should not be using any abusing drugs and alcohol. A debate about using diagnosis and assessment There has been always a debate about using diagnosis and assessment in the case of PTSD.

Diagnosis of PTSD cannot lead to direct treatment of the disease and the condition of PTSD can be termed as complex and that will be having a delirious impact on the multiple areas of psychosocial formatting. The information that can be diagnosed will not be covering areas like patients personal lives and how it can adversely affect the condition. The diagnosis of PTSD cannot stand alone and that can mean a comprehensive assessment and the diagnosis of disorder can be said as process of clinical evaluation.

The patient characteristics like the difference in age and individual response to traumatic events should be also understood in detail. An emphatic stance form the side of therapist will help the patient to associate mentally with the therapist and that can help by taking forward to painfully listen to the experience and that can be also listening patiently to painful events. The therapist should have the ability to assess regularly their own reactions to traumatic material or situation that has been reported by the patients and there has to be seeking of consultation with the colleagues who may be experienced with dealing with traumatized individuals.

Clinical evaluators of the PTSD should be aware of the situation in which cycle of violence and victimization and significant association of trauma and self destructive behavior at the end. Blank AS Jr has stated that the clinician should have the ability to assess the patient’s safety at the onset of the therapy. (Blank AS Jr , 1994, pp.351-383) The patient can be asked about direct and specific questions about current historical tendency about self destructive behaviour.The entire history of traumitization will have to be understood in detail and that is the most important part of psychosocial factor.

The patients should be given the opportunity to report briefly about the post traumatic environment.

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