Jane Doe
Abstract
In terms of psychological ailments, Post-Traumatic Stress (PTSD) is one of the more challenging ones that people tend to face. When an event occurs that threatens one’s life or the life of their loved one’s there is a change that occurs in the individual that begins a cycle of various symptoms that create an overly sensitive state of mind for the individual. The memories of the trauma do not leave the person and play out through various psychological problems. Fortunately, with the help of treatments like EMDR, CBT, and pharmacological intervention, there is help available for PTSD. Each of the treatments option varies in what aspect the patient will be able to find relief, and often times these therapies may be used in conjunction with one another for the most effective treatment plan. The following article will examine the incidents causing PTSD more carefully, along with a review of the most effective treatment options available to those who suffer from PTSD.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD is a type of condition that individuals who have been through traumatic events. According to “A Guide to Crisis Intervention” (2015), “The cause for PTSD, is exposure to a situation perceived to be threatening to oneself or one’s loved ones” (Kanel, p. 154). A large number of scenarios can be experienced traumatically by people, such as a car accident, rape, terrorism, war, or any type of attack on one’s self or property that creates a disturbance from the normal events that are expected to occur in one’s life. There are a variety of psychological and physiological symptoms that can result after one has experienced PTSD. Often times when individuals go longer than one month without addressing the issue(s) that has caused trauma, one is likely to develop PTSD. “People affected by these disorders have higher rates of psychiatric comorbidity, suffer decreased role functioning such as work impairment (on average, 3.6 days of work impairment per month), and are associated with many different adverse life-course consequences (e.g., reduced educational attainment, work earnings, marriage attainment, and child rearing)” (“Psychological Treatments and Pharmacological Treatments for Adults with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD),” 2011, para.4). The symptoms can be extremely invasive to the quality of one’s life and relationships, which is why it is important that treatment is available and incorporated into their lives to correct what was broken by the traumatic event so that the individual can go back to a healthy balanced life again. The following essay will examine the details of how PTSD can occur and the various treatment options available to address the condition.
How PTSD Can Happen
In order to gain a clear understanding of PTSD it is important to discuss the various ways that PTSD can come about. Many may think that PTSD is only a condition that soldiers who have experienced war are likely to suffer from. However, there are a large number of incidents that can create disturbance in one’s life that leads to PTSD. The purpose of discussing these types of events is to better understand how PTSD can develop, which can then be addressed by treatment options. Although there are numerous ways PTSD can happen, the following three are some of the most common events, which include- war, sexual assault, and car accidents, will be briefly discussed.
War
Needless to say, war is an unfortunate event with lots of casualty and injury associated for those who are hands on involved. The people that are exposed to an involved in these situations include soldiers and citizens who become victims. During war time there are vicious attacks going on involving weapons of all types from bombs to machine guns. For example, a soldier could be right next to his or her fellow soldier who is attacked, and the next thing the soldier sees is pieces of body parts and the gruesome image of blood splattered about. So many aspects of this moment are incredibly traumatic for the survivors who often times are also harmed by these attacks. A moment like this is all too common for soldiers who have served the nation during war time and do not easily recover from these ongoing traumatic scenarios.
Sexual Assault
A woman who is heading towards her car after work one night is approached by a perpetrator who forces her into her car and begins to rape her. Fortunately she is left lying there after the attack without any additional threats or physical harm. However, after the incident she is completely traumatized to leave her home or be alone. She can no longer go about her life out in public, and has lost interest in having a physical connection with her partner. This is only one basic example of how sexual assault can create PTSD.
Car Accidents
While driving on the freeway, a woman is forced to step on the brakes to avoid something in front of her, but as she brakes, her husband sees a semi-truck coming full speed behind them in the rear-view. Right as he is getting ready to warn her they are hit hard and she loses control of the car. Fortunately they are not harmed, but behind the semi-truck another smaller vehicle is unable to stop in time and drives right under the semi-truck leaving both driver and passenger dead. Between the trauma of the accident and seeing the victims at the scene from the other vehicle, the woman is completely distraught. Although thankful that she walked away from the accident, the images of the incident do not escape her mind and continue to play repeatedly in her mind. She starts to suffer insomnia and anxiety after the accident and refuses to drive again.
Treatment Options
After briefly examining some of the causes of incidents that lead to PTSD it is easier to understand the type of severity a person faces that leads them to suffer. The symptoms of PTSD are also quite diverse, but generally depression, anxiety, relationship problems, insomnia, and re-living the incident in a manner that interrupts their normal routine are all some commonly known symptoms. The sooner an individual seeks treatment the better the outcome for their recovery from PTSD. Next there will be an overview of the most common and effective treatment options available to patients who suffer from PTSD. These therapies will include the Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), and pharmacological treatment.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is one of the most widely used treatment option that has shown positive signs of recovery for patients with PTSD. “Triggers are a big part of a traumatized person’s life, and they need to be addressed” (Wright, 2011, p. 3507). Too many people facing PTSD tend to become overly sensitive to sounds and images and anything can trigger the traumatic event from playing out in their minds again, which creates exaggerated symptoms. EMDR is one of the most effective ways to help desensitize the patient with PTSD. When trauma occurs there is a physiological change in the left and right brain hemisphere, which are treated with an eight phase process of treatment that involves “eye movements or other left-right stimulations” (Wright, 2011, p.3521). This method is used to help patients reprocess disturbing thoughts and memories in order to break the cycle (Wright, 2011).
CBT
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is also one of the top most effective treatment option next to EMDR in the treatment of PTSD. CBT can help teach the individual various techniques to help relax them when experiencing symptoms, as well as identifying and modifying their thought process. “Some of these involve imaginal reliving of the trauma memory, imaginal exposure, in vivo exposure, facilitation of post-traumatic growth, stress inoculation, graduated exposure to avoided situations and trauma re-experiences, exposure to trauma reminders, cognitive restructuring, and rescripting/imagery rescripting” (Kar, 2011, p. 176). The CBT method is easier to incorporate for nearly any age patient, with a wide variety of options for the therapist to incorporate when handling each individual case of PTSD making it one of the more convenient methods to use. It has also shown a high rate of short-term and long-term effectiveness in both acute and chronic PTSD (Kar, 2011).
Pharmacological Treatment
One of the last treatment options that is used to help ease the discomfort of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and insomnia along with other ailments, is prescription medication. Often times the immediate relief that cannot be addressed by some of the other treatment options is found through use of medication. For example, panic attacks and anxiety are so common for PTSD sufferers that something has to be done to calm them down, which can only be found through anti-anxiety medication therapy. Depression is another symptom that often requires medication in order to re-set the brain chemistry back to how it was when he or she was healthy. Although many patients or people do not like the idea of using medication because of the side-effects, it is one of the most useful options in the short-term discomforts that come with PTSD.
Conclusion
The importance of addressing the problems associated with PTSD begins with understanding how deeply individuals are affected by traumatic events like war, sexual assault, and car accidents. Once a problem or issue is acknowledged it is crucial that the person reach out for help and treatment options if they are to return to normal without too much interference from the condition of PTSD. Although there are many treatment options, the most common forms of treatment are EMDR, CBT, and pharmacological treatment. With the use of these methods patients can find relief and return to a healthier state of mind to continue enjoying their life prior to the traumatic events. In conclusion, it is critical that PTSD does not go ignored because help is available and should be utilized.
References
Kanel, K. (2015). A Guide to Crisis Intervention (5th ed.). : Cengage Learning.
Kar, N. (2011, April). Cognitive behavioral therapy for the treatment of post-traumatic stress
disorder: a review. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 7(), 167–181.
Psychological Treatments and Pharmacological Treatments for Adults with Post-traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD). (2011, December). Effective Health Care Program.
Wright, H.N. (2011). The Complete Guide to Crisis & Trauma Counseling. Grand Rapids ,
Michigan: Bethany House Publishers.
