Course Project Task III

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

TONY WILLIAMS

ARGOSY UNIVERSITY

DR. DAVID KOHLER

15 MAY 2018

Post-traumatic stress disorder involves a mental health problem that some individuals develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, for example, a natural disaster, a serious accident or sexual assault. It is normal for an individual to have upsetting memories or have trouble sleeping after this type of event. When an individual develops this disorder, he or she finds it hard to carry on with the daily routine activities for example going to work, going to school or spending time with those you care about. Individuals diagnosed with this kind of disorder start feeling better after a few weeks or months. The disorder can happen to any individual and this does not mean a sign of the disorder.

There are several factors that can increase the chances of an individual developing the disorder. Most of these factors cannot be controlled by an individual, for example, having an intense or long term-lasting traumatic event or any injury.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can be caused by several factors, for example, an individual can develop the disorder after a very stressful, frightening and distressing event or after a prolonged traumatic experience. Many events can also lead to the disorder, for example, getting involved in serious road accidents. In sport, athletes often place themselves in dangerous situations and are also exposed to the same lifestyle dangers as the general population,

Other events that can lead to PTSD include violent personal assaults, for example, sexual assault or robbery, prolonged sexual abuse or severe neglect, military combat, terrorist attacks and also the presence of natural disasters such as severe floods and earthquakes (Zammit, Lewis, Dawson, Colley, McCann, Piekarski, & Bisson, 2018). An individual who recently had a depression or anxiety is at a higher risk of developing the post-traumatic stress disorder. Some of the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder are re-expressing factors for example flashbacks and nightmares, avoidance and emotional numbing and also hyper arousal where an anxious person finds it hard to relax.

Post-traumatic stress disorder can be treated in two main ways. They include psychotherapy and medication. An individual who has been diagnosed with the disorder has to go through a detailed assessment by a practitioner. The individual will be referred to a mental health specialist for further assessment. Watchful waiting is also another recommendation for the treatment of the PTSD disorder. Psychotherapy is also another method of treatment of the disorder. It is suitable for an individual who has a persistent disorder. All these methods will be useful for the treatment of the post-traumatic stress disorder (Raskind, Peskind, Chow, Harris, Davis-Karim, Holmes, & Romesser, 2018).

References

Raskind, M. A., Peskind, E. R., Chow, B., Harris, C., Davis-Karim, A., Holmes, H. A., ... & Romesser, J. (2018). Trial of prazosin for post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(6), 507-517.

Zammit, S., Lewis, C., Dawson, S., Colley, H., McCann, H., Piekarski, A., ... & Bisson, J. (2018). Undetected post-traumatic stress disorder in secondary-care mental health services: systematic review. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 212(1), 11-18.