Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Case Study

Throughout the history of American warfare there have been many different names for PTSD. Dating back to the civil war when this mental illness was called soldier’s heart, the First World War called it shell-shock, and the Second World War, battle fatigue; soldiers have been experiencing the trauma and psychological issues that come along with the mental illness of PTSD(cite Take heart; Post-traumatic stress disorder). Psychological deterioration was noted in men of combat as early as 490 B.C. and has since become the leading cause of death for U.S veterans. It was not until 1980 that PTSD was recognized as a true disorder with its own specific symptoms, and it was at this time that is was deemed diagnosable and was added to the American Psychiatric

CMN 553 Unit 3 Journal The consequences of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cuts across the age barrier of several mental illness, as it affects both the young and the old. Likewise, the understanding of the triggers, risk factors, symptoms, diagnostic features, and pharmacotherapeutic and psychotherapy options are some of the learning objectives for this unit’s clinical experience. Also, the ability to carefully weigh on some of the differential diagnosis prior to the inference of this disorder is paramount as the psychiatric nurse practitioner (PNP) student critically considers in other not to misdiagnosis the patient (Sadock, Sadock, & Ruiz, 2014).

On Tuesday October 27, Dr. Brittany Hall gave a talk on PTSD affecting military veteran and active duty soldiers. During active duty soldiers are exposed to a lot of unforeseen events. Veterans and active duty soldiers are serving to protect the country from allies, and place there lives on the line everyday for citizens to continue to have freedom. The aftermath of returning from combat is the devastating blow for a lot of soldiers. Soldiers returning home from combat are not being able to separate civilian world from warzone usually struggle form PTSD.

Summary & Response The article “Alternate PTSD Therapy for Vets Ruffles VA Feathers, but Shows Results” by Mark Brunswick, talking about a practice called EMDR, which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. This therapy uses the senses to connect to what triggers the patient’s trauma disorder. This particular article relates to a National Guard vet named Katie Helmer, who served in a military hospital.

The types of Psychotherapy used to treat PTSD are cognitive therapy, exposure therapy, and EMDR. The types of medication used to aid PTSD are Antidepressants, Anti-Anxiety Medications, and Prazosin. The science behind PTSD according to psychcentral is that after any type of trauma, the symptoms discussed the body and brain both change ,”Every cell records memories and every embedded, trauma-related neural pathway has the opportunity to repeatedly reactivate.” Of the people affected by the Las Vegas shooting on October 1st 28 percent of them have PTSD as of now. PTSD affects roughly 8% of Americans which just in America is 25,000 people.

PTSD is a mental disorder in which a person recovering or returning from a traumatic experience experiences very intense and frequent flashbacks, hallucinations both visual and auditory, and intense dreams or memories of the event disturbing them. This can cause people to lash out, panic, and act rashly due to the experiences they continue to recall. While many people have bad experiences and memories, some of these memories that have deeply shaken the person will change their worldview and experiences for years to come. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien details the experiences and memories that soldiers remember and are deeply rattled by, while a study by the European Journal of Psychotraumatology 8, states the effects and causes of ptsd,

PTSD is defined as “an anxiety disorder that is triggered by an event such as violence, a car accident, a natural disaster, and more” (Goldberg). Many soldiers experience this disease as they return from the war zone and have been, up until recently, brushed aside with an illness known as “shell-shock,"

Veterans after the Vietnam War PTSD or also known as post-traumatic stress syndrome is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event. Symptoms may include, flashbacks (reliving the trauma over and over), physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating, easily startled, feeling tense or “on edge”, having difficulty sleeping, having angry outbursts, bad dreams, and mood swings. Although there are some people who have not actually gone through a traumatic experience still can have symptoms of PTSD. There are two ways to treat PTSD that have been proven to be effective on Veterans. These treatments are counseling and medication.

“PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) is a mental health problem that some people develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event, like combat, a natural disaster, a car accident, or sexual assault.” Defined from U.S. Department of Veteran affairs. There are many names for PTSD such as “shell shock” during the time or World war I and “combat fatigue” after World War II. In addition, posttraumatic stress disorder does not only occur in combat veterans. PTSD can occur in all different types of culture, age, gender, or ethnicity.

PTSD is “intrusive thoughts of trauma, avoidance of reminders related to trauma, negative cognitions and moods, arousal of the nervous system, overall anxiety, irritability with distorted perception.” (Page number, author). In the article “A review of PTSD and shame in military veterans' ' written by, Gaudet, C.M., Sowers, K.M., Nugent, W.R., & Boriskin, J.A. “summarizes what is currently known about the construct of shame in a military population across varying life stages and shame vs. guilt,”(page number, author). In this article throughout the research that was conducted the authors concluded that through all measures of shame were reported to have strong reliability and consistent through internal validity with those who are diagnosed with PTSD. The first point that the authors talked about is shame; the perception that others are judging one as defective or intolerable.

Among those who do receive treatment, half drop out. This decreases the success rate of PTSD suffering individuals who commit to treatment from eighty percent to a significantly lower forty percent. The mental issues with PTSD are drastically impactful on an untreated PTSD victim. With one fifth of sexual offense towards women are experienced in a military environment, many are linked to being caused by PTSD mental outbreak. Sexual offense and violence towards others is not the only mental risk caused by untreated PTSD.

Bruce Dohrenwend, and his colleagues have done research on the percentage of people affected by PTSD, “The National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study (NVVRS) of a representative sample of 1200 veterans estimated that 30.9% had developed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) during their lifetimes and that 15.2% were currently suffering from PTSD”(Dohrenwend et al). Monaco, Perry, and Walowick all experienced these symptoms at one point in Fallen

PTSD is an illness that cannot be easily healed. The symptoms include: Nightmares, flashbacks, triggers, hard time sleeping, difficulty concentrating, you could also be easily startled. There are many situations that you would make you angry, or upset. If you were close to death in a Vietcong dug hole, you may hate being in small places, avoiding them at all costs becoming claustrophobic. This disorder often times does not end up being healed and is something you have to deal with for the rest of your

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that follows the experience of a traumatic event. Of the 2.7 million American veterans that served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, at least 20% were diagnosed with PTSD (Veterans Statistics). PTSD affects everyone differently but the most common symptoms of PTSD include: reliving the event, increased anxiety, and avoiding any reminders of the trauma (Robinson,Segal, Smith). These symptoms negatively affect their life

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as PTSD, is a mental disorder that most often develops after a veteran experiences a traumatic event. While having this illness, the veteran believes their lives are in danger. They also may feel afraid or feel they have no control over what is happening. If their feeling does not go away, the symptoms may disrupt the person 's life, making it hard to continue daily activities.