Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Study

Posttraumatic stress disorder or more commonly known as PTSD is one of the most common mental health disorders. It mostly affects victims of sexual assault, war veterans or soldiers, people who sustained a serious injury or the threat of death in which they experienced intense fear, horror or powerlessness (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). In saying this, not everyone who has experienced a traumatic event develop PTSD.
In New Zealand, there are 35.9% of people with severe PTSD, 36.9% of moderate and 27.2% mild PTSD (Street, 2007). These high rates of people with PTSD lead professionals and even civilians to discuss about the treatments for PTSD. What treatment works and which do not? Which is more effective psychological or pharmaceutical?
In assessments phase the therapist will make sure that the therapy is right for the patient. S/he will ask questions about the patient’s life and background. Next, together with the therapist they will break down the patient’s problem into separate parts- the situation, thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and actions. Once the patient had done this, the therapist will teach him or her some skills on how to deal with the issues such as looking at things in a different perspective. In the case study, Cindy was thought to think that some people became successful in life because they work hard for it. Next is where the participant practice the skills taught to him or her by the therapist. This could involve questioning upsetting thoughts and replacing them with more helpful ones. Finally, the most important part of this treatment is for the participant to maintain all that they had learned and to apply it in many aspects of their
Unlike the other research, this New Zealand information I found mentioned that there is still an ongoing research into which treatments are most helpful. In addition, the Maori people have their own treatment method called Rongoa Maori, which involves massages, herbal remedies and spiritual healers. A traditional healing practitioner known as a Tohunga Puna Ora conduct this treatment method (Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand, 2004). There are no studies yet about the Rongoa Maori so I cannot say whether this is an effective treatment. However, since people from different cultures believe different things, it may be that Rongoa Maori works for Maori people but not for people from other cultural backgrounds since they may not really believe in